Also on this day:

• 1707: At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portuguese.
• 1792: The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
• 1831: The New York and Harlem Railway is incorporated in New York City.
• 1846: The Mexican-American War ignites as a result of disputes over claims to Texas boundaries.
• 1859: Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
• 1898: The U.S. declares war on Spain.
• 1901: New York becomes the first state to require license plates for cars. (The fee is $1.)
• 1928: A seeing-eye dog is used for the first time.
• 1938: «Your Family and Mine,» a radio serial, is first broadcast.
• 1940: W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presents the first circus on TV.
• 1945: Delegates from about 50 countries meet in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
• 1953: Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggest the double helix structure of DNA.
• 1954: The prototype manufacture of the first solar battery is announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.
• 1957: Operations begin at the first experimental sodium nuclear reactor.
• 1959: St. Lawrence Seaway is opened to shipping. The waterway connects the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1967: Colo. Gov. John Love signs the first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. The law is limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.
• 1971: The country of Bangladesh is established.
• 1974: Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar is overthrown in a military coup.
• 1985: «Big River (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)» opens at the Eugene O誰eill Theatre on Broadway in New York City.
• 1987: Peter O’Toole opens in «Pygmalion» on Broadway.
• 1990: Sandinista rule ends in Nicaragua.
• 1998: U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is questioned by Whitewater prosecutors on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.