On July 11, 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr [pictured] shot former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who died within days. The shooting was a duel of honor in which Burr had challenged Hamilton. But in a sense Burr lost, for Hamilton had left a letter that made him seem almost a martyr. The letter may have been less than veracious, but it was effective, and popular opinion quickly turned on Burr.
On July 11, 1909, mathematician, astronomer, and economist Simon Newcomb died. On this date in 1960, Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” is published.
July 11 is World Population Day, an event cooked up by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989. The day may be a propagandistic tool of the international statist elite, but freedom-lovers could celebrate by promoting the anti-Malthusian population writings of Nassau Senior, Herbert Spencer, and Julian Simon.