19th Century TimelineBy Kari Bishop

1862

Bessemer process: A cheap and effective process for making steel; developed around 1850.

1850

Homestead Act: A U.S. law that provided 160 acres in the West to any citizen or intended citizen who was head of household and would cultivate the land for 5 years;

1864

Credit Mobilier: A construction company formed in 1864 by owners of the Union Pacific Railroad, who used it to fraudulently skim off railroad profits for themselves.

Sand Creek Massacre: occurred in 1864; most of the Cheyenne returned to Colorado’s Sand Creek Reserve for winter. General S.R. Curtis sent a telegram to John Chivington that read, “I want no peace till the Indians suffer more.” In response, Chivington & his troops descended on the Cheyenne & Arapaho camped at Sand Creek. The attack killed over 150 people.

1859

Social Darwinism: An economical and social philosophy holding that a system of unrestrained competition will ensure the survival of the fittest. In Charles Darwin's book, published in 1859, he described his observations.

1866

Buffalo Soldiers: members of the U.S. 10th Calvary Regiment of the U.S. Army, formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army

1867

Grange: The Patrons of Husbandry; a social and educational organization through which farmers attempted to combat the power of the railroads in the late 19th century. Founded by Oliver Kelley.

1868

Tammany Halll: New York City's powerful Democratic political machine. William M. Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, and Tweed led the Tammany Hall's graft i 1869-1871.

1869

Transcontinental Railroad: A railroad line linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the U.S.

Tweed Ring: a group of corrupt politicians led by William M. Tweed to defraud New York City between 1869 and 1871. One scheme was the construction of the New York County Courthouse that costed $3 million but Tweed charged $13 million and the difference was pocketed.

July 9, 1869

Cross of Gold Speech: a speech delivered by William Bryan at the Democratic convention. Bryan supported bimetallism in the address and he decried the gold standard concluding the speech.

Political Machine: an organized group that controls a political party in a city and offers service to voters and businesses in exchange for political and financial support

1870

Fredrick Law Olmstead: a landscape architect; in 1857 he helped draw up a plan for "Greensward," which would later become Central Park. In the 1870's, he planned landscaping for Washington D.C. and St. Louis.

Graft: the illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

Kickback: an illegal form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker for services rendered.

Jacob Riis: at age 21, Jacob left his native Denmark for the U.S. He found work as a police reporter and he used his photographic and journalistic talents to help the impoverished in New York City.

1872

Mail-order catalog: Montgomery Ward's catalog, launched in 1872, grew from a single sheet of paper to a booklet with ordering instructions in 10 languages. By 1910, about 10 million Americans shopped by mail. The U.S. Post Office boosted mail-order business.

George Westinghouse: an American entrepreneur and engineer who invented the railway air brake in 1872. He also added innovations that made electricity safer and less expensive along with Edison.

1873

Andrew Carnegie: He entered the steel business in 1783. By 1899, the Carnegie Steel Company manufactured more steel than all the factories in Great Britain. He attempted to buy out competing steel producers. He eventually controlled almost the entire steel industry. He donated about 90% of his wealth he accumulated in his lifetime.

1876

George Armstrong Custer: Reported that the Black Hills had gold “from the grass roots down,” which started a gold rush; led his troops to the Little Bighorn River; Custer and his troops were crushed by the Native Americans that awaited them.

Grandfather clause: A provision that exempts certain people from a law on the basis of previously existing circumstances -- especially a clause formerly in some states that exempted whites from the strict voting requirements used to keep blacks from the polls.

Battle of Little Bighorn: In 1876, Colonel Custer reached the Little Bighorn River where the Native Americans were ready for them. Led by Crazy Horse, Gall & Sitting Bull, the warriors crushed Custer's troops. Within an hour, Custer and all his troops were dead.

Thomas Alva Edison: became a pioneer on the new industrial frontier when he est. the world's first research lab in 1876. He perfected the incandescent light bulb and later invented an entire system for producing and distributing electrical power. He also added innovations that made electricity safer and cheaper.

Alexander Graham Bell: A scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator. He invented the telephone along with Thomas Watson.

1877

Nez Perce: Native American poeple who lived in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. They were forced off their tribal lands in Wallowa County, Oregon

1879

Exoduster: an African American who migrated from the South to Kansas in the post-Reconstruction years.

Telephone: invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson. It opened the way for a worldwide communications network; particularly affected office work and created new jobs for women.

1880's

Ragtime: A blend of african American spirituals and European musical forms, it originated in the 1880's in the Saloons of the South. Ragtime later led to jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll.

1883

Joseph Pulitzer: a Hungarian immigrant who had bought the "New York World" in 1883; he pioneered popular innovations, such as a large Sunday edition, comics, sports coverage, and women's news.

1881

Booker T. Washington: A prominent African American educator. He graduated from Virginia's Hampton Institute, and by 1881 he headed the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute.

Patronage: an officeholder's power to appoint people (usually those who have helped him or her get elected) for political and financial support. During the Gilded Age, patronage became a controversial issue.

Gilded Age: The period following the Civil War, running from late 1860's to about 1896 when the Progressive era began. THe Gilded Age was a time of enormous growth that attracted millions from Europe. Railroads were the major industry, but the factory system, mining, and labor unions were also important.

Vaudeville: performances that included song, dance, juggling, slapstick comedy, and sometimes chorus lines of female performers; popular in the early 1880's.

Settlement House: a community center providing assistance to residents (particularly immigrants) in a slum neighborhood.

Dawes Act: A law that was intended to “Americanize” Native Americans by distributing reservation land to individual owners.

1886

Samuel Gompers: he led the Cigar Markers' International Union; he was President of the American Federation of Labor.

May 4, 1886

Haymarket Affair: 3000 people gathered at Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. The crowd dispersed when police showed up and then someone tossed a bomb into the police line. Police fired on workers; 7 police died along with several workers. 8 people were charged and convicted; 4 of them were hanged and one committed suicide.

1887

Interstate Commerce Commission: a regulatory body in the U.S. created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Its original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, & to regulate other aspects of common carriers. The Commissions' 5 members were appointed by the President

Colored Farmers' Alliance: organized by R.M. Humphrey (a white baptist missionary). Members of this alliance promoted cooperative buying and selling; these alliances had to work mostly in secret to avoid racially motivated violence from angry landowners and suppliers. About 250,000 African Americans belonged to this alliance.

Mugwumps: Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the U.S. Presidential election of 1884.

1884

Groerge Eastman: He took up photography in 1877. In that time, photographers had to lug around more than 100 lbs of equipment, so to lighten the load, George replaced heavy glass plates with film that could be rolled into a spool. In 1888 he introduced his Kodak camera.

1888

1890

Sherman Antitrust Act: a law that was intended to prevent the creation of monopolies by making it illegal to establish trusts that interfered with free trade.

1888

Poll Tax: an annual tax that formerly had to be paid in some southern states by anyone wishing to vote.

Ghost Dance: a ritual that the Sioux performed to restore Native American lands and way of life

July 4, 1892

Omaha Platform: the party program adopted at the formative conventioun of the Populist Party held in Omaha Nebraska

Melting Pot: a mixture of people from different cultures and races who blend together by abandoning their native languages and cultures (1840-1819)

Dec. 28, 1890

Wounded Knee:The Seventh Cavalry rounded up about 350 Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The next day, the soldiers demanded that the NAtive Americans give up all their

1893

Eugene V. Debs: formed the American Railway Union in 1893. He was put in jail after the Pullman strike in 1894. He later became the spokesperson for the Socialist Party of America.

1892

Ida B. Wells: moved to Memphis in the early 1880's to work as a teacher. She later became an editor of a local paper. 3 of Wells' friends were lynched, so Wells moved North to fight against Lynching by writing, lecturing, and organizing for civil rights.

1894

Pullman Strike: A strike was called in 1894 when the pullman company laid off 3000 workers and cut wages. After Pullman hired strikebreakers, the strike turned violent. Pullman ended up firing most of the strikers and the railroads blacklisted many others.

Scab: a strikebreaker, a person who works despite strike action or against the will of other employees. Henry Frick hired armed guards to protect the steel plant so he could keep it running in 1892.

Ellis Island: the chief immigration station in the United States, located in New York Harbor. Immigrants had to pass inspection here before being admitted to the Union.

1899

Sweat shops: workshops in tenements rather than in factories. Sweatshop employment was tedious and required few skills. This was often the only route open to women and children. In these shops, there is no such thing as dinner hour; workers ate and worked at the same time. They also paid the lowest wages.

Plessy v. Ferguson: A case in which the Supreme Court ruled that separation of the races in public accommodations was legal, thus establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine.

18961895

William Randolph Hearst: purchased the New York Morning Journal in 1895; he owned the San Francisco "Examiner" and he sought to outdo Pulitzer by filling the Journal with exaggerated tales of personal scandals, cruelty, hypnotism, and even an imaginary conquest of Mars.

Dec. 17, 1903

Orville & Wilbur Wright: brothers that are bicycle manufacturers from Dayton, Ohio. They 1st built a glider, then they commissioned a four-cylinder internal combustion engine, with a 40'4" wingspan. Their first successful flight was on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, NC, and it covered 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds.

W.E.B. Dubois: The first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard in 1895. In 1905, Dubois founded the Niagara Movement.

1905 1910

Angel Island: Asians arriving on the West Coast gained admission to the United States at this island located in San Francisco Bay. About 50,000 chinese immigrants entered the United States through Angel Island.

1911

Debt Peonage: A system in which workers are bound in servitude until their debts are paid. Not until 1911 did the Supreme Court declare involuntary peonage a violation of the 13th amendment.

Bibliography

All pictures came from Google Images