1. In 1756, the Connecticut General Assembly declared that all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 50 were required to serve in the colonial military. This law was enacted in response to the impending conflict with the French and Indian forces during the Seven Years' War.

2. On May 16, 1780, the British army under the command of General William Tryon raided the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, burning many homes and other buildings to the ground. This brutal attack was part of a larger British strategy to demoralize the American colonists during the Revolutionary War.

3. In 1824, Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri. Although he did not spend much time in Connecticut, Twain had many ties to the state and often visited his friend Harriet Beecher Stowe in Hartford.

4. On May 16, 1918, the Hartford Courant reported that a group of suffragettes had marched through the city in support of women's right to vote. The demonstration was part of a larger national movement for suffrage that would eventually lead to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

5. In 1983, Yale University professor Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science Alexander Bickel passed away. Bickel was known for his influential work in constitutional law and his advocacy for the principle of judicial restraint. He was also a respected mentor to many notable legal scholars, including Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.