■ In 1775, Benjamin Franklin became America’s first Postmaster-General. ■ In 1788, New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. ■ In 1882, the Richard Wagner opera “Parsifal” premiered in Bayreuth, Germany. ■ In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte ordered creation of a force of special agents that was a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. read more