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U-Boats Created
The boats Nordenfelt I and Nordenfelt II, built to a Nordenfelt design, followed in 1890. In 1903, the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel completed the first fully functional German-built submarine, Forelle, which Krupp sold to Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in April 1904. -
Bessemer Process
The Bessemer process allowed steel to be produced without fuel, using the impurities of the iron to create the necessary heat. This drastically reduced the costs of steel production, but raw materials with the required characteristics could be difficult to find. -
Discovery of Gold in Pikes Peak
Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold -
Homestead Act
Provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. -
Morrill Land Grant Act
United States statutes allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or seizure. -
Transcontinental Railroad
The railroad that was completed that connected the east coast to the west coast of The United States -
Construction of The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was built in France between 1875 and 1884. It was disassembled and shipped to New York City in 1885. The statue was reassembled on Liberty Island in 1886, although the torch has been redesigned or restored several times since its installation. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
An engagement between the combined forces of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne tribes against the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army. -
Farmer's Alliance Created
Farmers set up cooperatively owned retail stores and marketing organizations. The idea was to give producers more influence in buying their supplies and marketing their products. It was an economic movement. -
Opening of Carlisle School
The first government-run boarding school for Native American children. The goal? Forced assimilation of Native children into white American society under the belief of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” -
Invention of the Light Bulb
Inventor, Thomas Edison, made an incandescent bulb that burned long enough to be practical, long enough to light a home for many hours. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This act provided an absolute 10-year ban on Chinese laborers immigrating to the United States. -
Edison Lights Up NYC
His company flipped the switch on his Pearl Street power station, providing hundreds of homes with electricity. -
American Federation of Labor
National Federation of Labor Unions in the United States -
Interstate Commerce Act
Granted Congress the power “to Regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States”—to regulate railroad rates. -
Dawes Act
Authorized the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. -
Jacob Riis' Book of Photos
His book, How the Other Half Lives (1890), stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing. It was also an important predecessor to muckraking journalism, which took shape in the United States after 1900. -
Alfred T Mahan's Book
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
First Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices -
Wounded Knee Massacre
The massacre at Wounded Knee, during which soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children, marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers. -
Pullman Strike
Widespread railroad strike and boycott that severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest of the United States -
Frederick Jackson Turner's Essay of Settling The West
He wrote an essay called "The Significance of the Frontier in American History” which defined for many Americans the relationship between the frontier and American culture and contemplated what might follow “the closing of the frontier.” -
Plessy v. Ferguson
U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". -
Holden v. Hardy
US labor law case in which the US Supreme Court held a limitation on working time for miners and smelters as constitutional. -
Spanish-American Wars Begin
The Spanish–American War began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. -
Hawaii Annexed
The Hawaiian Islands were annexed by this joint resolution. When the Hawaiian islands were formally annexed by the United States in 1898, the event marked the end of a lengthy internal struggle between native Hawaiians and non-native American businessmen for control of the Hawaiian government. -
Philippines Islands Are Annexed
The United States paid Spain $20 million to annex the entire Philippine archipelago. The outraged Filipinos, led by Aguinaldo, prepared for war. -
Newlands Reclamation Act
United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. -
Panama Canal Built
They built the canal because American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. -
Lochner v. New York
Supreme Court ruled that a New York law setting maximum working hours for bakers was unconstitutional. -
Sinclair's Book "The Jungle"
The Jungle is a fictional novel by American muckraker author Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs, it gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. -
Muller v. Oregon
Case that considered whether a state could limit the amount of hours a woman could work while not also limiting the hours of men. -
Founding of the NAACP
Interracial group consisting of W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, and others concerned with the challenges facing African Americans, especially in the wake of the 1908 Springfield (Illinois) Race Riot. -
Hepner Act
Imposes the forfeiture and liability to pay double the value of the goods received, concealed, or purchased, with knowledge that they had been illegally imported, 'on conviction thereof.' It may be, therefor, that an indictment or information might be sustained -
17th Ammendment
Allowed voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators. -
Ford Motor Company's First Full Assembly
The Ford Motor Company team decided to try to implement the moving assembly line in the automobile manufacturing process. After much trial and error, in 1913 Henry Ford and his employees successfully began using this innovation at our Highland Park assembly plant. -
Federal Reserve Act
It was implemented to establish economic stability in the U.S. by introducing a central bank to oversee monetary policy. 1 The Federal Reserve Act is one of the most influential laws shaping the U.S. financial system. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
The act prohibits price discrimination. This is the act of selling the same product to different buyers and charging different prices based on who is purchasing the goods. -
Beginning of World War I
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 set off a chain of events that led to start of the war. -
Lusitania Sunk
RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915. The luxury passenger liner was crossing the Atlantic from New York to Liverpool when the German submarine U-20 fired without warning. After a second explosion – the cause of which is still debated – the ship quickly sank. -
US enters World War I
The U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later. The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. -
Selective Service Act
Authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. -
World War I Ends
After more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Although fighting continued elsewhere, the armistice between Germany and the Allies was the first step to ending World War I. -
18th Ammendment
Prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors..." -
19th Ammendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. -
Immigration Quota Act
Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. -
National Origins Act
A law that severely restricted immigration by establishing a system of national quotas that blatantly discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and virtually excluded Asians. The policy stayed in effect until the 1960s. -
Scopes Trial
High-school teacher, John T. Scopes, was charged with violating state law by teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The trial’s proceedings helped to bring the scientific evidence for evolution into the public sphere while also stoking a national debate over the veracity of evolution that continues to the present day.