Timeline Dec 7 to 10

Dec 7
1598  Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor, was born.
1837  Government forces blew up Montgomery's Tavern, William Lyon Mackenzie's base of operations. He fled to the US.
1863  R. W. Sears, American merchant and founder of Sears, Roebuck retail company, was born.
1941  Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II.
1941  Canada declared war on Japan following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hong Kong and other Pacific bases.
1972  America's last moon mission was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.

Dec 8
1765  Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin, was born.
1838  Col Nils Szoltevcky Von Shoultz was hanged at Kingston for his part in the attack on Prescott. Ten other "Hunters" were hanged later. The defence lawyer for these men was John A Macdonald.
1869  Timothy Eaton opened the door of his dry goods shop on Yonge St. in Toronto.
1941  The United States entered World War II as the US Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1980  Rock musician John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman.

Dec 9
1608  John Milton, English poet and scholar,  was born in London.
1854  The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was published in England.
1858  Robert Baldwin, champion of responsible government and joint premier of Canada from 1848 to 1851, died near Toronto.
1934  Judi Dench, actress, was born.
1965  A power failure at Niagara Falls caused a blackout in a large part of Ontario and the US northeast.
2004  Canada's Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was constitutional.

Dec 10
1520  Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication.
1813  American forces burned Niagara and Queenston before retreating to the US.
1820  Robert Randall, an Ottawa valley entrepreneur, lost his "empire" to creditors.
1851  Melvil Dewey, American librarian famous for creating the Dewey Decimal Classification system, was born.  Died Dec. 26, 1931.
1949  Royal assent was given to the Trans-Canada Highway Act.