September 5: Teachers' Day in India.
- 1774 – In response to the British Parliament enacting the Intolerable Acts, representatives from twelve of Britain's North American colonies convened the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.
- 1793 – French Revolution: The National Convention began "The Reign of Terror", a ten-month period of systematic repression and mass executions by guillotine of perceived enemies within the country.
- 1905 – Under the mediation of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA.
- 1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" took hostage eleven Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Summer Games in Munich, West Germany; all of the hostages were killed less than 24 hours later.
- 1977 – NASA launched the robotic space probe Voyager 1 (pictured), currently the man-made object most distant from Earth.
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