From Historynet: Today in History January 9

1719          Philip V of Spain  declares war on France.

1776          Thomas Paine  publishes Common Sense, a scathing attack on King George III's reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence.

1792          The Ottomans sign a treaty with the Russians ending a five year war.

1793          Jean Pierre Blanchard  makes the first balloon flight in North America.

1861          Southern shellfire stops the Union supply ship Star of the West from entering Charleston Harbor on her way to Fort Sumter.

1861          Mississippi secedes from the Union.

1908          Count Zeppelin  announces plans for his airship to carry 100 passengers.

1909          A Polar exploration team lead by 

Ernest Shackleton  reaches 88 degrees, 23 minutes south longitude, 162 degrees east latitude. They are 97 nautical miles short of the South Pole, but the weather is too severe to continue.

1912          Colonel Theodore Roosevelt announces that he will run for president if asked.

1915          Pancho Villa  signs a treaty with the United States, halting border conflicts.

1924          Ford Motor Co. stock is valued at nearly $1 billion.

1943          Soviet planes drop leaflets on the surrounded Germans in Stalingrad requesting their surrender with humane terms. The Germans refuse.

1945          U.S. troops land on Luzon, in the Philippines, 107 miles from Manila.

1947          French General Leclerc breaks off all talks with Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.

1952          Jackie Robinson  becomes the highest paid player in Brooklyn Dodger history.

1964          U.S. forces kill six Panamanian students protesting in the canal zone.

1974          Cambodian Government troops open a drive to avert insurgent attack on Phnom Penh.

1992          The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of a new state within Yugoslavia, the Rupublika Srpska.

1996          A raid by Chechen separatists in the city of Kizlyar turns into a hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.

2005          Mahmoud Abbas wins election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority.

2005          The Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War is signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

2007          Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, unveils the first iPhone.