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Gold!
.At Pike's Peak Colorado, gold was discovered in 1858 and "fifty-niners" flooded to the hills to dig. Most prospectors didn't find much or any gold, but many stayed to mine silver or farm -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act (1862) offered 160 acres of free land. Settlers only had to pay a small fee and improve the land, meaning build a small cabin on it. Alternately, the land could be purchased flat-out for $1.25 per acre. -
Sand creek Masacre
Col. J.M. Chivington's troops circled then killed 400 Indians who thought they'd been given immunity. This was the infamous Sand Creek Massacre (1864). -
National Labor Union
The National Labor Union (1866) lasted 6 years and had 600,000 members—skilled, unskilled, and farmers. 2.Their goals were arbitration and an 8 hour workday.
The 1873 depression ruined the National Labor Union. -
Fetterman Masacre
The Sioux sought to stop the Bozeman Trail to Montana's gold and killed Capt. William J. Fetterman and his 81 soldiers. -
Election of 1868
Republicans: Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Democrats: Horatio Seymour Grant won, narrowly, by "waving the bloody shirt" -
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) was made between the federal government and the Sioux. The government gave up on the Bozeman Trail and the huge Sioux reservation was established. The treaty looked promising but was short-lived -
Transcontinental railroad
the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 near Ogden, Utah. -
Divorce
A split developed in the 1870's and 80's within the republican party.
1.The Stalwarts were led by Roscoe Conkling.
2.The Half-Breeds were led by James G. Blaine -
Election of 1872
By the 1872 election, many people had had enough of the corruption. Reformers started the Liberal Rebpublican Party to clean things up.
Liberal republicans & Democrats: Horace Greeley
Republicans: Grant
Grant won; however, reform was made. (1) An amnesty act was passed which removed restrictions that'd been placed on many Southerners. Also, (2) there was effort to reduce the tariff rates and (3) to clean up/out the Grant administration. -
Panic of 1873
The panic was started by over spending with borrowed money.The panic was sparked when banks and businesses began to go bankrupt; blacks were hit the hardest. -
Democrats take over
Democrats took over the House of Representatives in 1874 due to Republican hard money policies. -
women against alcohol
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (1874) was more aggressive. It was led by Francis E. Willard and Carrie A. Nation whose trademark was to literally walk into a bar and chop it up with a hatchet. -
more Gold!
in 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota (on the Sioux reservation) when Col. William Armstrong Custer led a "geological" expedition into the Black Hills -
Little Big Horn
The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) .Led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. The Little Bighorn battle brought the U.S. military out for revenge and sealed the Indian-white relationship as little better than warfare -
Election of 1876 / Compromise of 1877
Republicans: Hayes
Democrats: Tilden
Contraversy formed, which called for the Compromise of 1877.
The North got Rutherford B. Hayes elected as a Republican president.
The South got a pledge that Hayes would removal of military occupation in the South, thus ending Reconstruction. Additionally,money would be spent on the Texas and Pacific railroad. -
Economic Conflict
2.The 4 largest railroads got together and decided to cut employee wages by 10%. The workers fought back by going on strike. 1.This railroad shut-down crippled the nation and President Hayes called in federal troops to stop the unrest amongst the striking workers.
2.The trouble went on several weeks but eventually ended with the workers losing on the losing side. This failed strike showed the weaknesses of the labor movement at the time -
New Party
The Greenback Labor Party was started in 1878 with the main mission of bringing cheap money policies back to life. -
Election of 1880
Republicans: Garfield
Democrats:Scott
Garfield won, but was soon assassinated in 1881.
Aurther became president. -
New Immigration
waves of people from Poland, Italy, Slovakia, and croatia came to America. They were usually Catholic, uneducated, and poor. -
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor began in secrecy and then came out in 1881. It welcomed skilled and unskilled, women and blacks. The Knights sought workers' cooperatives, better working conditions, and the 8 hour workday.They had some success, led by Terence V. Powderly -
Chinese Exclusion Act
It forbade the immigration of Chinese to America. This was the first immigration resriction America passed. -
Brooklyn Bridge
New York's Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883. The suspension bridge came to symbolize American ingenuity, technology, commerce, and can-do attitude -
Election of 1884
Reps:Blaine
Dems:Cleveland
Cleveland won -
The Haymarket Square Incident
Occured in Chicago in 1886; abombing took place, and the commnity blamed the kinghts and unions. The end result of the Haymarket Square incident was a distrust in unions and a decline in their membership. -
AF of L
The American Federation of Labor (called the "AF of L")was started by Samuel Gompers in 1886. The AF of L was made up of small, independent unions. Made up of skilled craftsmen; they demanded better wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. Passage of Labor Day in 1894. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act (1887) that outlawed rebates and pools. It also required rates to be openly published and banned charging low rates for the long haul and higher rates for the short haul. -
Dawes Severalty Act
In 1887 the Dawes Severalty Act was passed. Its overall goal was to erase tribes and set the Indians on the road to "becoming white." -
Election of 1888
Dems: Cleveland
Reps: Harrison
Harrison won in a very close race. -
Hull House
Addams founded Hull House in Chicago (1889). It was a "settlement house"—immigrants came there for counseling, literacy training, child care, cultural activities, and the like -
McKenley Tariff
4.The McKinley Tariff (1890) hiked rates to roughly 48%, the highest peacetime rate ever. 1.The tariff was a double-edged sword: business folks loved the protection it gave, but farmers disliked the fact that manufactured goods were now more expensive. -
Sherman Ant- Trust Act
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) was enacted in attempt to outlaw trusts or monopolies. The law forbade "pools", interlocking directorates, and holding companies. The act was not effective because it was hard to prove guilt and unenforcable. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee was not a battle but a massacre. 200+ Indians were killed, essentially killed for dancing. This battle marked the end of the Indian Wars. By this time, all Indians were either on reservations or dead. -
New Party
1.In 1892, a new political party emerged—the Populist Party (AKA the People's Party). It was made up of unhappy farmers and sprung out of the Farmers' Alliance. -
Depression of 1893
1.Nearly 8,000 U.S. businesses went out of business in 6 months. Railroads went under too and soup kitchens popped up to feed wandering hoboes. -
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exposition (1893 in Chicago) revived classical architectural forms and setback realism or Louis Sullivan's new "form follows function" style -
Coxey's army and the pullman strike
1.The Panic of 1893 fueled the passion of the Populists. Many disgruntled unemployed fled to D.C. calling for change. 1.Most famous of these people was “General” Jacob Coxey. “Coxey’s Army” (AKA the "Commonweal Army") marched on Washington with scores of followers and many newspaper reporters. They called for: 1.Relieving unemployment by a government public works program.
2.An issuance of $500 million in paper money. Both of these would create inflation and therefore make debts easier to pay of -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
"seperate but equal" -
Election of 1896
Reps: mcKinley
Dems: Bryan
McKinley won. The election was important in that (a) gold was decided upon as America's economic basis, (b) it was a victory for business, conservatives, and middle class values (as opposed to the working class), and (c) it started 16 years of Republican presidents -
4 more
1.By 1900, four more transcontinental lines had been constructed. 1.The Northern Pacific Railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound.
2.The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe from Kansas to California.
3.The Southern Pacific line went from New Orleans to San Francisco.
4.The Great Northern linked Duluth, MN to Seattle -
Steele
by 1900, U.S. Steele produe 1/4 of the nation's Bessemer Steele. -
Gold Standard Act
1.Congress passed the Gold Standard Act (1900) saying people could trade in paper money for gold. Just knowing and trusting that meant there was no need to do that. This brought economic calm and stability -
Miracles of Mechanization
1.Between 1860 and 1984 the U.S. rose from the 4th largest manufacturing nation to the 1st. The reasons were liquid capital, natural resources, and immigration.