Historical Events on December 6
- 1768: The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published on this day.
- 1790: The United States Congress moves to Philadelphia from New York.
- 1865: Slavery is outlawed when the 13th Amendment to the U.S Constitution is ratified.
- 1884: In Washington, D.C., the final touches are done to the Washington Monument as it is finished.
- 1907: Over 360 coal miners are killed when a coal mine explodes in Monongah, West Virginia.
- 1917: Almost 2,000 people are killed when a munitions factory explodes near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- 1917: The German sub SM U-53 torpedoes and sinks the American destroyer the USS Jacob Jones.
- 1933: The novel Ulysses by James Joyce is determined to be not obscene thanks to a ruling by the court of United States Federal judge John M. Woolsey is born.
- 1973: The U.S House of Representatives confirms Gerald Ford as Vice President of the U.S.
- 2006: Pictures from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor suggest that liquid water may be on Mars.
Famous Birthdays on December 6
- American soldier, poet and author, Joyce Kilmer is born in 1886.
- Welsh occultist and author, Dion Fortune is born in 1890.
- Swedish sociologist and Nobel Prize laureate, Gunnar Myrdal is born in 1898.
- American actress Agnes Moorehead is born in 1900.
- American author and journalist, Elizabeth Yates is born in 1905.
- American gangster Baby Face Nelson is born in 1908.
- American actress JoBeth Williams is born in 1948.
- American author and playwright, Linda Barnes is born in 1949.
- American director and screenwriter, Craig Brewer is born in 1971.
- American mixed martial artist, Jens Pulver is born in 1974.
- English actor and screenwriter, Noel Clarke is born in 1975.
- American football player Syndric Steptoe is born in 1984.
- Greek swimmer Aristeidis Grigoriadis is born in 1985.
- American baseball player Adam Eaton is born in 1988.
- Japanese voice actor Nobunaga Shimazaki is born in 1988.
- Austrian tennis player Tamira Paszek is born in 1990.
- American tennis player Coco Vandeweghe is born in 1991.