ON THIS DAY

1540 - King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed. The same day, Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

1794 - Maximilien Robespierre was sent to the guillotine. He was a leading figure in the French Revolution.

1821 - Peru declared its independence from Spain.

1865 - The American Dental Association proposed its first code of ethics.

1866 - The metric system was legalized by the U.S. Congress for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States.

1868 - The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect. The amendment guaranteed due process of law.

1896 - The city of Miami, FL, was incorporated. <STATE OF FL WAS ADMITTED MAR.3.1845>

1914 - World War I officially began when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

1932 - Federal troops forcibly dispersed the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington, DC. They were demanding money they were not scheduled to receive until 1945.