On this day: July 8

July 8

• 1663 – King Charles II of England granted John Clarke the Rhode Island Royal Charter, described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed."
• 1709 – Great Northern War: Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII of Sweden in Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.
• 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte (pictured) approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the Peninsular War.
• 1947 – After various news agencies reported the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, the military stated that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance weather balloon.
• 2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched in STS-135, the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

• More anniversaries:
  • July 7
  • July 8
  • July 9

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• Current date: July 8, 2015 (UTC)
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