The document provides summaries of important events from 1862 to 1899 in the areas of military, legislation, and social/economic developments in the United States. Some key events mentioned include the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 to encourage western expansion, the Sand Creek Massacre ordered by the US Army in 1864, Andrew Carnegie entering the steel business after 1865, the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the Pullman Strike of 1894 against wage cuts, and the annexation of Hawaii by the US in 1898 which increased Japanese immigration to the West Coast.

2. 1862 11/9/18641863
Homestead Act:
An act passed by
Congress to
encourage westward
expansion. It offered
160 acres of land free
to any citizen or
intended citizen who
was the head of their
household. Accepted
by up to 600,000
families by 1900.
Sand Creek Massacre:
Ordered by General
S.R. Curtis, the US
Army Commander in
the West. An attack on
all of the Cheyenne and
Arapaho camped at
sand creek (500 women
and children and just
200 warriors.) 150 were
killed; most of the dead
were women and
children.
Carnegie Enters
Steel: After visiting a
steel mill and
witnessing the
Bessemer Process
in action, Andrew
Carnegie decided to
enter the steel
business. Of course,
he became
incredibly
successful.
= Military = Legislative = Social/Economic
1864
Crédit Mobilier
Scam: A
construction
company hired by
stockholders of the
Union Pacific
Railroad Company
to lay track at 2-3
times the actual
cost. Stockholders
took the profits, and
weren’t caught until
3 years later.

3. 1866 1/1/1867 1868
National Labor
Union (NLU)
Formed: Formed
by ironworker
William H. Sylvis,
this was the first
large-scale national
labor organization.
Unfortunately, some
local chapters
refused membership
to African-
Americans.
Cutoff Date For
Grandfather Clauses:
This was the date which
enabled poor whites to
vote while still keeping
blacks from voting. The
rule of the grandfather
clauses was that if a
citizen, his father, or his
grandfather could vote
before this date (which
was when black
suffrage became legal)
then he didn’t have to
pay a poll tax.
Boss Tweed Gains
Control of
Tammany Hall:
William M. Tweed,
better known as
Boss Tweed,
became president of
New York City’s
powerful Democratic
political
machine,Tammany
Hall, in 1868.
1868
National Labor Union
Gets 8-Hour Workdays
Legalized: The NLU
persuaded Congress to
pass a law mandating
eight-hour workdays for
all government workers.
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4. 5/10/1869 1869 1869
The First North
American
Transcontinental
Railroad is
Completed: After a
long process of
building, the Central
Pacific and Union
Pacific Railroads
finally met in
Promontory, Utah on
this date. The
location is marked
by a golden spike.
Knights of Labor is
Formed: Uriah
Stevens, in an effort to
focus more on
individual workers,
established the Noble
Order of the Knights of
labor. The Order
welcomed all races,
genders, or degree of
skill, advocating “equal
pay for equal work.”
Boss Tweed Defrauds
New York City:
Through his new power
at Tammany Hall, Boss
Tweed proceeded to
commit all sorts of fraud
in order to make more
money, including
charging about $10
million extra for the
city’s new $3 million
courthouse and keeping
it for himself and the
“Tweed Ring.”
1869
Jacob Riis Enters
New York City
from Denmark:
Riis’s arrival is
important because
he would soon bring
long-overdue
attention to the
conditions in the
city’s slums through
his job as a police
reporter.

5. 1871 10/8/1871 1872
Boss Tweed and
the Tweed Ring
Fall: Thanks to
political cartoons by
Thomas Nast which
engaged the public
in the outrageous
graft which was
taking place, Boss
Tweed was arrested
and charged with
120 counts of fraud
and received 12
years in prison.
The Great Chicago
Fire: Burned for
over 24 hours, killing
about 300 people.
100,000 were left
homeless, and over
3 square miles of
the city’s heart were
destroyed in flames.
$200 million in
property and 17,500
buildings were
destroyed.
The Montgomery-
Ward Catalog Is
Introduced: The
first major catalog to
bring retail into small
towns. Started out
as a single sheet
when it first began,
but it was a booklet
with ordering
instructions in ten
different languages
soon.
1875
Eugene V. Debs
Helps to Organize
the Brotherhood of
Locomotive
Firemen: Although
Debs was
unsuccessful in
uniting the local
railroad
brotherhoods, this
work inspired him to
later found the
American Railway
Union (ARU).

6. 1876 1876
The Battle of Little
Bighorn (or
Custer’s Last
Stand): Extremely
bloody battle
between Sitting
Bull’s tribe and
General George A.
Custer’s Seventh
Cavalry. Custer’s
men were wiped out.
Sitting Bull left no
survivors.
Rutherford B.
Hayes Is Elected:
The Republican
Candidate for the
1876 election,
Hayes triumphed
and took the
presidency.
Thomas Alva
Edison Establishes
the World’s First
Research
Laboratory: In
Menlo Park, New
Jersey, Edison
established the
research laboratory
in which, four years
later, he would
perfect the
incandescent light
bulb.
June 1876 1876
The Telephone Is
Invented: Alexander
Graham Bell and
Thomas Watson co-
invented the
telephone, enabling
instant long-distance
verbal
communication.

7. 1877 1879 1880
The Nez Perce Are
Expelled from their
Land: The Nez
Perce tribe (with
great resistance) are
expelled from their
land in Oregon and
relocated to Idaho.
Several Nez Perce
escaped to Sitting
Bull’s camp in
Canada after losing
the war, including
Chief Joseph.
Minimum Standards For
New York City Slums are
Established by the City:
Though they didn’t
accomplish incredible
amounts, the passing of
minimum requirements for
plumbing and ventilation
in apartments sent a clear
message: New York cared
about its poor.
John D. Rockefeller
Gains Control of 90%
of the Oil Industry in
America: He made a
mind-blowing leap from
his two to three percent
just ten years earlier.
Rockefeller got
essentially a monopoly
and controlled prices
and wages for everyone
involved in the oil
industry.
1880
Pullman, Illinois Is
Founded: Pullman
founded a town for all
of his factory’s
employees to live in
so that he could be in
complete control of
them. No drinking was
allowed, and all the
basic necessities of
living were well
provided for.

8. 1882 1883
A Century of
Dishonor Is
Published: Well-
known author Helen
Hunt Jackson wrote
a book called A
Century of Dishonor
which exposed all of
the government’s
broken promises
and violated treaties
with Native
Americans to the
American Public.
Chinese Exclusion
Act: Banned entry to
all Chinese except
students, teachers,
tourists, merchants,
and government
officials for ten
years. The law was
renewed ten years
later, and then
extended
indefinitely; the law
was repealed in
1943.
Joseph Pulitzer
Purchases the New
York World: This
purchase gave rise
to lots of Pulitzer’s
innovations being
released to the
public, such as a
large Sunday
edition, comics,
sports coverage,
and women’s news.
1881 1884
Grover Cleveland
is Elected: The first
Democratic
president in 28
years, Grover
Cleveland would not
be reelected but
would be elected
again later in the
1892 election. He is
the only president to
have served two
nonconsecutive
terms.

9. 1886!
Sears Roebuck
Catalog
Established: The
Sears catalog would
continue the mail-
order trend set by
Montgomery Ward,
and would actually
end up outlasting it.
Richard Sears’s new
company would get
hundreds of orders a
day.
Colored Farmers’
National Alliance
Formed: Founded
in Houston, Texas
by a white Baptist
Missionary named
R. M. Humphrey.
Often forced to
operate in secret,
but held same
cooperative values
as the white
Farmers’ National
Alliance.
Cigar Makers’
International Union
Joins Other Craft
Unions: Led by
Samuel Gompers,
an extraordinary
man dedicated to
the advancement of
craft unionism. This
involved skilled
workers from one or
more trades but not
unskilled ones.

10. 1887!
Interstate Commerce
Act: Created an
Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC)
comprised of five
officials whose job it
was to regulate
railroads. Essentially
lots the battle until the
ICC was reinstated
with enough power in
the early 20th
century..
Iron Is Discovered
in the Mesabi
Mountains: Iron ore
deposits over 100
miles long and 3
miles wide in
Minnesota’s Mesabi
mountain range
were discovered by
prospectors,
simultaneously with
the rise in coal
production.
Dawes Act: An act passed
by congress in order to
attempt assimilation.
Reservations were broken
up and each Native
American who was the
head of a household
received 160 acres. Not
very fair, because land
quality differed vastly and
could not be chosen by
Native Americans.

11. 1888 1889 1889
Kodak Camera
Released: Invented
by George Eastman.
Came with a roll of
film which could be
sent back to the
developer,
developed, and
replaced for only
$10. Opened the
door for amateur
photography and
many kinds of
reporting.
Establishment of
Chicago’s Hull
House by Jane
Addams and Ellen
Gates Starr: A big
part of the
Settlement House
Movement. Jane
Addams was well
known for her
generosity and
described herself as
“simple.”
Oklahoma Land
Giveaway: Settlers
claimed over two
million acres in what
is now Oklahoma in
less than a day.
Some got to the land
before the
government actually
declared it open,
and Oklahoma
became the Sooner
State.
1890
The End of the
Gilded Age: The
Gilded age lasted
from 1870-1890 with
its corrupt politicians
and dirty
industrialists, but the
era of such things
wound to a close
about a decade
before the turn of
the century.

12. 1890 1890 12/1890
Sherman Antitrust
Act: An inefficient
act aimed at getting
rid of dirty business
tactics like
Rockefeller’s using
trusts. However, it
wasn’t a particularly
well g=crafted piece
of legislation and
didn’t define what a
trust was specifically
enough and so
trusts continued
while enforcement
couldn’t begin.
Average Weekly
Pay Was $17.50:
The average weekly
pay was fairly
mediocre in the
1890s, but with the
labor union
movement it would
see a drastic rise to
a total of about
twenty four dollars
per week by 1915.
Sitting Bull Killed:
Sitting Bull was shot
by Native American
Reservation police
while resisting arrest
for preparing to
allow his tribe to
participate in the
Ghost Dance, which
could not be done
unless the word
came from Sitting
Bull himself.
12/1890
The Battle of
Wounded Knee:
Honestly more of a
massacre than a
battle. Unarmed
Native Americans
were forced to go
with American
troops, who killed a
large number of the
Native Americans
when someone
fired.

13. 1892 1893 1894
Ida B. Wells Sees a
Lynching: After
watching three of
her friends who were
African-American
businessmen be
lynched, Ida B.
Wells launched a
crusade against
lynching and racism.
Ellis Island is
Established: A
predominant
entrance point to the
United States for
immigrants. Very
busy and stressful to
go through, but
many came from
such rough
situations in their
home countries that
it was utterly worth
it.
American Railway
Union Wins a Big
Victory: Eugene
Debs and the
Railway Union were
in need of a victory
to help it gain
members and power
and momentum, and
they got one in 1894
when they struck for
higher wages. Two
months later,
membership was at
150,000.
1894
The Immigration
Restriction League
is Formed:
Founded in part by
Prescott F. Hall, they
wanted immigrants
—just not down-
trodden, stagnant
ones. They believed
it was best to have
immigrants from
certain progressive
countries as
opposed to
unhappy,
unproductive
countries.
The Panic of 1893:
An economic
depression that
caused lots of strife
among families due
to decreased wages
and higher prices in
the manufacturing
world.
The Pullman
Strike: The ARU
and some other
labor unions struck
against Pullman
when he cut wages
by 25-50% but did
not lower rent
payment on their
living facilities.
Pullman hired
strikebreakers and
that was the end of
the strike.

14. 1895 1896 1896
W.E.B. Du Bois
receives a PhD
from Harvard
University: He is
the first African-
American ever to
receive a doctorate
from Harvard. He
wanted blacks to
have liberal arts
educations.
William Randolph
Hearst Purchases
the New York
Morning Journal:
Enabled competition
between himself and
Mr. Pulitzer and
furthered the
amount of news
readily available to
the country as a
whole.
William Jennings
Bryan’s “Cross of
Gold” Speech: One
of the more famous
speeches of all time.
He railed against the
use of only gold-
backed money,
saying that gold
bugs were crucifying
the nation on a
cross of gold. Sadly,
he was not elected
due to his poor
choice of vice
presidents.
Rural Free Delivery
System: A system devised
by the United States Post
Office so that they could
deliver packages directly to
the door of everyone in
order to support the growing
catalog business.
William McKinley is
Elected: The
Republican
candidate McKinley
won the 1896 race,
which was a turning
point in the direction
of the Great
Depression because
he favored deflation
and the gold
standard.
Plessy v. Ferguson
case: The court
case that legalized
segregation: it is not
a violation of the
fourteenth
amendment if it is
separate but equal.
Sadly, the separate
facilities were never
equal and African-
Americans received
unfairly poor
treatment from
whites in all aspects
of their lives.

15. 1897 1898 10/1899
Literacy Test for
Immigrants is
Established:
Congress passes
the bill mandating a
literacy test by
inspiration of the
Immigration
Restriction league.
Although the bill was
vetoed, it was still a
powerful statement
of public sentiment.
The US Comes into
Possession of
Hawaii: US
annexation of Hawaii
led to increased
Japanese emigration
to America and
specifically the West
Coast. Immigration
grew rapidly and over
200,000 Japanese
lived on the West
Coast by 1920.
Vaudeville Hailed
as “an American
Invention”: Actor
Edwin Milton Royle
hailed Vaudeville
theatre as being an
American invention
with something in it
for nearly everyone.
It was a performing
art form which no
longer cast African-
Americans as
unintelligent minstrel
characters.