1214: Birth of Louis IX, king of France (1226-1270).

1599: Birth of Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan leader of the English Civil War.

1792 - The French began officially losing their heads -- or causing others to -- when the second article of Dr. Guillotin's ratified proposal occurred at Place de Gr�ve.

1840: Birth of the Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.

1874: Birth of the Italian inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi.

1859: The making of the Suez Canal was initiated at Port Said, Egypt.

1898: In response to the previous day's event, the United States officially declared war on Spain.

1901: New York became the first state to require automobile license plates (for a $1 fee).

1915: ANZAC, et. al., troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey.

1945: Delegates of about 50 countries met in the United States to organize the United Nations.

1953: Biologists Francis Crick and James Watson described the "double helix" of DNA in an article published in the magazine Nature.

1959: The St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight Eisenhower.

No.
This took a little search since I didn't know anything about Frederic Bartholdi's life beyond the making of La Libert� �clairant le Monde (Liberty Enlightening the World). In 1867 and 1869, Bartholdi had proposed that a lighthouse designed as the Roman goddess, Libertas (L.=Liberty), garbed as an Egyptian peasant be placed at the canal's entrance; this project was never accepted. Undoubtedly, it did heavily influenced the design of the Statue of Liberty but �political reasoning in France seems the main basis for requesting its construction for the centennial of the United States.