Today is Wednesday, July 2, the 184th day of 2008. There are 182 days left in the year.
1776 _ Continental Congress resolves ``these United Colonies are and of right ought to be Free and Independent States"
1777 _ Vermont becomes first American colony to abolish slavery
1787 _ De Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered
1843 _ An alligator falls from the sky during a Charleston, S.C., thunderstorm
1858 _ Partial emancipation of Russian serfs
1900 _ Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin first airship LZ-1, flies
1956 _ Elvis Presley records ``Hound Dog" and ``Don't Be Cruel"
1976 _ Formal reunification of North and South Vietnam
1976 _ Supreme Court ruled death penalty not inherently cruel or unusual
1990 _ Imelda Marcos and Adnan Khashoggi found not guilty of racketeering