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The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act dictated that any U.S. citizen, with a clean record, could claim some land. The land was 160 acres in size, and those who owned land through the Homestead Act had to live on and cultivate the land for five years, and then they would fully own the land barring a registration fee. -
The Election of Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was elected president after Lincoln's death left the nation without one. Andrew Johnson would go on to be a widely disliked president. He only had one term, and was the very first president to be impeached. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
Andrew Johnson, a widely hated president, was impeached after he was consistently found to be incompetent by the American people. The impeachment was not successful, however not many people voted for him to have a second term. He was the very first president to be impeached. -
The Election of Ulysses S. Grant
Once an American military general, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president because people believed he would be a good leader, in addition to literally anyone being better than Andrew Johnson at this point and time. Grant has been considered a controversial president, with many scandals occurring under his very nose as shown in this timeline, which may imply that while he was skilled as a military general, he was not as competent as a president. -
The Black Friday Scandal
The Black Friday Scandal was simple. Jay Gould and James Fisk began to hoard gold, and attempted to corner the gold market in order to make much more money when they would cell all their hoarded gold at once. The president at the time, Ulysses Grant, picked up on this and released the government's gold into the market. Gould wormed his way out of this situation, and Fisk had a near miss, but anyone less rich who invested in gold suffered heavily. -
The Belknap Trading Post Scandal
William W. Belknap sold weapons through trading posts. He'd abuse convinience and power to put competitors out of business, thus making his trading posts the only actual option if one wished to purchase weapons, and thus allowing him to charge whatever he wanted in the market. In other words, Belknap created a monopoly. -
The Whiskey Ring Scandal
The Whiskey Ring was a ring formed by Whiskey Distillers who would, much like Credit Mobilier, use their profits to bribe US officials. However, instead of seeking out bills and laws in their favor, the ring did this to be exempt from taxes and gain more profits. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
A company known as none other than Credit Mobilier of America would aide in building the first transcontinential railroad, however it would be at a price higher than usual. With the extra cash earned, the company would bribe important politicians to get bills that they wanted passed. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion act, caused by the growing racism towards chinese people, was passed to prevent chinese immigration for ten years. The reason for this was because nativists believed chinese people were "stealing their jobs." -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion act prevented chinese immigration for ten years, in order to please nativists who believed their jobs were being stolen by the chinese. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act was an act that allowed the US government to forcefully break up Native American tribes and assimilate them into American culture. The land that the Native Americans inhabited before being forced into American culture would then be sold off to potential landowners. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes act was the forceful removal of Native Americans from their land, assimilating the Native Americans into American culture and selling their land.