In 1794, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americans from taking part in any military action against a country that was at peace with the United States.

1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.

1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris.

1893 – Lizzie Borden's trial begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on the subject of the Borden Murders.

1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage.

1916 – Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; he is the first American Jew to hold such a position.

In 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as The Marshall Plan.

1949 – Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand's Parliament.

In 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, struck down racially segregated railroad dining cars.

1956 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

1975 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

1981 – The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

1989 – The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

2004 – Noël Mamère, Mayor of Bègles, celebrates marriage for two men for the first time in France.

Ten years ago in 2009: President Barack Obama, while visiting Germany, became the first U.S. president to tour the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he honored the 56,000 who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Five years ago in 2014: President Barack Obama said he "absolutely makes no apologies" for seeking the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in a prisoner swap with the Taliban, vigorously defending an exchange that caused controversy.

One year ago in 2018:The Miss America pageant announced that it was eliminating the swimsuit competition from the event; the new head of the organization’s board of trustees, Gretchen Carlson, said on ABC, “We’re not going to judge you on your appearance because we are interested in what makes you you.”

Almanac - Wednesday 6/5/19

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