September 17
1787
The Constitution was completed and signed by a majority of the delegates attending the constitutional convention in Philadelphia.
1862
The bloodiest day in U.S. military history occurred at the Battle of Antietam when more than 23,000 were killed or wounded.
1908
Lt. Thomas Selfridge, a passenger in a plane piloted by Orville Wright, became the first airplane fatality when the craft crashed.
1920
The American Professional Football Association—a precursor of the NFL—was formed in Canton, Ohio.
1980
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, former president of Nicaragua, was assassinated in Paraguay.
1994
Heather Whitestone of Alabama became the first deaf Miss America.
2004
Barry Bonds became the third baseball player to hit 700 career home runs, joining Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.
Birthdays
David H. Souter
1939—, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1990—2009), born in Melrose, Mass.
Christian Louis Lange
pacifist (1869)
William Carlos Williams
poet and physician (1883)
Warren Earl Burger
fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (1907)
Hank Williams
country singer (1923)
Anne Bancroft
actress (1931)