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(Imperialism) The U.S. claims the uninhabited islands of Midway.
Brooks claimed Midway for the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which authorized Americans to occupy uninhabited islands temporarily to obtain guano. -
(The Industrial Revolution) The Knights of Labor are founded to promote worker’s rights.
It was established in 1869, reached 28,000 members in 1880, then rose to 100,000 in 1885. -
(The Industrial Revolution) The transcontinental railroad is completed in Promontory, Utah
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a 1,907-mile railroad line constructed across the western United States to connect the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay with the existing Eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Missouri River. -
(Progressive Politics) Women win the right to vote in Wyoming.
Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. -
(Progressive Politics) Yellowstone becomes the first National Park.
Hayden and his 1871 party recognized that Yellowstone was a priceless treasure, which would become rarer with time. He wished for others to see and experience it as well. -
(Progressive Politics) Victoria Woodhull is the first woman to run for president.
Woodhull was nominated for President of the United States by the newly formed Equal Rights Party on May 10, 1872, at Apollo Hall, New York City. -
(Progressive Politics) Susan B. Anthony is arrested for voting in an election in Rochester, NY.
On November 1, 1872 Susan B. Anthony lead led a group of women, including her three sisters. They voted for every republican and four days after the ballot they were arrested. -
(Progressive Politics) Mayor William “Boss” Tweed of New York is convicted of fraud and jailed.
Tweed's first trial, in January 1873, ended when the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. His retrial in November resulted in convictions on 204 of 220 counts, a fine of $12,750 and a prison sentence of twelve years; a higher court, however, reduced Tweed's sentence to one year. -
(The Industrial Revolution) Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
n 1875, Bell developed an acoustic telegraph and drew up a patent application for it. -
(Progressive Politics) Tennessee passes to the Jim Crow law segregating rail cars for blacks and whites.
The State of Tennessee enacted 20 Jim Crow laws between 1866 and 1955, including six requiring school segregation, four which outlawed miscegenation, three which segregated railroads, two requiring segregation for public accommodations, and one which mandated segregation on streetcars. -
(The Industrial Revolution) Thomas Edison tests the first lighting system powered by an electric power plant.
The first successful test was on October 22, 1879;[48]:186 it lasted 13.5 hours.[50] Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898. -
(The Industrial Revolution) A homemade bomb kills 11 people at a protest in Haymarket Square.
The Haymarket affair was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. -
(Imperialism) King Kalakaua is forced at gunpoint to sign a constitution giving political control of Hawai’i to American sugar planters.
The people who favored annexation formed a group called the Hawaiian League. In 1887, members of the League armed with guns assembled together. The members of the league forced him at gun point to sign the new constitution. -
(Progressive Politics) Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act outlawing monopolies.
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(The Industrial Revolution) Workers stage a violent protest at Carnegie Steel in Homestead, PA
The Homestead Strike, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. -
(Progressive Politics) The National Grange and Farmer’s Alliance join to form the Populist Party.
In the late 1800s, the United States experienced a tremendous growth in industrialization. -
(Imperialism) The U.S.S. Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
In January 1898, Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence. Three weeks later, on February 15, an explosion on board Maine occurred in the Havana Harbor. -
(Imperialism) The Spanish-American War begins.
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. -
(Imperialism) Hawai’i is annexed by the United States.
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(The Industrial Revolution) Oil is discovered at Spindletop, Texas creating an American oil boom.
The American Oil Boom was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. -
(Imperialism) President McKinley is assassinated by Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, NY and Teddy Roosevelt becomes president.
The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, was shot and fatally wounded on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was shaking hands with the public when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. The President died on September 14 from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds. -
(The Industrial Revolution) Orville and Wilbur Wright test the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, NC
The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are credited[1][2][3] with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. -
(Imperialism) The U.S. begins work on the Panama Canal – May 1904
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(Progressive Politics) W.E.B. DuBois helps found the NAACP.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American civil rights activist, leader, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar. He became a naturalized citizen of Ghana in 1963 at the age of 95. -
(Progressive Politics) The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire kills 140 women and men.
On March 25, a Saturday afternoon, there were 600 workers at the factory when a fire began in a rag bin. The manager attempted to use the fire hose to extinguish it, but was unsuccessful, as the hose was rotted and its valve was rusted shut. -
(Progressive Politics) Massachusetts is the first state to establish a minimum wage.
In 1912, Massachusetts organized a commission to recommend non-compulsory minimum wages for women and children. Within eight years, at least thirteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia would pass minimum wage laws. -
(The Industrial Revolution) Congress adopts standard time for the entire country.
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(Progressive Politics) The 18th Amendment outlaws the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol.
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(Progressive Politics) Women’s right to vote is guaranteed by the 19th Amendment.
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(Progressive Politics) Native Americans are recognized as citizens in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
