U.s. history timeline revised

1. 1862-1900’s Nov. 29 th , 1864 1864 U.S. Congress passes the Homestead Act, offering up to 160 acres of Western land to any family for free. For the next 40 years, over 600,000 families, including African American exodusters from the South, head West to take the offer. Colonel John Chivington ordered to make Indians suffer. In response, his force descends on 700 Arapaho Indians camped at Sand Creek. His force kills over 150 of the tribesmen, mostly women and children. Credit Mobilier scheme occurs. Stockholders contract a railroad company to build track at double or triple the actual cost, pocketing the profits. Shares of stock were donated in political kickbacks to prominent member of Congress, tarnishing the Republicans’ good reputation. A Timeline for the Gilded Age: 1860’s- Early 1900’s By Matthew Hanes Red box: Military Green box: SCIENCE and Business Blue box: Social/ Political

2. 1867 1868-1871 June 1876 Oliver Kelley starts group known by farmers as the Grange. The group fights for the rights of local farmers, and pushes for railroad regulation. Organization inspires other movements, including National Farmers’ Alliances. The infamous NYC political machine known as Tammany Hall, or the Tweed Ring, forms under the leadership of William M. “Boss” Tweed. The group was responsible for scams that gave them millions in pocketed tax money. Group brought down by public outrage inspired by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1871 Col. George A. Custer, having led his forces into the Black Hills region in 1874 to find gold, is met in combat by an Indian coalition force led by the famous Sioux chief, Sitting Bull. The Battle of Little Big Horn results in the deaths of Custer and the entire Seventh Cavalry. Sitting Bull’s forces retreat into Canada.

3. 1876 1880 1880s Inventor Alexander Graham Bell works with Thomas Watson to invent the telephone. Communication is revolutionized by the idea that you could talk to anyone at any distance who was connected to a phone line. Inventor Thomas Alva Edison patents the incandescent light bulb. Edison works with another inventor, George Westinghouse to provide safe and inexpensive electricity to every aspect of American life and business. New entertainment styles begin to emerge. Ragtime songs become popular, later the inspiration for music genres like jazz and rock and roll. Vaudeville performances entertain the masses, bringing live shows into popular media. Ellis Island begins operation, admitting over 17 million immigrants over several decades.

4. May 4 th , 1886 1888 1890 The Haymarket affair takes place. 3,000 strikers gather in Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. A bomb is tossed into the police line, officers open fire. 7officers and a few workers die. 8 leaders and radicals are arrested. Photographer George Eastman, already the inventor of camera film, introduces the Kodak camera, finally making photography a practice available to all. Amateur photographers are everywhere, and photojournalism emerges in the media. On December 28 th , the new 7 th Cavalry rounds up about 350 starving and freezing Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. Soldiers demand that Indians relinquish weapons, and shots are fired. Soldiers open up with cannon fire, killing roughly 300 Sioux. Earlier that month, Sioux leader Sitting Bull was killed, marking the end of the Ghost Dance movement and the Indian wars.

5. 1892 May, 1894 July 8 th , 1896 The first Populist party convention takes place in July. Platform is later adopted by the Democrats. Segregation in the Southern states continues to oppress blacks. Supreme Court rulings like Plessy vs. Ferguson make vote prevention tactics like literacy tests and the grandfather clause completely legal. The Wells lynchings take place, 3 black businessmen are murdered. Workers in George Pullman’s railway company quit working in protest. 250,000 workers go on strike They are represented by Socialist Eugene V. Debs and his American Railway Union. Riots start, resulting in 30 deaths and 80 million dollars in damages. Strike ends,Debs is arrested. Former Democratic congressman William Jennings Bryan delivers his famous “Cross of Gold” speech on the gold standard vs. bimetallism conflict, in favor of the latter option. He wins the Democratic nomination for presidential candidacy, for his dedication improving the lives of American laborers.

6. 1896 1899 1880’s-1900’s The 1896 presidential campaign takes place. Republican candidate W illiam McKinley opposes Bryan. McKinley’s superior funds allow for easy campaign, Bryan puts out great personal effort. Bryan loses, with 6.5 million votes to McKinley’s 7 million. Populist movement collapses. Scottish industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s steel company produces more steel than the entire British continent. Uses 1850’s developed Bessemer process and new business control methods to seize control of the entire steel industry. John D. Rockefeller, known as a “robber baron” for his rather selfish business tactics, becomes one of the first businessmen to achieve a true monopoly. Rockefeller controls the oil industry through merging with other businesses to destroy competition. From 1870 and beyond, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil controls 90 percent of U.S. oil.

7. Sources Google Images U.S. Library of Congress www.americaslibrary.gov