On this day in 1776, the United States Declaration of Independence was adopted.
On this day in 1886, the people of France offered the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.
On this day in 1946, after 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attained full independence from the United States.
And on this day in 2012, the discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider was announced at CERN.