April 17 in History

Historical Events on April 17

1861 The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming the 8th state to join the Confederate States of America.

1863 American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.

1905 The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1907 The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

1941 World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.

1945 World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.

1971 The People's Republic of Bangladesh is formed.

2006 A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.

2014 NASA's Kepler space observatory confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

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Famous Birthdays on April 17

1915 Sirimavo Bandaranaike

1954 Roddy Piper

1972 Muttiah Muralitharan

1986 Romain Grosjean

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Famous Deaths on April 17

485 Proclus

1790 Benjamin Franklin

2014 Gabriel García Márquez

2015 Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

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