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Invention of the Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell
While trying to perfect a method for carrying multiple messages on a single wire, Bell heard the sound of a plucked spring along 60 feet of wire in a Boston electrical shop. Hearing the sound, Bell thought he could solve the problem of sending a human voice over a wire. He figured out how to send a simple current first, and got a patent for that invention (the telephone). Later, he made the first-ever telephone call to Watson, saying the now-famous phrase, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” -
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The Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer's Last Stand, was fought between the U.S. Army and an alliance of Indian tribes. The battle transpired because the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, where the U.S. government guaranteed to the Lakota and Dakota as well as the Arapaho exclusive possession of the Dakota Territory west of the Missouri River, had been broken. The battle marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. -
1876 Presidential Election
The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed presidential elections in all of U.S. history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The 20 disputed electoral votes were given to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was a purported, informal, and unwritten deal that resolved the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election. It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era. The secret deal also ensured that the Republican Party candidate, Rutherford Hayes, became the next president and that the Democrats regained political power in the southern state governments. -
Thomas Edison Receives a Patent for His Light bulb
Between 1878 and 1880, Edison and his team of researchers tested more than 3,000 designs for bulbs. In November 1879, Edison filed a patent for an electric lamp with a carbon filament. The patent listed several materials that might be used for the filament, including cotton, linen and wood. On January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison received the historic patent embodying the principles of his incandescent lamp that paved the way for the universal domestic use of electric light. -
1880 Presidential Election
The U.S. presidential election of 1880 was seen as a referendum on the Republicans' relaxation of Reconstruction efforts in the southern states. There were no pressing issues of the day save tariffs, with the Republicans supporting higher tariffs and the Democrats supporting lower ones. The Republican nominee was James A. Garfield, and the Democratic nominee was Civil War General Winfield S. Hancock. Garfield was easily elected, capturing 214 of the states' 369 electoral votes. -
Assassination of James A. Garfield
On July 2, 1881, at 9:20 a.m., James A. Garfield was shot in the back by Charles J. Guiteau while he was walking with Secretary of State Blaine in Washington's Baltimore and Potomac train station. The shots came from a .44 British Bulldog. Garfield's doctors weren't able to remove the bullet, which was lodged in his pancreas. On September 19, 1881, the Garfield died of blood poisoning and other complications from the shooting. -
Founding of the Interstate Commerce Act/ Interstate Commerce Commission
In 1887 Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which required that railroads charge fair rates to their customers and make those rates public. The act also established a five-member enforcement board called the Interstate Commerce Commission, which had the authority to investigate and prosecute companies who violated the law. Though the law granted the Commission power to investigate abuses and summon witnesses, it lacked the resources to accomplish its lofty goals. -
The Dawes Act of 1887
The Dawes Act of 1887 gave the federal government power to break up tribal lands by dividing them into individual plots. Only the Native American Indians that accepted the individual allotments were permitted to become citizens of the U.S. The goal of act was to assimilate Native American Indians into the U.S. society by destroying their traditional way of life. The act caused over ninety million acres of tribal land to be stripped from Native American Indians and sold to non-natives. -
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was a piece of legislation that authorized the federal government to break up any businesses that prohibited competition. Its founder a United States Senator from Ohio named John Sherman. The government utilized this legislation throughout the late 1800s and the 1900s to break up monopolies, such as that of the Standard Oil Company in 1911.
Ironically, its only effective use was against labor unions, which were held by the courts to be illegal combinations. -
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Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was a violent labour dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers that occurred on July 6, 1892, in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The strike pitted the company’s management, the strikebreakers who had been hired, and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency against members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, who worked for the company. A gun battle resulted in which many Pinkerton agents and strikers were either killed or injured. -
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The Panic of 1893
This was a national economic crisis caused by the collapse the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. After the failure of these, many businesses had overextended themselves, borrowing money to expand their operations. When the financial crisis struck, banks and other investment firms began calling in loans, causing hundreds of business bankruptcies across the U.S. Banks, railroads, and steel mills especially fell into bankruptcy. Unemployment rates rose to 20-25%. -
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Pullman Strike of 1894
The strike was a milestone in U.S. labor history, as the widespread strike by railroad workers brought business to a standstill across large parts of the U.S. until President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to crush the strike, and dozens were killed in violent clashes in the streets of Chicago, where the strike took place. It started due to workers anger at George Pullman for increasing working hours and cutting wages and jobs. Eugene V. Debs, president of ARU, led the strike. -
Explosion of USS Maine
On February 15, 1898, at 9:40 p.m., the battleship USS Maine exploded then sank in Havana Harbor, killing about 260 of the 355 men on board. This international disaster became an important catalyst for the Spanish-American War. Even though there was no hard evidence that the sinking was caused by the Spanish, a large portion of the American public began clamoring for retribution almost immediately. “Remember the Maine!” quickly became a rallying cry. -
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Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. The immediate reasons for war were America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor. The Spanish army in Santiago surrendered on July 17 after the Battle of San Juan Hill. -
Treaty of Paris of 1898
The Treaty of Paris was signed on December 10, and it ended the Spanish-American War. This treaty caused Spain to give up Guam,
Puerto Rico, its possessions in the West Indies, and
the Philippines in exchange for a U.S. payment of
$20 million. It also allowed the United States to occupy Cuba, but not annex it. This treaty ultimately marked the end of Spanish imperialism and established the United States’ position as a world power.
