TODAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 7TH

1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1804 – John Deere, American businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886) is born.

1812 – Charles Dickens, English author and critic (d. 1870) is born.

1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.

1863 – HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.

1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957) is born.

1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS Titanic (d. 1912) is born.

1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951) is born.

1894 – The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

1904 – A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).

1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented.

1938 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (b. 1868) dies.

1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.

1964 – The Beatles first arrive in the United States. Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show two days later would mark the beginning of the British Invasion.

1965 – Chris Rock, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter is born.

1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American model, actor, and producer is born.

1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.

1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1988 – Matthew Stafford, NFL's Detroit Lion quarterback is born.

1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

1991 – Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.

1997 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.

1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leaves 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.

2015 – Dean Smith, American college, North Carolina Tar Heels, basketball player and coach (b. 1931) dies.