Chronology

1870

Hiram Revels becomes the first African American to serve in the U. S. Congress when he is seated as a senator from Mississippi.

The U. S. Weather Bureau is established.

Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman to run for president of the United States; her magazine Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly promotes her radical platform, ranging from woman suffrage to free love to socialism.

The states ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, granting black men the right to vote.

The Standard Oil Company of Ohio is organized by John D. Rockefeller, whose aim is to monopolize the oil refining industry.

New York City runs the first steam-powered elevated train, or “el.”

1871

Fire sweeps through Chicago, destroying 18,000 buildings and leaving 90,000 homeless.

U. S. Congress passes the Indian Appropriation Act, with a rider declaring that henceforth Indian tribes or nations would not be regarded as independent nations; in effect, this makes Native Americans wards of the government.

The Ku Klux Klan Enforcement Act of 1871 attempts to curtail the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of black voters.

The United States and Britain sign the Treaty of Washington of 1871, in which both parties agreed to arbitrate boundary and fishing rights disputes and compensation due to the United States for Britain’s dubious neutrality in the U. S. Civil War.

Political leader William “Boss” Tweed is indicted for fraud and corruption in New York City; Thomas Nast’s magazine cartoons featuring Tweed help turn public opinion against him.

Showman P. T. Barnum opens a circus called “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

American-born artist James Whistler paints his best-known work, a portrait of his mother.

Reacting to Apache raids, vigilantes from Tucson, Arizona, massacre up to 150 Apache men, women, and children at Camp Grant, Arizona, initiating 15 years of intermittent warfare.

1872

The Amnesty Act of 1872 allows a large number of former Confederate supporters to hold civil or military office.

The Yellowstone National Park Act of 1872 establishes the world’s first national park in parts of what is now Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

The American Public Health Association is founded to improve sanitation in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Horace Greeley, nominated by both the Democratic Party and the Liberal Republican Party, becomes the first candidate to personally campaign for president. Republican incumbent Ulysses S. Grant defeats Greeley, who dies shortly afterward.

1873

U. S. diplomatic relations with Spain are strained when Spanish authorities execute 53 of the passengers and crew of the Virginius—supporters of the Cuban Revolution— sailing under the American flag.

The Timber Culture Act of 1873 authorizes any person who keeps 40 acres of timberland in good condition to acquire title to 160 additional acres of timberland.

The Comstock Law of 1873 prohibits the sending of obscene materials through the U. S. mail.

The panic of 1873 results in an economic depression and widespread unemployment. It is prompted by the collapse of Jay Cooke & Company, a major financial institution.

The Coinage Act of 1873 demonetizes silver and makes gold the sole basis of U. S. currency just as an increased supply of silver becomes available, which, if minted, would have eased payment of debts. Opponents label the law the “Crime of ’73.”

In Bradwell v. Illinois, the U. S. Supreme Court upholds a state’s right to deny admission to the bar on the basis of sex.

The “Women’s War” breaks out across the United States as thousands of women shut down an estimated 3,000 saloons. Activists form the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, led by Frances Willard, to focus attention on the problems associated with drunkenness.

1874

Prospectors discover gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred hunting territory that was included in the Great Sioux Reservation by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. The ensuing gold rush touches off a war between the U. S. government and the Sioux.

St. Louis’s Eads Bridge opens; it is the first steel bridge in the United States.

Barbed wire is commercially manufactured, permitting fencing of property in treeless regions, especially the West and Southwest.

John Fiske’s Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy offers a reconciliation of Darwinism and Scripture that many liberal Christians come to embrace.

1875

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 mandates the end of racial discrimination in public accommodations.

Mary Baker Eddy publishes Science and Health, the chief text of the Christian Science movement.

The Specie Resumption Act of 1875 authorizes the U. S. Treasury on January 1, 1879, to redeem the paper money issued during the Civil War, known as “greenbacks,” with gold coins; this act returns the U. S. to the gold standard.

After successfully advocating for state regulation of railroad freight rates, the Granger movement gathers strength as hundreds of thousands of farmers join its ranks.

In Minor v. Happersett, the U. S. Supreme Court rejects the assertion of the National Woman Suffrage Association that the Fourteenth Amendment provides all U. S. citizens, including women, the right to vote.

1876

Physicist Josiah Gibbs publishes his scientific theories, which provide the foundations of the field of physical chemistry.

Johns Hopkins University is established as a center of scholarly research emphasizing its graduate programs. Yale and Harvard had already awarded Ph. Ds but they concentrate on undergraduates.

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse lead the Sioux and Cheyenne in major victories against the U. S. Army, first in the Battle of the Rosebud and then at Little Bighorn against General George Armstrong Custer, where Custer’s entire force is wiped out.

The United States celebrates its 100th anniversary with the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. On July 4, Susan B. Anthony and her colleagues interrupt official ceremonies to demand women’s rights in fulfillment of the ideals of 1776.

Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden receives a majority of the votes cast but is defeated by Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in the electoral college following a dispute over the official returns in three southern states.

Thomas Edison establishes his “invention factory” in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and Harvard agree to standardize rules for American football.

Felix Adler begins the Ethical Culture movement.

1877

Republican governments fall in South Carolina and Louisiana, marking the end of Reconstruction.

During the Nez Perce War, Chief Joseph leads his people more than 1,700 miles through the wilderness toward the Canadian border, eluding the U. S. cavalry. After a final encounter in northern Montana, Joseph surrenders, and the Nez Perce are moved to Indian Territory, but ultimately they are allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest.

Repeated wage cuts spur numerous independent strikes among railroad workers that become known collectively as the Great Strike of 1877.

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.

Alfred T. White begins the American housing-reform movement by building the Home Buildings in Brooklyn, New York.

The Supreme Court in Munn v. Illinois upholds a law setting rates for Chicago grain elevators on grounds that their function involves “a public interest.”

1878

A yellow fever epidemic breaks out in Memphis, Tennessee, killing one out of every nine residents.

The Bland-Allison Act of 1878 reinstates the use of limited quantities of silver currency.

The Knights of Labor organizes on a national basis.

1879

The U. S. Geological Survey is established to investigate the nation’s mineral resources.

Groups of blacks, led by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton and others, migrate from the South to the West in the “Exodus of ’79.”

In Progress and Poverty, economist Henry George argues that the government should tax property owners for appreciation caused by rising demand, especially in cities; this “Single Tax” would replace all other taxes.

As the result of a bill she drafted, Belva Lockwood becomes the first woman lawyer to argue before the U. S. Supreme Court.

Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light bulb, making electric light practical.

Mary Cassatt exhibits her paintings with the impressionists in Paris.

Second-class postage is created, permitting the shipment of packages of up to four pounds anywhere in the United States for a flat rate of one cent per ounce.

Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White open their New York City architectural office; the firm is to create many of the country’s most prominent public buildings in the Beaux Arts style.

1880

Republican James A. Garfield is elected president over Democrat W. S. Hancock.

1881

Humanitarian and former Civil War nurse Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross.

A Century of Dishonor, by Helen Hunt Jackson, is published; the book urges better treatment of Indians.

Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

President James A. Garfield is assassinated; Vice President Chester Arthur becomes president.

Henry Demarest Lloyd’s article “The Story of a Great Monopoly” is published in Atlantic Monthly; the article establishes Lloyd as the first muckraker.

1882

John L. Sullivan begins a 10-year reign as world heavyweight champion.

Apache warrior Geronimo leads a raid on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, freeing several hundred Apache and renewing the Apache War against both U. S. and Mexican authorities.

To better control his oil monopoly, John D. Rockefeller reorganizes Standard Oil using a trust agreement. Other industries soon follow suit.

The U. S. Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting the immigration of laborers from China.

The First Modern Suite, by composer Edward Mac-Dowell, is performed in Zurich, Switzerland. MacDowell is the first American-born composer whose works are performed in Europe.

The Chicago Tribune begins its annual accounting of lynchings in the United States, publicizing the practice of terrorism against African Americans and their supporters.

1883

The Council of Bishops convenes in Baltimore and plans a widespread system of Catholic parochial schools.

The Brooklyn Bridge opens.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show begins touring; it becomes an international entertainment sensation.

U. S. Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, opening the way for Jim Crow legislation in the South.

Congress ratifies the Pendleton Act of 1883, ending a long political battle over civil service reform. The act opens some civil offices to competitive entry rather than political patronage; prohibits assessments, the long-standing practice of demanding a percentage of civil servants’ salaries for party campaigns; and establishes the U. S. Civil Service Commission to enforce reforms.

1884

Republican James G. Blaine narrowly loses a heated presidential election to Democrat Grover Cleveland.

Samuel Clemens publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn under his pen name Mark Twain.

1885

Social Gospel minister Josiah Strong publishes Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, which urges Americans to combat social evils, economic distress, and political corruption at home and to spread “superior” Anglo-Saxon institutions throughout the world.

The decade-long lobbying efforts of the Knights of Labor are rewarded when Congress passes a law prohibiting the importation of contract laborers.

1886

Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor.

An anarchist rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square turns into a riot when someone throws a bomb at police; the bombing prompts the hasty roundup and conviction of Chicago’s known radicals.

Emily Dickinson, a reclusive New Englander, dies; family members discover 1,800 lyric poems in her bedroom.

In Wabash v. Illinois, the U. S. Supreme Court strikes down pro-farmer Granger laws, ruling that states cannot regulate interstate commerce.

Harper’s magazine first prints the illustrations of Frederic Remington; Remington’s art comes to shape Americans’ perception of the frontier West.

The Apache Wars conclude when Geronimo surrenders.

In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, the U. S. Supreme Court extends the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to corporations.

Statue of Liberty is dedicated in New York harbor.

1887

U. S. Congress passes the Dawes Severalty Act, which dissolves Native American tribes as legal entities and requires the division of jointly held lands into individual Native American homesteads.

Henry F. Bowers founds the American Protective Association; it becomes the largest of America’s many nativist organizations.

Nikola Tesla invents an alternating current (AC) motor and the next year sells his AC patents for generators, transformers, and motors to George Westinghouse. Soon AC electricity becomes the preferred power source for electric streetcars, elevated trains, and subways.

U. S. Congress creates the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal regulatory agency.

U. S. Congress passes the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which is designed to prevent disputes over presidential elections such as the one in 1876.

1888

Republican Benjamin Harrison wins a close presidential race over Grover Cleveland.

British diplomat James Bryce publishes The American Commonwealth, a perceptive analysis of American political institutions.

George Eastman introduces the Kodak portable box camera and revolutionizes photography.

1889

The North American Review publishes Andrew Carnegie’s essay “The Gospel of Wealth.” The industrialist writes that the duty of the rich man is to be a “trustee for the poor.” Oklahoma, once part of Indian Territory, is opened to white settlement; massive “land rushes” follow.

The former Native American enclaves of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana are granted statehood.

Wovoka, a Paiute Indian, sees a vision that gives momentum to the Ghost Dance religion; large numbers of Sioux Indians leave their reservations to join the religious gatherings on the plains.

Jane Addams founds Hull-House, an organization whose goal is to improve the lives of the largely immigrant urban poor of Chicago; many similar institutions, known as settlement houses, are established in American cities.

Montgomery Ward & Company is established. Its catalog, containing 24,000 items, brings the department store to rural America.

Elisha Otis invents the electric elevator.

1890

William James publishes Principles of Psychology, which helps establish psychology as a field of study in the United States.

U. S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act in response to growing hostility to industrial monopolies.

The protectionist McKinley Tariff Act imposes the highest import duties in U. S. history to date but also provides for the novel feature of reciprocal trade agreements.

Illustrator Charles Dana Gibson introduces the Gibson Girl.

President Benjamin Harrison signs the Dependents Pension Act, the United States’s first social welfare program, which provides pensions for disabled Civil War veterans and their families. The law’s passage demonstrates the lobbying power of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest U. S. veterans’ organization.

Ending a long-standing rivalry, the conservative American Woman Suffrage Association merges with the more radical National Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives, which documents the plight of the urban poor through text and photographs.

The superintendent of the census announces that the frontier line no longer exists.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act increases the minimum amount of silver the federal government is required to buy and mint from $2 million per month to 4.5 million ounces per month at prevailing market prices. The goal of this “soft money” policy is to raise prices by encouraging inflation.

The Association of American Medical Colleges is established to set standards for medical instruction.

At the urging of naturalist John Muir, U. S. Congress creates Yosemite National Park.

The National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union meets at Ocala, Florida. Attendees draft a statement that demands abolition of national banks and protective tariffs; free coinage of silver; a graduated income tax; government control of railroads and public utilities; and the direct election of U. S. senators.

U. S. troops massacre more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota; Wounded Knee marks the end of the long struggle of Native Americans against white expansion in the West.

1891

The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorizes the president to withhold certain public lands from the public domain.

The International Copyright Law of 1891 prohibits the previously common practice of reprinting foreign works without paying for the right to do so. One consequence is a larger market for American authors.

1892

“March King” John Philip Sousa forms the Sousa Band, which performs his marches and other popular American music around the world for nearly 40 years.

Ida B. Wells, editor of the newspaper Free Speech, reports on how lynching is used by white businessmen to eliminate black competitors.

Carnegie Steel imports scab workers and Pinkerton detectives to break the Amalgamated Union strike at Homestead Mill; 16 die and 60 are wounded in the failed strike, which suppresses trade unionism in the steel industry for 40 years.

The People’s Party (or Populist Party), a reaction by western farmers against eastern business interests, holds its first national convention in Omaha, Nebraska; among its demands are the secret ballot and the unlimited coinage of silver.

State authorities use the militia to break a violent miners strike at Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

Grover Cleveland is elected president over incumbent Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland is the only U. S. president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. People’s Party candidate James B. Weaver also runs, gaining more than 1 million votes.

The General Electric Company is established, underwritten by J. P. Morgan Company.

1893

American businessmen in Hawaii overthrow the government of Queen Liliuokalani and encourage the United States to annex the islands.

The total number of bison on the Great Plains is estimated to be no more than 1,000.

The financial panic of 1893 brings about the most severe economic depression the United States has yet experienced, leaving many Americans destitute and unemployed.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act is repealed.

1894

Jacob Coxey organizes a march on Washington, D. C., to demand government unemployment relief; capital city police forcibly disperse “Coxey’s Army.”

U. S. Congress incorporates in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 the first peacetime income tax; a year later the U. S. Supreme Court rules the tax unconstitutional.

President Grover Cleveland sends federal troops to break the Pullman Strike on the pretext that strikers were illegally obstructing the movement of U. S. mail.

1895

Beginning with South Carolina, seven states use a grandfather clause to disenfranchise African Americans while preserving voting rights for poor and illiterate whites.

William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal engages in a circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World; the sensationalist bent of the feuding newspapers, which create as well as gather news, becomes known as “yellow journalism.”

In United States v. E. C. Knight Company, the U. S. Supreme Court narrowly defines commerce and emasculates the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by declaring that the sugar trust’s monopoly of refining (manufacturing) did not restrain trade.

Booker T. Washington delivers his “Atlanta Compromise” speech at the Cotton Exposition in Atlanta. In this controversial speech, Washington accepts segregation in social matters in exchange for economic opportunities for African Americans.

1896

The first publicly screened motion picture is shown in New York City.

George Washington Carver accepts an appointment to Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute; his work there helps revive southern agriculture.

The world’s first hydroelectric generator, designed by Nikola Tesla, is completed at Niagara Falls.

Plessy v. Ferguson forms the legal basis for segregation by race. Justice John Marshall Harlan dissents from the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

Henry Ford builds his first automobile.

William Jennings Bryan delivers his “Cross of Gold” speech, attacking the gold standard at the Democratic National Convention.

A prospector finds gold in Canada’s Yukon River Valley, spurring the Klondike gold rush.

Voter participation reaches its all-time high in the presidential race, which Republican William McKinley wins over Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

1897

U. S. Congress passes the Forest Management Act, which designates forest reserves as resources for timber, mining, and grazing.

U. S. Supreme Court prohibits the Interstate Commerce Commission from setting railroad freight rates.

The Dingley Tariff Act raises U. S. protective duties to their highest rate ever.

Alexander Crummell organizes the American Negro Academy to advance the race by developing the “talented tenth” of black Americans.