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|
1865
|
|
13th Amendment abolishes slavery in
Union
|
|
| |
Robert E. Lee surrenders Confederate forces
to Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia
|
|
| |
Abraham Lincoln assassinated; Vice
President Andrew Johnson becomes 17th
president
|
|
| |
Johnson announces moderate restoration plan to bring South back into
Union; issues pardons to most Confederates, requires states to ratify 13th
Amendment
|
|
| |
Mississippi establishes system of black
codes, limiting rights of freed blacks; codes become common
throughout Reconstruction-era South
|
|
| |
Freedmen’s Bureau established to help freed
blacks find homes and jobs
|
|
|
1866
|
|
Civil Rights Act of 1866 grants citizenship
to all people born in the United States, grants freed slaves right to own
private property, sue, serve as witnesses
|
|
| |
Congress passes 14th Amendment to enforce
constitutionality of Civil Rights Act of 1866; most Southern states reject
it, and it is not ratified until 1868
|
|
| |
White supremacist group Ku Klux Klan founded
in Tennessee; operates throughout South by 1868
|
|
|
1867
|
|
Congress passes Military Reconstruction Acts, dividing
former Confederacy into five military districts; each Southern
state forced to create new government and state constitution before applying
for readmission to Union
|
|
| |
Nebraska admitted to Union as 37th
state
|
|
| |
Tenure of Office Act requires president to
get congressional approval before removing any appointees from
office
|
|
| |
United States purchases Alaska from Russia
under direction of Secretary of State William H.
Seward; critics deride purchase as “Seward’s Folly”
|
|
|
1868
|
|
Johnson intentionally violates Tenure of Office Act by firing
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, provoking anger in Congress;
is impeached in House but acquitted in
Senate
|
|
| |
Ulysses S. Grant elected 18th
president
|
|
| |
First railroad pass completed through High
Sierras in California
|
|
| |
Eight-hour workday becomes law for federal
employees
|
|
|
1869
|
|
First transcontinental railroad completed at
Promontory Point, Utah
|
|
| |
James Fisk and Jay Gould make unsuccessful attempt to corner U.S.
gold market, leading to widespread financial
panic
|
|
| |
Wyoming grants women’s suffrage
|
|
|
1870
|
|
15th Amendment protects voting rights for
black males
|
|
| |
Grant proposes annexation of Dominican Republic, but Senate
rejects
|
|
| |
Last Southern states readmitted to Congress
|
|
| |
Hiram Rhoades Revels of Mississippi becomes
first black senator, assuming seat formerly held by Jefferson
Davis
|
|
| |
Enforcement Act allows for federal
intervention against Ku Klux Klan activity
|
|
| |
White v. Flood ruling in California court
establishes precedent for racial segregation in schools
|
|
| |
Union Pacific Railroad hires influx of Chinese
workers at lower pay rates than those commanded by workers of
European descent
|
|
|
1871
|
|
Indian Appropriations Act labels all Native
Americans wards of U.S. government |
|
| |
Anti-Chinese riot in Los Angeles results in more than 20
deaths |
|
| |
New York Times exposes corrupt New York City political machine run
by William Marcy “Boss” Tweed
|
|
| |
Great Chicago Fire causes extensive damage to
city, over 300 deaths
|
|
| |
Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of federally-issued paper
money known as the greenback
|
|
|
1872
|
|
Grant reelected president
|
|
| |
Amnesty Act returns voting rights to most
ex-Confederates; signals beginning of end of Reconstruction
|
|
| |
Congress establishes Yellowstone National
Park in Wyoming as first national park
|
|
|
1873
|
|
Slaughterhouse Cases acknowledge authority of
state governments over individuals; effectively limit application of 14th
Amendment to former slaves
|
|
| |
Panic of 1873 hits United States, caused by
rampant railroad speculation; 25% of nation’s
railroads shut down
|
|
|
1874
|
|
Mennonite immigrants from Russia
revolutionize wheat cultivation in Kansas
|
|
| |
Police on horseback beat scores of unemployed demonstrators
in Tompkins Square Riot in New York
City
|
|
|
1875
|
|
Several of Grant’s associates indicted in Whiskey Ring
scandal
|
|
| |
Civil Rights Act of 1875 enacts penalties for
racial discrimination at inns, in theaters, on public transit, in other
public places; prevents discrimination in employment; establishes right of
African Americans to serve on juries
|
|
|
1876
|
|
Federal authorities order Lakota Sioux to
reservations
|
|
| |
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse lead Sioux
resistance to crushing defeat of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s forces
at Battle of Little Bighorn in
Montana
|
|
| |
Alexander Graham Bell invents
the telephone
|
|
| |
Colorado admitted to Union as 38th
state
|
|
| |
Rutherford B. Hayes elected 19th president in
contested race against Samuel J. Tilden; Tilden wins popular vote, but
electoral count proves inconclusive
|
|
| |
Mark Twain publishes novel The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer
|
|
|
1877
|
|
Hayes-Tilden Compromise awards Hayes
presidency in exchange for removal of federal troops from Southern states,
effectively ending Reconstruction
|
|
| |
Munn v. Illinois ruling states that private
industries affecting the public interest are subject to state and federal
government regulation
|
|
| |
Widespread anti-Chinese riots take place in San Francisco
|
|
| |
U.S. government ignores Nez Percé ancestral
land claim in Idaho, forcibly removes tribe to Kansas
reservation
|
|
| |
Desert Land Act gives settlers affordable
land deals in exchange for self-irrigation
|
Reconstruction 1865–1877
