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Homestead Act
During the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land -
Transcontinental Railroad Completed
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Industrialization Begins to Boom
Industrialization helped increase the nation's wealth quickly -
Social Darwinism Gains Popularity
Social Darwinists embraced laissez-faire capitalism and racism. They believed that government should not interfere in the “survival of the fittest” by helping the poor, and promoted the idea that some races are biologically superior to others. -
Nativism Spreads
Nativism is the political policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants -
Standard Oil Company is Founded
An American company and corporate trust that from 1870 to 1911 was the industrial empire of John D. Rockefeller and associates, controlling almost all oil production, processing, marketing, and transportation in the United States. -
The "New South" wants Industrialization
Henry W. Grady, a newspaper editor in Atlanta, Georgia, coined the phrase the "New South” in 1874. He urged the South to abandon its longstanding agrarian economy for a modern economy grounded in factories, mines, and mills -
Jim Crow Laws Begin in the South
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States -
Boss Tweed Rise at Tammany Hall
An American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that Tweed then took advantage of to increase his income: he used his law firm to extort low income neighborhoods. -
Telephone is Invented
In 1876, a new invention called the telephone emerged. It is not easy to determine who the inventor was. Both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray submitted independent patent applications concerning telephones -
Reconstruction Ends
Southern Democrats' promises to protect civil and political rights of African Americans were not kept, and the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of black voters -
Period: to
Gilded Age
An era of rapid economic growth in the United States -
Light Bulb is Invented
Thomas Edison began serious research into perfecting a practical incandescent lamp and on October 14, 1878, Edison filed his first patent application for "Improvement In Electric Lights". -
3rd Wave of Immigration
The third wave, between 1880 and 1914, brought over 20 million European immigrants to the United States, an average of 650,000 a year at a time when the United States had 75 million residents -
Chinese Exclusion Act
A United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. -
Pendleton Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act provided for selection of some government employees by competitive exams rather than ties to politicians, and made it illegal to fire or demote some government officials for political reasons -
Haymarket Massacre
Occurred on May 4, 1886, when a labor protest rally near Chicago's Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. -
Dawes Act
An act that allowed the federal government to break up tribal lands -
Interstate Commerce Act
A federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates -
"The Gospel of Wealth"
An article written by Andrew Carnegie in June of 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Enacted in 1890 to curtail combinations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition. It outlaws both formal cartels and attempts to monopolize any part of commerce in the United States -
Carnegie Steel Company is Founded
A steel company founded and created by Andrew Carnegie and associates -
Pullman Labor Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States that lasted from May 11 to July 20, 1894, and a turning point for US labor law -
Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court Case
A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal"
