1791: Constitution of May 3 is proclaimed by the Great Sejm (Parliament) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the first modern constitution in Europe

1808: Day depicted by Spanish painter Francisco Goya in his “The Third of May,” which he paints in 1814

1926: Britain’s Trade Union Congress calls for the country’s first-ever general strike, begins at 1 minute to midnight in support of striking coal miners and lasts 9 days

1937: Margaret Mitchell wins the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Gone with the Wind”

1945: German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona, laden with prisoners, is sunk by the Royal Air Force in the western Baltic Sea, killing 5,800 people in one of the largest maritime losses of life in World War II

1947: Japan’s post-war constitution goes into effect, granting universal suffrage, stripping Emperor Hirohito of all but symbolic power and outlawing Japan’s right to make war

Source: Onthisday.com