1. In 1662, Connecticut Governor John Winthrop Jr. granted a charter to the town of New London, which would become one of the state's major port cities and a hub of maritime commerce.

2. On June 12, 1775, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull Sr. gave a speech to the General Assembly urging support for the Continental Army in the early days of the Revolutionary War. Trumbull would later be known as the "Brother Jonathan" caricature that represented Americans in political cartoons of the time.

3. In 1838, the Connecticut State Medical Society was founded in New Haven. It remains one of the oldest professional medical organizations in the United States, and advocates for the health and wellbeing of Connecticut residents to this day.

4. On June 12, 1865, Union Army veteran Major General Joseph R. Hawley was elected Governor of Connecticut. Hawley had served in the Civil War and gained notoriety for his leadership in the Battle of Gettysburg. He would go on to serve as a U.S. Senator and advocate for civil rights.

5. In 1985, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to enact a seatbelt law for all vehicle occupants. The law required drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts while operating or riding in a vehicle, and would later become a model for similar laws in other states.