-
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
His theory of evolution argued that higher forms of life had evolved from lower forms of life via random mutation and survival-of-the-fittest.At first, scientists rejected Darwin's views. Many people followed Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's version of evolution saying things that happened during an organism's life could be the surviving factor -
Nevada Comstock Lode
The lode was extremely productive: $340 million dollars worth was unearthed. In 1864, Nevada became a state almost overnight. -
Morrill Act
provided money to states for "land-grant colleges." A focus was on agricultural research at the universities. -
Homestead Act
offered 160 acres of free land. Settlers only had to pay a small fee and improve the land, meaning build a small cabin on it. Alternately, the land could be purchased flat-out for $1.25 per acre. -
Transcontinental Railroad
constructed between 1863 and 1869 across the western United States between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco Bay. This railroad was built by three private companies: the original Western Pacific Railroad Company, the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California , and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. -
Nevada admitted to the Union
Nevada became a state in 1864 while Lincoln was president. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Col. J.M. Chivington's troops circled then killed 400 Indians who thought they'd been given immunity. -
National Labor Union organized
was the first national labor federation in the United States. Founded in 1866 and dissolved in 1873, it paved the way for other organizations, such as the Knights of Labor and the AFL (American Federation of Labor). The National Labor Union followed the unsuccessful efforts of labor activists to form a national coalition of local trade unions. The National Labor Union sought instead to bring together all of the national labor organizations in existence. The new organization favored arbitration -
National Grange organized
a national farmers' organization aimed at advancing farmers' agenda. -
Election of 1868
first presidential election to take place during Reconstruction. Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia, were not yet restored to the Union so their electors could not vote in the election. Grant won by a narrow margian of 52.7% -
Black Friday
caused by two speculators’ efforts, Jay Gould and James Fisk, to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. In the late summer of 1869, Gould began buying large amounts of gold. He never sold this gold. This caused prices to rise and stocks to plummet. -
Tweed Scandal
The start of William Tweed's downfall. After the Orange Riot of 1871. The "Times" newspaper was going to publish evidence of Tweed's corruption and was offered $5 million not to publish it. Which they did anyway. -
Election of 1872
The Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, as their candidate.Grant won the election handily, 286 to 66.
The Liberal Republicans did spook the Republican Congress into passing some reforms. (1) An amnesty act was passed which removed restrictions that'd been placed on many Southerners. Also, (2) there was effort to reduce the tariff rates and (3) to clean up/out the Grant administration. -
Panic of 1873
It was started by over-spending with borrowed money, this time in railroads and factories. Growth was too fast and over-extended what the market could sustain.The causes of the panic were the same old ones that’d caused recessions every 20 years that century: (1) over-speculation (or over-spending) and (2) too-easy credit given by the banks.
Initially, the panic was sparked when banks and businesses began to go bankrupt. The situation quickly snowballed from there. -
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) organized
ed by Francis E. Willard and Carrie A. Nation whose trademark was to literally walk into a bar and chop it up with a hatchet. -
Resumption Act passed
was passed to actually start to (1) lower the number of greenbacks in circulation and (2) to redeem paper money at face value starting in 1879. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
sometimes called Enforcement Act or Force Act, was a United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction Era that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service. The Supreme Court decided the act was unconstitutional in 1883. -
Bell invents the telephone
invented the telephone as a part-time hobby while teaching the deaf to speak. -
Election of 1876
Tilden got 184 electoral votes; he needed 185 to win.20 votes were hanging in the balance due to questionable returns. Picking up only 1 vote would seee Tilden elected.Both sides sent people to the questionable states (LA, SC, FL, and OR) and both men claimed victories there.The question then became, "Which branch of Congress would count the states' votes?" Depending on who counted, the Democratic House or the Republican Senate, the vote would likely go that way. -
Compromise of 1877
The North…Got Rutherford B. Hayes elected as a Republican president.The South…Got a pledge that Hayes would removal of military occupation in the South.This did happen, thus ending Reconstruction. The bad news for the freedmen was that Southern blacks were now effectively left alone to fend for themselves. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 supposedly gave equal rights to blacks, but the Supreme Court had struck much of it down. Also, white Southerners began to reclaim a strong hold on power. -
Henry George publishes Progress and Poverty
examined the relationship between those two concepts. His theory was that "progress" pushed land values up and thus increased poverty amongst many. -
Dumbbell tenement introduced
had an air shaft vertically down the through the building to let in air. It wasn't perfect, but was much healthier than a cubicle box shaped apartment with no air shaft. -
Edison invents the electric light
the "Wizard of Menlo Park," came up with the light bulb along with many, many other inventions. -
Election of 1880
The 1880 election pitted Garfield against Scott.Garfield won the election, but found himself trapped in the middle of the Republican feud between the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds.Garfield was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau in September of 1881.As vice president, Chester Arthur became president. -
American Red Cross founded
led by Clara Barton, the famous Civil War nurse. -
First immigration-restriction laws passed
the Chinese Exclusion Act. It banned the immigration of Chinese. This was the first immigration law to specifically target and ban a specific ethnicity. -
Civil Rights Cases
were a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue for the United States Supreme Court to review. The Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments. -
Brooklyn Bridge completed
The suspension bridge came to symbolize American ingenuity, technology, commerce, and can-do attitude. -
Mark Twain publishes The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn
told of buddies runaway Huck and runaway slave Jim as they rafted down the Mississippi. The book was immensely popular and influential. Ernest Hemingway later said, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." -
Election of 1884
The Republicans nominated James G. Blaine for president in the 1884 election.Reform-minded Republicans didn't like this choice and went over to the Democrats. They were called "Mugwumps", supposedly with "their mug on one side and their wump on the other".The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland as their candidate.The mudslinging reached the worst level up until that point during the campaign. A popular topic was Cleveland's affair and the child it had produced some 8 years earlier. -
Statue of Liberty erected in New York harbor
was given to the U.S. by France during the days of such anti-foreigner feelings. -
Wabash case
The Wabash decision led to the creation in 1887 of the first modern regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission.
It clarified the "direct" v. "indirect" test (though this doctrine was abandoned in the 1930s).
It was one of the first instances in government assuming responsibility for economic affairs that had previously been delegated to the states. -
Haymarket Square bombing
There strikers were intermingled with a handful of anarchists calling for overthrow of the government.
A bombing took place and a handful of bystanders, including police, were killed or injured. The anarchists were the likely culprit, but the public placed blame on the Knights and unions.
Eight anarchists were arrested; five were given the death sentence and the other three were given hefty sentences. They were eventually pardoned by Governor John P. Atlgeld in 1892. -
Dawes Severalty Act
Its overall goal was to erase tribes and set the Indians on the road to "becoming white." -
Election of 1888
Cleveland was up for re-election by the Democrats, Benjamin Harrison was up as the Republican.
Harrison won in a very close race in 1888. Cleveland became the first president voted out of office since Martin Van Buren -
Jane Addams founds Hull House in Chicago
It was a "settlement house"—immigrants came there for counseling, literacy training, child care, cultural activities, and the like. -
Reed Becomes Speaker of the HoR
eed was a tall man, super debater, and had an acid-sarcastic tongue that cut at opponents. He ran the House of Representatives like a dictator.
Democrats planned to fight back by not answering to roll call and thus not achieving a quorum (minimum number necessary for a meeting).
Czar Reed solved the quorum battle by counting Democrats as present if they were there but hadn't answered the roll call.
With his quorum met, Czar Reed got down to business and had many bills passed… -
Mckinley Tariff Act
hiked rates to roughly 48%, the highest peacetime rate ever.
The tariff was a double-edged sword: business folks loved the protection it gave, but farmers disliked the fact that manufactured goods were now more expensive. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
was enacted in attempt to outlaw trusts or monopolies.The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was not effective because (a) proving combinations exist, especially with pools, can be difficult, and (b) it lacked real teeth in enforcement. -
"Billion Dollar" Congress
After being out of the White House for 4 years, the Republicans were eager to assert their power in Congress.
The Republicans found their leader in Speaker of the House Thomas "Czar" Reed. Reed was a tall man, super debater, and had an acid-sarcastic tongue that cut at opponents. He ran the House of Representatives like a dictator. -
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
did not authorize the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted. However, it increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase on a recurrent monthly basis to 4.5 million ounces.[2] The Sherman Silver Purchase Act had been passed in response to the growing complaints of farmers' and miners' interests -
Silver Miner's 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. The battle was the second largest and one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history second only to the Battle of Blair Mountain. The dispute occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in the town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AA) and the Carnegie Steel Company. The final result -
Election of 1892
In 1892, a new political party emerged—the Populist Party (AKA the People's Party). It was made up of unhappy farmers and sprung out of the Farmers' Alliance.
The Populists demanded…
Inflation through "cheap money" policies of printing paper money and coining silver. They felt inflation would make it easier to pay off their debts. This was their top priority. -
Depression of 1893
the first recession or depression during the industrial age. This completed the almost predictable, every-20-year cycle of panics during the 1800s.Nearly 8,000 U.S. businesses went out of business in 6 months. Railroads went under too and soup kitchens popped up to feed wandering hoboes. -
Anti-Saloon League formed
increased the push against alcohol by singing anti-liquor songs. -
J.P. Morgan loans $65 Million to the Federal Government
The exchange of paper money-for-gold continued still. This time the gold reserves fell to only #41 million.
Finally, Cleveland turned to J.P. Morgan. Morgan and his banker-friends agreed to lend the U.S. government $65 million in gold (of course the bankers made $7 million in profit). -
"Plessy v. Ferguson"
stated that "separate but equal" facilities for the races were legal.
In reality, however, the races were indeed separate, but the facilities were hardly equal.
Segregation was carried out in nearly all public facilities such as schools, theaters, transportation, and restrooms. -
Library of Congress opens
The Library of Congress opened in 1897 and Andrew Carnegie had given $60 million to build local libraries across the U.S. -
Dingley Tariff Act
raised tariff rates to 46.5%, higher, but not as high as some had wanted. -
Kate Chopin publishes The Awakening
wrote openly about adultery, suicide, and the ambitions of women -
Gold Standard Act
saying people could trade in paper money for gold. Just knowing and trusting that meant there was no need to do that. This brought economic calm and stability. -
National Association for the Advancement ofColored People (NAACP) founded
called for the "talented tenth" of the black community to be given full access and equality
