-
John D. Rockefeller incorporates standard oil
Standard oil later controlled 90% of the nation’s refineries and pipelines. Standard Oil built its own oil barrels and employed scientists to figure out new uses for petroleum by-products. The Standard Oil company dominated the oil market through horizontal integration. Rockefeller’s establishment is significant because it controlled almost all oil production, processing, marketing, and transportation. It helped start the industrialization in the Gilded Age. -
Rutherford B. Hayes is elected president
Tilden won the popular vote, but the Demo. and Rep. parties in FL, LA, & SC sent their own ballots to WA. Since there were two sets of results from each state--each state granted their own candidate the victor, Congress appointed a 15 member commission to choose the winner of the electoral votes. They chose Hayes as the winner. Hayes ended Reconstruction, made federal dollars available for infrastructure in the South & appointed Southerners to high-level government positions. -
Railroad workers strike across United States; The Great Railroad Strike
The country's first major strike amongst laborers and witnessed the first general strike in the nation's history. The strikes and the violence paralyzed the country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic. the railroad workers’ experienced pay cuts which created a sense of hostility amongst the workers. The strike helped set the stage for later violence amongst future laborers in the 1880s and 1890s. -
Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. The act was the first law restricting immigration into the U.S. It suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years and declared the Chinese as ineligible for naturalization. -
Congress passes Pendleton Act
The law was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. The act stated that federal government jobs were going to be awarded to those based off of merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams. The Pendleton Act put an end to the spoils system and transformed the nature of public service. -
Haymarket Riot
A rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square was an attempt to secure an 8 hour work day. 6 people were killed when a bomb was thrown at policemen. This act of violence was linked to the Knights of Labor and was a major setback to their cause. It is not too long before the union has a member decline and its influence diminishes. It shows the rising working class going against the gov't and the trials that followed proved the injustices of the judicial system and how powerful the media was. -
Dawes Severalty Act
An act that broke up Indian reservations and distributed land to individual households. Leftover land was sold for money to fund U.S. government efforts to "civilize" Native Americans. It assimilated the Native Americans. Of 130 million acres held in Native American reservations before the Act, 90 million were sold to non-Native buyers. The Dawes Act, with its emphasis on individual land ownership, also had a negative impact on the unity, self-government, and culture of Indian tribes. -
Pullman Strike
A 1894 strike by railroad workers upset by drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by socialist Eugene Debs but not supported by the American Federation of Labor. Eventually President Grover Cleveland intervened and federal troops forced an end to the strike. The strike highlighted both divisions within labor and the government's new willingness to use armed force to combat work stoppages. Rioting in several cities led to the deployment of 14,000 state and federal troops. -
Election of 1896
The defeat of Bryan & the Populist free-silver movement initiated an era of Republican dominance of the presidency. Once the party of "free soil, free labor, & free men," the Republicans were now the party of business, industry, & a strong national gov't. The Democrats carried on in defeat as the sectional party of the South and host of whatever Populist sentiment remained. William McKinley won the presidency. Republicans then enacted a higher tariff (Dingley Tariff).
