|
|
1878
|
|
Timber and Stone Act opens land in
California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington to purchase by
settlers
|
|
| |
Exoduster migration of black communities to
Kansas to escape Democratic control of South after the end of
Reconstruction
|
|
| |
Bland-Allison Act requires purchase of silver
by treasury
|
|
| |
Women’s suffrage amendment introduced in Congress after work by
activist Susan B. Anthony; Senate does not vote on it
until 1884
|
|
|
1879
|
|
Thomas Edison invents the electric
light
|
|
| |
White settlers begin to descend upon Native American reservations in
Oklahoma, clamoring for land
|
|
|
1880
|
|
James Garfield elected 20th
president
|
|
| |
British charitable organization Salvation
Army starts work in United States
|
|
|
1881
|
|
Disappointed office-seeker Charles Guiteau assassinates
Garfield; Vice President Chester A.
Arthur becomes 21st president
|
|
| |
Booker T. Washington becomes principal of Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama, which provides vocational training to blacks
|
|
| |
Henry James publishes novel The Portrait of a
Lady
|
|
| |
Federal trademark laws instituted to protect
patent holders, encourage innovation
|
|
|
1882
|
|
Chinese Exclusion Act bans Chinese
immigration for 10 years
|
|
| |
John D. Rockefeller forms Standard Oil
Trust
|
|
| |
National time zones established
|
|
| |
Brooklyn Bridge completed, speeding already
rapid growth of New York City
|
|
| |
Supreme Court declares Civil Rights Act of 1875
unconstitutional
|
|
| |
Northern Pacific Railroad between Chicago and
Seattle completed
|
|
|
1883
|
|
Pendleton Civil Service Act counters
patronage, reforms U.S. government’s corrupt hiring practices
|
|
|
1884
|
|
Grover Cleveland elected 22nd
president
|
|
| |
Mark Twain publishes novel The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn
|
|
|
1885
|
|
Violent anti-Chinese riots occur in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and
Tacoma, Washington
|
|
|
1886
|
|
Haymarket riot occurs when Chicago police
disperse striking union workers demanding 8-hour workday; 7 policemen
killed, 4 protesters sentenced to death; union movements nationwide suffer
as a result
|
|
| |
American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed to
salvage labor movement; Samuel Gompers acts as leader
until 1924
|
|
| |
Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo deported to
Florida as prisoner of war
|
|
| |
Wabash v. Illinois ruling holds that only
federal government can regulate trade between states
|
|
|
1887
|
|
Interstate Commerce Act establishes federal
commission to regulate trade between states
|
|
| |
Dawes Severalty Act denies tribal rights,
advances policy of forced assimilation and integration upon Native
Americans; reduces tribal land claims sharply
|
|
| |
Low rail fares encourage mass relocation of Midwesterners to Los
Angeles
|
|
| |
United States acquires naval rights at Pearl Harbor in
Hawai‘i
|
|
|
1888
|
|
Benjamin Harrison elected 23rd
president
|
|
|
1889
|
|
North Dakota, South Dakota,
Montana, and Washington admitted to
Union as 39th, 40th, 41st, and 42nd states
|
|
| |
Oklahoma land rush transfers more than two million acres of
native-held land to white settlers
|
|
| |
Jane Addams founds Hull House to provide
relief to Chicago poor
|
|
| |
Motion-picture camera invented
|
|
|
1890
|
|
Idaho and Wyoming admitted
to Union as 43rd and 44th states
|
|
| |
Congress establishes Oklahoma Territory, further
stripping Native Americans of land claims in region
|
|
| |
Federal forces massacre more than 200 Sioux at Wounded
Knee
|
|
| |
Congress establishes Yosemite National Park in
California
|
|
| |
Mississippi Plan levies poll tax, effectively
disenfranchising black voters
|
|
| |
Sherman Antitrust Act outlaws monopolies,
price-fixing, other trade restraints
|
|
| |
Sherman Silver Purchase Act is
passed
|
|
| |
U.S. Census Bureau announces frontier officially
closed
|
|
| |
McKinley Tariff raises duties on imports,
strengthening U.S. businesses
|
|
|
1891
|
|
Forest Reserve Act allows president to set
aside western lands for federal control, limiting private claims
|
|
| |
Populist Party formed; composed primarily of
western farmers
|
|
| |
Electric trolleys begin to replace horses as
primary mode of public transportation
|
|
|
1892
|
|
Geary Act extends Chinese Exclusion Act by 10
years, requires existing Chinese-American citizens to register with
government
|
|
| |
Steelworkers strike in Homestead
strike against Carnegie Steel; Pinkerton Detectives called in to
break strike; 10 people killed in riot
|
|
| |
Dawes Act opens more than two million acres
of Crow lands in Montana to white settlement
|
|
| |
Grover Cleveland elected 24th
president
|
|
|
1893
|
|
Panic of 1893 leads to a four-year period of
financial instability
|
|
| |
Six million acres of Cherokee land in Oklahoma opened to white
settlement
|
|
| |
Great Northern Railroad completed
|
|
| |
Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed
|
|
| |
World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago
celebrates 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to New
World
|
|
|
1894
|
|
Carey Act grants more than one million acres
of land to western states on condition of irrigation and resale to
settlers
|
|
| |
Pullman Strike, led by labor
organizer Eugene V. Debs, cripples railroads
nationwide; federal troops called on to restore order
|
|
| |
Wilson-Gorman Tariff reestablishes high
tariff levels after cuts
|
|
| |
Coxey’s Army of 500 unemployed citizens
marches on Washington, D.C., demanding relief for destitute and
unemployed
|
|
|
1895
|
|
Booker T. Washington gives Atlanta Compromise
speech at Cotton States Exposition, urging African Americans to
accept second-class-citizen status in exchange for civil rights and equal
education
|
|
| |
Publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer compete for
readership through practice of sensationalistic yellow
journalism
|
|
| |
U.S. v. E.C. Knight Co. ruling effectively
disables Sherman Antitrust Act
|
|
|
1896
|
|
Utah admitted to Union as 45th
state
|
|
| |
Plessy v. Ferguson ruling repeals Civil
Rights Act of 1875, upholding constitutionality of separate but equal
services
|
|
| |
William Jennings Bryan makes “Cross of Gold”
speech at Democratic National Convention in Chicago, urging free coinage of
silver and other Populist reforms
|
|
| |
William McKinley elected 25th
president
|
|
|
1898
|
|
Louisiana establishes grandfather clause for
voting rights, placing literacy and property requirements on blacks but
excusing whites from similar standards
|
|
| |
Holden v. Hardy ruling upholds work hour
limits for miners
|
|
| |
USS Maine sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba; U.S.
press and public blame Spain
|
|
| |
Spanish-American War takes place; Teddy
Roosevelt leads Rough Riders in Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba; United
States crushes Spain in naval battles
|
|
| |
Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War;
United States annexes Guam, Philippines, and Puerto Rico
|
|
| |
United States annexes Hawai‘i
|
|
| |
Teller Amendment declares Cuba independent
from Spain by U.S. authority
|
|
|
1899
|
|
United States announces Open Door Policy to
gain foothold in Chinese markets
|
|
| |
Cumming v. County Board of Education ruling
declares laws establishing separate schools for white students
constitutional even if comparable schools are not available for black
students
|
|
|
1900
|
|
International forces quell Boxer
Rebellion against Western imperialism in China
|
|
| |
Criminalization of lynching proposed in
Congress but fails in committee
|
|
| |
McKinley reelected president
|
|
| |
Foraker Act grants Puerto Rico limited degree
of self-government
|
|
| |
Gold Standard Act declares paper money backed
by gold reserves
|
The Gilded Age 1878–1900
