On this day, September 3, in 1752

England and all of its American colonies officially stopped using the Julian calendar and adopted the Gregorian calendar. Due to the eleven-day gap in the two calendar systems, the English Parliament decreed that September 2 would be followed by September 14, causing the month of September in 1752 to have only nineteen days. When this change was enacted confusion and rumors began to circulate; workers believed that they would lose 11 days' pay and London's citizens were convinced that they would lose 11 days of their lives. The people of London rioted in the streets, protesting the calendar change and demanding their 11 days back.