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Morse's telegraph
On this day Samuel Morse's telegraph sends the first message from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. It replaced the Pony Express which was the long distance mail service in the West. -
Sewing Machine
Elias Howe's sewing machine revolutionizes the way clothes are made in homes and factories. In his original design, a hand-turned wheel moved the needle up and down. -
Communist Manifesto
On this year, the German philosopher Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels expanded on the ideas of socialism in a treatise titled Communist Manifesto.This pamphlet denounced capitalism and predicted that workers would overturn it. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise included a Fugitive Slave Act. According to this measure, California was admitted as a free state, but in the other territory acquired from Mexico, voters would decide the slavery issue for themselves. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
On this day Uncle Tom's Cabin was published. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this book and it was a powerful condemnation of slavery. Her main character,Unlce Tom, put a human face on slavery for readers who had never witnessed slavery firsthand. -
Safety Elevator
Elisha Otis developes a safety mechanism to prevent elevator cars from suddenly falling. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
On this day the Kansas-Nebrask Act was finally passed. This act divided the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska. -
Attack of Lawrence, Kansas
On this day Southern proslavery forces attacked the free-state town of Lawrence, Kansas. They looted homes, burned down the hotel, and destoyed the presses of The Kansas Free State newspaper. -
Macy opens
On this day Rowland H. Macy opened what he called a department store in New York in 1858. It became the largest single store in America. It sales method was widespread advertising. -
First Oil Well
Edwin Drake drilled what became the world's first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. -
On the Origin of Species
In this year, biologist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, arguing that animals evolved by a process of "natural selection" and that only the fittest survived to reproduce. -
Election of 1860
This election demonstrated that Americans' worst fears had come to reality. There was no longer any national political parties. -
Meeting in Charleston
In this meeting and without a dissenting vote, the convention declared that "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other States, under the name of the "United States of America," is hereby dissolved. -
Kansas enters the Union
After the "Bleeding Kansas,"Kansas enters the Union as a free state. -
Confederate States of America
On this day the seven seceding states established the Confederate States of America. Then they proceeded to frame a constitution for a new government. -
President Lincoln
Lincoln was sworn in as President on this day. -
"Insurrection'
On this day President Lincoln declared that "insurrection" existed and called for 75,000 volunteers to fight against the Confederacy. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Union troops defeated Lee at the town of Gettysburg. In this battle the Union destroyed one third of Lee's forces and marked the last major Confederate attempt to invade the North. -
Emancipation Proclamation
On this day President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It freed slaves and helped slavery -
Lee surrenders
On this day in the small Virginia town of Appomattox Court House, Lee surrenders to Grant. -
Lincoln is assassinated
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on this date and as a result Vice President Andrew Johnson became the new President. -
Horatio Alger published his first novel
On this day Horatio Alger published his first novel, Ragged Dick. This novel was widely successful. It told the story of a poor boy who rose to wealth and fame by working hard. -
Chicago Fire
A fire destroyed Chicago in 1871, killing between 200 to 300 people. It also left more than 100,000. The fire left 100,00 people homeless. -
End of Freemen's Bureau
On this day Congress dissolved the Freemen's Bureau. -
The Gilded Age
Novelist Mark Twain satirized American life in his 1873 novel, The Gilded Age. He depicted American society as gilded, or having a rotten core covered with gold paint. -
The Chautauqua Circuit
This circuit, was a kind of summer camp that opened in 1874, sponsored lectures and entertainment along New York's Chautauqua Lake. -
Election of 1876
This presidential election signaled the end of Reconstruction. The Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes won the election and ended Reconstrution. -
Light Bulb
Thomas Edison patents the electric light bulb. Within two years, he installs a street-lighting system in New York CIty. -
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant who had fought in the Civil War. He moved to New York, where he started a morning paper, the World. It was so successful that Pulitzer soon started publishing the Evening World. -
Tony Pastor
In 1881, an antrepreneur named Tony Pastor opened a theater in New York, aiming to provide families with a "straight, clean variety show." -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This act prohibited immigration by Chinese laborers, limited the civil rights of Chinese immigrants already in the United States, and forbade the naturalization of Chinese residents. -
"Buffalo Bill"
In 1883, "Buffalo Bill" Cody threw a Fourth of July celebration near his ranch in Nebraska. So many people attended that Cody decided to take his show on the road. His show Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show toured America and Europe, shaping the world's romantic notion of the American West. -
Steam Boiler Furnace
African American inventor Granville Woods invents an improved steam-powered furnace for running trains. -
First Roller Coaster
In 1884, Lamarcus Thompson opened the world's first roller coaster. At ten cents a ride, Thompson averaged more than $600 per day in income. It was the first ride to open at Coney Island. -
8 hour work day
On this day thousands of workers mounted a national demonstration for an eight-hour workday. Strikes erupted in several cities, and fights broke out between strikers and stikebreakers. -
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
Finally, in 1887, the United States Senate created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad operations. This was the first federal body ever set up to monitro American business operations. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Senate passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed any trust that operated "in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states." -
Traffic Jam
Trolley cars, trucks, and wagons pulled by horses create a traffic jam in Chicago in 1905 -
Electric Lights in Times Square
Electic lights glowed in Times Square in New York City by 1910. -
Baseball Cards
Baseball started to get more and more popular and in 1911 they put pitcher Cy Young on a baseball card. He had the most wins of any pitcher in Major League history.