In History: Nov. 17

These are the notable events of Nov. 17 in world, American, and Kansas history.

An illustration of Abraham Lincoln delivering what would later be known as the Gettysburg Address — Image via history.com/Getty Images

On Nov. 17…

1292: John Balliol becomes King of Scots.

1491: French King Charles VIII is engaged to Anne of Brittany.

1511: England, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire sign a covenant against France.

1558: Queen Elizabeth I ascends to the throne after the death of her sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary; the Church of England is re-established as a part of Queen Elizabeth’s first rulings.

1603: English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for acts of treason.

1636: Brazilian general Henrique Dias wins a decisive victory against Dutch invaders.

1785: Church of England organizes in New England.

1796: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte defeat the Austrians at the three-day Battle of Arcole during the war of the First Coalition. This battle helped raise Napoleon as a heroic figure in French society.

1800: The U.S. Congress meets for the first time in the incomplete U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

1862: Union General Ambrose Burnside begins the Fredericksburg campaign.

1863: President Abraham Lincoln writes the first draft of the Gettysburg Address.

1869: Englishman James Moore wins the first competitive bicycle race; the Suez Canal opens in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas.

1873: The cities of Buda and Pest unite into the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

1885: Serbia invades Bulgaria with Russian support.

1889: Union Pacific railway begins daily service from Chicago to Portland and San Francisco.

1894: Serial killer H. H. Holmes is tracked by Pinkertons from Philadelphia to Boston where he is arrested. Holmes killed between 14 and 27 people between the years of 1891 and 1894.

1913: U.S. dental hygienist courses are formed in Bridgeport, Conn.; the first ship sails through the Panama Canal.

1917: Vladimir Lenin defends his reasoning for the removal of freedom of the press.

1922: The last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, is exiled on a British ship after the end of World War I.

1929: Joseph Stalin gets political rival Nikoli Bukharin expelled from the Soviet Politburo.

1933: U.S. recognizes the Soviet Union as a sovereign nation, begins trade.

1938: Italy passes anti-Jewish legislation similar to Germany’s Nuremberg laws.

1940: The Green Bay Packers become the first NFL team to travel by plane.

1947: U.S. Screen Actors Guild enforce an anti-communist oath.

1956: USSR performs an atmospheric nuclear test.

1967: Surveyor 6 becomes the first man-made object to lift off from the moon.

1973: Richard Nixon gives his famous “I am not a crook” speech.

2003: Brittany Spears becomes the youngest celebrity to get a star on the Walk of Fame.