The Gilded Age 1878–1900
U.S. History 1865–2004
The Gilded Age 1878–1900
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Corporations and trusts begin to accumulate large capital reserves, ushering in Era of Big Business
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Western frontier rapidly parceled out and populated; Native Americans forced to assimilate and/or relocate
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Reconstruction policies leave African Americans behind in South as post–Civil War recovery continues
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Development of cities fueled by immigration and rise of business
| 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 |
