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The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition
It was a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It brought together both local and foreign artists, artisans, and inventors to contribute to this massive exhibition that reflected the morals, priorities, and ideologies of the time as well as their aspirations for the future. It helped ease lingering tensions from the Civil War and gave people an educational opportunity to appreciate the highlights of that day and age in the midst of the country's growing pains. -
The Battle of Little Bighorn
Once gold was discovered in the Black Hills on the Great Sioux Reservation, the U.S. government attempted to renegotiate their treaty with the Sioux while moving in troops to take control of the area. Lt. Colonel George Custer led his men to a camp along the Little Bighorn river where they found a much larger gathering of Indians than expected. Custer and 268 of his men were utterly defeated. This sparked a retaliation from the U.S. that scattered and crushed the last of the Plains Indians. -
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Rutherford B. Hayes' Presidency
Hayes was a general in the Civil War and became the Republican nominee for president. After winning, he wanted to heal the rift between the politics and the people of the northern and southern states. He agreed to remove some of the troops stationed in the south and, although he wanted to protect the rights of black Americans, he also wanted the south to have its own stable government. His efforts to appeal to the South contributed to the collapse of the Reconstruction efforts. -
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
After the economic downturn caused by the Panic of 1873, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company announced a second wage cut within 8 months of the first one. This sparked what became a series of strikes in which railroad workers refused to let trains run in many places. Federal troops eventually had to be involved as local and state militia either refused or were not able to break up the protests. Despite 100 deaths and 1,000 imprisonments, the strikes did not lead to much change in their wages. -
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Chester A. Arthur's Presidency
Arthur became president after the assassination of President James A. Garfield. One of his major accomplishments was passing the Pendleton Civil Service Act, which required certain government positions to be given to individuals based upon merit instead of unreliable connections and made it illegal for a worker to be fired for a political cause. He also fought against the Chinese Exclusion Act and advocated for the modernization of the U.S. Navy. -
Buffalo Bill's Wild West extravaganza
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody created this touring show that epitomized the fanciful view of the Wild West that many Americans had. This form of entertainment was extremely successful around the 1880s and through the 1910s. It fed into the popular culture of the romanticized, exciting, free-range lifestyle of westerners that stood in stark contrast with the common lifestyle of an industrial worker that depended on wages and the whims of factory bosses. -
Congress lifts the ban on segregation
On this day, Congress ruled that part of the Civil Rights of Act of 1875 was unconstitutional. They essentially lifted the law that prohibited discrimination against black Americans based upon their race. This opened the door legally for Jim Crow laws to continue to develop and worsen. -
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Grover Cleveland's Presidency
Cleveland is generally not favored as one of the best presidents because of he adamantly opposed granting federal money to benefit any certain group of people, he sent armed troops to break up strikes, and he employed more executive power than any president had used before during a peaceful time. He was re-elected to serve from 1893-1897 during the economic depression and did not do much to help relieve the public's suffering. -
The Haymarket Riot
The movement for an eight-hour work day led to a protest in Chicago that erupted into a violent riot after a bomb exploded. Eight people died, and eight radicals were convicted for supposed connections to the bombs. Some of them were executed. It was a major setback in the labor unions and protests because surrounded protests in a violent stigma. It caused the Knights of Labor to fade and the American Federation of Labor to rise on the stage of labor reform. -
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Benjamin Harrison's Presidency
Harrison's presidency was highlighted by his decision to raise protective tariffs, which contributed to the economic depression that followed his presidency, and his pursuit of the United States' foreign policy as he sought to give America a larger presence on the world stage by engaging more boldly with other countries. He also signed the Sherman Antitrust Act, which forbade the formation of large trusts between companies in the growing industry. -
The Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890
This outlawed the formation of trusts between businesses that would allow them to overpower competition. It was Congress' first attempt to inhibit the development of monopolies and to regulate trade to ensure that the competition would be fair. -
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The Depression of 1893
This depression was triggered by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the collapse of Philadelphia and Reading Railroad company and National Cordage Company. These huge companies had employed many people, and their collapse caused a stock market crisis. Because many businesses relied far too heavily on loans and borrowed money, thousands of companies became bankrupt when banks called in loans. Unemployment rate went over ten percent and thousands of people suffered in the oppressing economy. -
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William McKinley's Presidency
McKinley was extremely popular among the public as he paid extremely close attention to what the general consensus wanted. He entered the U.S. into the Spanish-American war on the policy of neutral intervention in Cuba, and then annexed the territories they won from Spain because he detected the rising imperialist sentiment in the U.S. He won the vote for continuing into a second term; however, he was shot and killed by an anarchist in September of that year. -
The Spanish-American War
After yellow journals covered Spain's brutal suppression of the Cubans' rebellion against their rule, the American public called for an intervention to help Cuba. President McKinley authorized this action, and American forces quickly defeated the unprepared Spanish troops. It ended with the Treaty of Paris in December of that year. This war ended Spain's reign in the Americas and gave America its old territories, which increased the imperial sentiment in America and expanded its global presence.