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Powhatan Wars
In the first half of the 17th century. Following the settlement of Jamestown. -
Pequot wars
In Connecticut and Massachusetts, the settlers slew the Pequot community, offering bounties for the head of Natives. In 1638, the Treaty of Hartford sought to eradicate the Pequot cultural identity, prohibiting their language or access to tribal lands, or even referring to themselves as Pequots and effectively dissolved the Pequot Nation, with many survivors executed or enslaved and sold away. The Pequot tribe was classified as extinct but still lives today. -
King's Philip War
War between settlers and Native communities in New England, the Natives being led by Metacom. Includes the massacre of the Narragansett people. -
Bacon's rebellion
rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against the governor of Virginia who refused to lead N-A out of Virginia. People from all classes and races took part in the rebellion, so when it failed, it resulted in the hardening of social and racial classes to divide and avoid another uprising. In 1705, the Virginia Slave Codes were passed. -
French and Indian War
War also between settlers and Natives, bounties to kill Natives and biological warfare. -
Easton Treaty
First Indian reservation established by the governments of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was called the Brotherton Indian Reservation. -
Pontiac's War/ Rebellion
A confederation of N-A who opposed the British rule in the Great Lakes region. Includes biological warfare, like blankets infected with smallpox. -
Bunker Hill
One of the bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary war, proved the American ability to fight even though they lost. -
Saratoga
Turning point in the war, first American victory, France decided to join and become allies. -
Sullivan expedition
Start of the Sullivan expedition, lasting until October of the same year. George.W ordered this against "hostile Indian tribes" (Iroquois) during the Revolutionary war, using the scorched earth policy. -
York Town
Last Battle, surrender of Britain -
Cotton gin
The American Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that separates cotton fibers easier. Thanks to the cotton gin, cotton became a very profitable industry, allowing it to become "King cotton" in the South. -
Louisianna Purchase
US purchased Louisianna from Napoleon. This extended the US territory greatly and opened possibilities to move Natives west of the Mississipi River. It was later renamed the Missouri Territory in 1812. -
Expedition Lewis and Clark
Beginning of the expedition to explore the newly bought Louisiana Territory and establish relationship with N-A tribes. -
Jefferson's Removal policy
Thomas Jefferson initially believed in assimilation policy but switched to removal in 1803, proposing to move the tribes west of the Mississipi river. In 1808, he initiated a program to remove Natives to newly created Arkansas territory. -
National Road
Beginning of the construction of the national road, linking the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, facilitating transport to the West. It would be completed in 1818. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
During Tecumseh's War. N-A tribes opposed settlements into the Old Northwest Territory. N-A forces were shattered by General Harrison's forces. Fueled tensions between US and Britain as UK was for Tecumseh's Confederacy. -
War of 1812
Stemmed from disagreement over territorial expansion. -
Burning of the White House
The British had sailed on the Atlantic Coast in the beginning of AUgust, invading Maryland. They reach Washinggton and destroy several government buildings, like the Capitol or the White House. -
Treaty of Ghent
Treaty putting an end to the War of 1812, fights ended in 1815, especially after the battle of New Orleans where Andrew Jackson made a name for himself as he was a General. -
Alabama Fever
1817-1819 describes the period after which N-A tribes ceded territory and allowed settlers to settle there to grow more cotton as the land in Georgia was starting to be infertile. -
Panic of 1819
First large-scale economic recession in the US, because the cotton prices dropped 25% in a day. This pressured non-property holders to ask to ban the property requirements to vote. This led to the 1828 elections where non-property-holding white males could vote in the majority of the states, and the tendency went towards universal white male suffrage. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
Florida Purchase Treaty. -
Civilization Fund Act
Congress passed this Act under President Monroe, who faced tensions with Native Communities. A few months prior, he faced Congress saying that the Native way of life had to be abandonned. Initially, this act aimed at providing education to N-A (ex:Chiricahua Apaches) to assimilate them into white society. -
Missouri Compromise
Legislation aimed at balancing slavery in the US. Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free stateand prohibited slavery north of the 36°30 parallel. It was chosen because of the Mason-Dixon line of 1763. -
Mexican Independence
Since 1810, the were done with the SPanish so they fight for ten years and then yeaaaaah independent. They later open their territory to Americans : in 1830, 20 000 US people were in Texas and around 1 000 enslaved people. They wanted to grow cotton. -
American Colonisation Society
Encouraged slaves to back to Africa, especially Liberia. -
Russo-American Treaty
Russia and Britain had claims on the Oregon Country, as well as the US. In this Treaty, Russia gave up claims on this territory and in a treaty with the UK a year later, its territory was delimited to present day Alaska. As the years went by, the number of American surpassed the number of Brits and so in 1848, the Territory of Oregon became a territory of the US, but not part of the Union. -
1825 Removal Bill
President James Monroe adressed Congress supporting the removal of N-A but the bill was defeated in Congress. -
Erie Canal
Opening of the Erie Canal, linking NY to western part of the country, making it the Empire State and also facilitating transport in the country. Precedent to Railroad. -
Constitution of the Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee were part of the five civilized tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctw, Creek, Seminoles). They put the most efforts into assimilating, becoming farmers, oppening schools and churches. They lived in Georgia, a state with a lot of slave owners. In 1827, they passed a Constitution similar to the US one. -
Election of Andrew Jackson
He will step into office on March 4 1929 and will step down after another mandate in 1837. This marks the beginning of the Jacksonian era. He is the first Sourthern president and is known for his anti-Native American stance as he stole land from Native tribes. He was also a slave owner. He is Trump's favourite president, though he was a Democrat. -
Gold discovery
The Georgia Journal, a newspaper, writes that gold has been discovered in the State of Georgia, on Cherokee territory. This is the start of the Georgia Gold Rush. Mining operations sprang up. -
Indian Removal Act
Spported by "Indian Killer" president Jackson. Several groups, like the Whigs, some Christian missionaries or the CHerokee challenged this piece of legislation but they failed. It was passed with a slight majority of 102/97 votes. -
Trail of Tears
The process of deportation of N-A tribes (Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw). The government had promised supplies but did not deliver and so, around 4 000 Cherokees died during the trip. All in all 60 000 were displaced. The Choctaw were the first to be displaced. The Cherokee were forcefully displaced in 1838, following the gold rush, they were the last of the five civilized tribes. -
The Liberator
Abolitionist newspaper created by William Lloyd Garrison, who preached "immidiatism". -
Cherokee Nation vs Georgia
The C believed they had the right to stay on their ancestral lands because they had a treaty with federal government. They appealed to the Supreme Court. The SC said yes but had no power to enforce it. -
Tariff of 1832
Andrew J. put into law tariffs, making imported goods more expensive. This law had the support of most of the Northerners and half the Southerners in Congress. -
Ordinance of Nullification - Nullification crisis
South Carolina declared that the Tariffs were unconstitutional, according to the 10th ammendment of the Bill of Rights. This is the start of the nullification crisis. -
Force Bill - Nullification Crisis
As SC started military preparations against the federal government, Congress passed the Force Bill on March 1 1833 to also use military against SC. The Congress also passed the Compromise Tariff of 1833, the same day, which was a new negotiated tariff. SC was satisfied and SC repealed the Nullification Ordinance and Force Bill on March 15 and March 18 respectively. End of the nullification crisis. It represented an important risk of dis-union, considered as a precedent for the Civil War. -
Assassination attempt
An English-born house painter attempts to assassinate Jackson, but the president beats him up. -
Texas Revolution
First engagement of the Texas Revolution, because the Am in Texas were against the more and more centralist Mexican government, its anti-slavery laws and mandatory Catholicism. -
Second Seminole War
Until August 14 1842. AKA Florida War. After Dade's massacre which was a military loss for the US, a conflict rose and a guerilla war started, with the Seminoles hiding in the swamps of Florida until the chief was captured and then surrendered. 3000 people died and 3000 people were removed. -
Treaty of New Echota
Some of the Cherokees agreed to leave west of the Miss.R and were seen as traitors. -
Eviction of the Creek
The Creeks (aka Muscogee) had one of the worst evictions as they had sided with the British during the War. 1/4 of their population died during the trip. -
Battle of the Alamo
13 days siege, where Mexican troops supressed 200 revolutionaries, killing almost all of them. It inspired many Texians to join the army . -
San Jacinto Battle
Final and decisive battle for the independence. The Mexican leaser Santa Anna was captured and signed three weeks later and treaty paving the way for the Republic of Texas, which declared itself independent on the first of March. -
Panic of 1837
Financial crisis leading to a rise in unemployment, a drop in wages and westward expansion was stalled. One of the reason was that the charter of the Bank of the US was not extanded by President Jackson. It led to pessimism and optimism was regained thanks to the gold rush of the 40's. -
Texas Annexation
Texas annexed by US, after so many people joined the state after the gold rush. -
Thornton Affair
General Zachary Taylor was sent on the coast of the Rio Grande to defend the borders of the Texas State. There was a misunderstanding between the US and Mexico and so US trrops were attacked by Mexican calvalry. -
American-Mexican War
The US Congress declares war against Mexico, pretexting an attack with the Thornton Affair. In reality, President James Polk was an expansionist who wanted more land. -
Occupation of Santa Fe
After not a lot of resistance, New Mexico is now occupated by US. -
Virginia Criminal Code
Dictates that if any white person tries to teach Black people to read, and to write will be imprisoned and fined. -
Harriet Tubman
Black runaway slaves, abolitionist who helped thousands of enslaved people move to slavery-free states through the underground railroad. This is her first trip. -
Battle of La Mesa
After not a lot of resistance either, California is now controlled by US. -
The North Star
Abolitionist newspaper created by Black runaway slave Frederick Douglas. -
California Gold Rush
Gold was discovered in Sutter Mill, California, and started a gold rush, especially in 1849. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. -
Treaty of Guadaluppe Hidalgo
After the conquest of New Mexico and California, James Polk decided to invade Mexico City to make the country surrender. They attack the capital city in September 47 and M agrees to a peace treaty. The T ceeds C and NM for 15M$ to US so "no conquest". It also recog,ised the Rio Grande as the border. -
Mariposa War
War that lasted 7 months, aka Yosemite Indian War. Triggered by the discovery of gold in the region. In June 1851, the Ahwahnechee were removed from their lands and forced to live on a reservation. -
Roberts v. City of Boston
A Black girl has been denied access to a nearby white school and has to go far away to a Black school. The Supreme Courst says that there is nothing wrong with segregated schools, it sets precedent for the Plessy vs Ferguson case. -
Compromise of 1850
As more States (California) entered the Union as free States, slave states were upset because this would disrupt the balance of the Missouri compromise. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed a series of bills to sort out the issue, one of the solutions being to let slavery be decided by popular sovereignty. -
Admission of California as a State
California is admitted to the Union as the 30th—and free—state. -
Fugitive Slave Act 1850
Part of the Compromise of 1850, which stated that any runaway slave had to be returned to their master. -
Annexion of Texas
After a decade of negotiations about slavery, Texas was admitted as slave state. It broke diplomatic relations with Mexico. It was part of the Manifest Destiny. -
The Conspiracy of Pontiac
Book published by Francis Parkman, in which he states that after the French and Indian War, Indians were ""destined to melt and vanish before the advancing waves of Anglo-American power, which now rolled westward unchecked and unopposed". -
1851 Act
The 1851 Indian Appropriations Act allocated funds to move Western tribes onto Indian reservations where they would be protected and enclosed by the United States government. According to the federal government at that time, reservations were to be created in order to protect the Indians from increasing numbers of Americans moving to the West. This act set the precedent for modern-day Indian reservations. -
Fort Defiance built to control Dine’ Indians
Fort Defiance is established to control Dine’ (Navajo), who are considered one of the “wild tribes.” This invasion leads to more confrontations between Dine’ and the U.S. military. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas, a Senator, wanted to orgonize a new territory on the Louisiana Territory but needed the support of the Southerners. He made Congress pass an act allowing slavery on the territory despite being north of the Missouri compromise paralle, effectively reppealing the M Compromise. This led to the creation of the Republican Party, as Whigs disappeared and joined either Rep or Democrats. -
Dred v Stanford
In this ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory.
Originalism v loose constructionalism
It also confirmed the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional because 5th Ammendment, can't deprive anyone of its property. -
"House Divided" speech
Speech by A.Lincoln to win a Senate speech in which he says ""A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free." It pointed at the dis-union of the US. -
Comstock Lode
The discovery of vast silver deposits in the Comstock Lode at Virginia City, Nevada brings hordes of prospectors to the Sierra Nevada and re-ignites the mining boom of the forty-niners' Gold Rush. -
Harpers Ferry Raid
Attempt by abolitionist John Brown to ignite a rebellion in Virginia so he raided a ferry i guess. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln is elected, he is part of the anti-slavery Republican party. -
Secession of South Carolina
Southern States were upset because ouin ouin Lincoln is against slavery so SECESSION. After SC, 10 States will follow. -
Confederate States of America
Seceded States met in Alabama, creating the CSA. they elected Jefferson Davis as leader. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
The attack on Fort Sumter, a federal outpost in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, marks the first military engagement of the American Civil War. After some 34 hours of bombardment, the fort surrenders on April 13, and Federal troops evacuate the fort the next day. -
Battle of Shiloh
In a fierce battle at Shiloh, in southwestern Tennessee, Union forces rally from almost near defeat to drive back the Confederate army. Both sides are immobilized for the next three weeks because of the heavy casualties, including more than 13,000 on the Union side and more than 11,000 on the Confederate side. -
Pacific Railway Act
Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing the Central Pacific to build a California line east from Sacramento and establishing the Union Pacific Railroad Company with a mandate to build west from the Missouri River. Significantly, no meeting point is set, but the bill does promise the lines 6,400 acres of land and $48,000 in government bonds for each mile built. -
Battle of Antietam
The battle at Antietam, Maryland, is regarded as a Union victory in an otherwise bleak year for Union forces in the East. However, the casualties set a grisly record. In what marks the bloodiest single day of the war, the South loses 10,316 troops, and the North suffers casualties of 12,401. Following this battle, Lincoln shifts the focus of the war from preserving the Union to freeing enslaved people in the Confederacy. -
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
It called upon the Confederacy to lay down their arms and to join the Union by year's end. In this case, the Southern states would be allowed to keep their slaves. If they rejected the offer, then Lincoln would emancipate all their slaves, in the hope that some would join the Union army. -
Emancipation Proclamation
As the Southern states did not reply to the offer, on January 1st, 1863, Lincoln declared all the slaves in the Confederacy to be free. Slavery could continue in the Border States. -
Inauguration of the Railroad
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Central Pacific is held in Sacramento, California. The first shovel of earth is lifted by newly elected California Governor Leland Stanford (who sits on the CP board, as well). -
Concription Act
Congress passes a conscription act that called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were outraged that exemptions were effectively granted only to the wealthiest U.S. citizens. -
Battle of Gettysburg
In Pennsylvania, considered as a turning point in the war. It is also the bloodiest battle of the war with around 50 000 combined casualties. -
Surrender of Vicksburg
End of the campaign of Vicksburg, won by Ulysses Grant. The capture of Vicksburg divided the Confederacy and proved the military genius of Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. -
Battle of Chattanooga
It was an unexpected victory for the Union as the Southerners were a bit disorganized. -
Long Walk of the Navajo
Start of the deportation and ethnic cleansing of the Navajo people, deported to New Mexico territory. Approximately 3,500 Dine’ die in the camp. (Navajo is the name given by the Spanish, Dine' is the name used by the people of that community) -
Pacific Railway Act Revised
Influenced by a massive lobbying effort that involved the distribution by "Doc" Durant (among others) of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and railroad bond largesse, Congress revises the Pacific Railway Act to double land grants, pass control of all natural resources located along the lines to the railroads themselves, and remove the existing limitations on individual stock ownership in the companies. -
Battle of Atlanta
Following previous Union victories, Grant instructed General Sherman to go deep into the South to seize Atlanta, begining the Atlanta campaigns in May. The battle in July cut off the city from the western railroad, allowing a surrender in early September. With Atlanta captured, Grant and Sherman marched South with an attitude of total war by destroying everything on their way to weaken the enemy. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Cavalry led by Colonel John Chivington slaughter at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho (largely women and children) in what becomes known as the "Sand Creek Massacre" in Colorado Territory. -
Chinese Workers on Central Pacific
Central Pacific contractor Charles Crocker decides to employ Chinese workers in an attempt to shore up the rapid turnover in his predominantly Irish labor force. -
Black Codes
They were published to replace slave codes and ensure a supply of cheap labor in the south. One of the ways was peonage or "share-cropping", meaning freedmen or poor white farmers would cultivate the land of another for a share of crops. -
Annihilation of buffalo
Start of the policy to annhilate every buffalo to render N-A communities who relied on them for subsistance destitute and weak so that they could be put in reservations. -
Retaliation at Julesburg
Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors raid and burn the town of Julesburg in retaliation for the massacre at Sand Creek 39 days earlier. -
Freedmen's Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, aka the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting former enslaved people in the South. It provided provisions, clothing, and fuel for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children as well as lands“40 acres and a mule”. -
Surrender of General Lee
In April, he found himself outnumbered and encircled. He surrendered in Appomattox, Virginia. -
Lincoln Assassination
n April 14 President Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth. The president dies on April 15. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president. The death of Lincoln will make reconciliation between the North and South more difficult. -
Homestead Act of 1862
Congress decided to pass the Homestead Act in 1862. It stipulated that 160 acres of land could be given for free to any American citizen willing to go to the Red Plains and stay there for 5 years. Volunteers had to pledge they would cultivate the land there and build a small drail. In total, 40M acres were given for free by the Federal government. However, it sometimes proved to not be enough for a family to make end’s meet. So, they ended up going back to cities. -
Union Pacific Lays First Rail
The first Union Pacific rails are laid in Omaha, Nebraska. -
13th Amendment
Prohibits slavery in all US? including the border states who were not concerned by the emancipation proclamation. -
Creation of the Klu Klu Klux Klan
American Protestant-led Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group. The first Klan was established in the Reconstruction era for men opposed to Radical Reconstruction and founded by Confederate veterans that assaulted and murdered politically active Black people and their white political allies in the South. -
Andrew Carnegie's buisenesses
Carnegie controlled the steel sector. While many industrialists were born in a wealthy family, he was one of the few industrialists who have risen from the bottom. Inspiring “from rags to riches” stories.
He and his partners form businesses in the iron industry, including the Pittsburgh
Locomotive Works in 1866 and the Union Iron Mills in 1867.
Carnegie Increased work hours, kept the wage as low as possible and drove his competitors to bankruptcy to purchase their company. -
Vagrancy Act
Forced anyone who looked homeless into a three-months employment term, forcing a lot of freesmen into sharecropping. -
Civil Rights Act 1866
Vetoed by President Johnson but passed by Congress, this act defines US citizenship and ought to protect people of african descent in the US. -
100th Meridian Excursion
Durant throws a lavish party to celebrate the Union Pacific reaching the 100th meridian. The "100th Meridian Excursion" features, among other things, a mock attack by friendly Pawnee tribesmen for the entertainment of guests. -
Fetterman Massacre
The builders crossed the hunting ground of the Sioux and they killed around 1,000 people of the Fetterman troop. This was considered as a victory for the tribe, which was led by Red Cloud. -
Rags to riches stories
Horatio Alger, Jr., publishes Ragged Dick; or Street Life in New York, the first in his rags-to-riches series. -
Reconstruction Acts
Reconstruction Acts, U.S. legislation enacted in 1867–68 that outlined the conditions under which the Southern states would be readmitted to the Union. The states were also required to craft new constitutions, which had to include universal male suffrage and needed approval by the U.S. Congress. In addition, they had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. -
The Granger Movement
A movement of farmers/settlers in the West who expressed their grievances at the railroad, especially after the Panic of 1873, because transportation stopped and they had no way to sell their crops or buy any goods, leaving them alone with very high prices. -
Alaska Purchase
Ratification of the bilateral Treaty to buy Alaska from Russia. The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million -
Chinese Railroad Strike
Chinese workers on the Central Pacific bring work on the Sierra tunnels to a halt when they strike for better hours and wages. Crocker starves out the strike, and the men return to work a week later at the same wage. -
14th Amendment
Part of the Reconstruction Amendment. A major provision of the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. Another equally important provision was the statement that “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” -
Treaty of Fort Laramy
In this treaty, signed on April 29, 1868, between the U.S. Government and the Sioux Nation, the United States recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people. -
Golden Spike at Promontory Point
The first transcontinental railroad is officially completed, as the Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines join some 1,700 miles of track connecting to the eastern networks. Representatives of both railroads take turns driving the final golden spike into the ground during a ceremony at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory. -
Black Friday
On September 24, 1869, a gold panic broke out in the United States, triggering a financial crisis. The panic, which became known as Black Friday, was the result of a conspiracy between two investors, Jay Gould and Abel Corbin. They drove the price of gold to an even higher price by buying large amounts of gold at the current high price and selling even higher, regardless of the political and economic effects. The Black Friday gold crash caused the United States financial devastation for months. -
Standard Oil Company of Ohio
Standard Oil Company of Ohio is formed by John D.
Rockefeller from several smaller companies, soon controlling
10% of the oil refining industry in the U.S. -
15th Amendment
Guarantees that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” -
Indian Appropriation Act
The practice of treating Indian tribes as sovereign nations was ended in 1871 when Congress approved the Indian Appropriations Act, which made them individuals and legally designated “wards” of the federal government. -
Civil Rights Act of 1871
In January 1871, Pennsylvania Republican senator John Scott convened a congressional committee which took testimony from 52 witnesses about Klan atrocities, accumulating 12 volumes. In February, former Union general and congressman Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act). While the bill was being considered, further violence in the South swung support for its passage. The Act prohibited the Klan. -
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles (9 km2) of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. It was an economic setback which participated in the Panic of 1873. -
Yellowstone
First National Park of the US -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Credit Mobilier scandal is exposed by the New York Sun, which catalogues bribery and corruption in the
construction of the transcontinental railroad.
Crédit Mobilier of America, was created by Union Pacific executives to build the line. Though the railroad cost only $50M to build, C-M billed $94M and Union Pacific executives pocketed the excess $44M. Part of the excess cash was then used to bribe several politicians for laws, funding, and regulatory rulings favorable to the Union P. -
Equine influenza
It came from Canada and spread into New England. The New York Times reported on the extent of the outbreak, claiming that nearly all public stables in the city had been affected, and that the majority of the horses owned in the private sector had essentially been rendered useless to their owners. At the end of the month, there was a complete suspension of travel in New England. -
Great Boston Fire of 1872
The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. -
Panic of 1873
In September 1873, Jay Cooke Company, a major component of the country's banking establishment, found itself unable to market several million dollars in Northern Pacific Railway bonds. Many US insurance companies went out of business, as the deteriorating financial conditions created solvency problems for life insurers. It began a five year economic depression. -
The Gilded Age - Mark Twain
Gilded Age, period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age, written by Mark Twain along with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, D.C., and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians. -
Mint Act of 1873
Congress makes gold the national standard and eliminates all silver currency. Because of the gold rush of California. The inflation of such a policy also participated in the Panic of 1873. -
Black Hills gold rush
In 1874, the U.S. government sent General George Custer on the Black Hills Expedition to choose a location for a new Army fort and to investigate the area's natural resources. The expedition's confirmation of gold in the region drew thousands of whites to the Black Hills, ultimately fueling tensions between the whites and the Native Americans, leading to the Great Sioux war of 1876 and Custer's Last Stand. On August 10, the New York Tribune headlines the discovery of the “New Gold Country." -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
To fight white supremacy, this act entended to guarantee that everyone would be entitled to the same services but it had very little effect in practice, especially as a 1883 Supreme Court decision said that it was unconctitutional in some aspect. -
Closing of the Chiricahua
This marks the beginning of the exile of Geronimo. -
Battle of the Little Bighorn
John Custer decided to get rid of the Sioux. He had ordered the slaughter of men and women at the Cuchita River in 1868. The Sioux were aware of this and he decided to launch the Little Bighorn attack. However, he wasn’t aware that they made an alliance with the Cheyenne. At the end, his troops were outnumbered and slaughtered due to the presumptuousness of Custer.
This was the last great victory of the Sioux and the Cheyenne and therefore of the Great Plains. -
Compromise of 1877
During the presidential election of 1876, republicans won but Democrats disputed the results. To ease the tensions, both parties came to an unwritten arguments, one of the clauses was the removal of the troops in the Southern States. -
Nez Percé War
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict in 1877 in the Western United States that pitted several bands of the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans against the United States Army.
The conflict stemmed from the refusal of several bands of the Nez Perce, to give up their ancestral lands in the Pacific Northwest and move to an Indian reservation in Idaho Territory.
They trecked 1800 miles over 4 months to escape US troops but surrendered in October. They are sent to a reservation in Oklahoma. -
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
After West Virginia railroad workers
strike to protest wage reductions, sympathy strikes and violence spread across the
Midwest. Federal troops break the strikes. -
Exodus of 1879
After the Civil War and the appearance of suppremacists like the KKK or the White Leagues, but also the Black Codes itensified by the Panic of 1873, Black Americans started to flee along the Mississipi River to Kansas. -
Mussel Slough Tragedy
The Mussel Slough Tragedy was a shootout over disputed land titles between settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). It took place on May 11, 1880, on a farm located 5.6 miles (9 km) northwest of Hanford, California, in the central San Joaquin Valley. Seven people were killed. The episode became a major theme in many protests and publications denouncing the railroads as vllains in California history. -
Standard Oil Trust
The trust was born on January 2, 1882, when a group of 41 investors signed the Standard Oil Trust Agreement, which pooled their securities of 40 companies into a single holding agency managed by nine trustees. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
It was the first time they stopped a massive amount of people from entering. This Act forbade the immigration of Chinese into the US for 10 years. Up until the 1940s, the act was renewed every 10 years. -
Time zones
Four standard time zones, made necessary by transcontinental railroad travel, are adopted by the U.S. and Canada. -
AFL
American Federation of Labor is founded in Columbus, Ohio. -
Haymarket Square Riot
Haymarket Square Riot erupts in Chicago after a bomb explodes during
a police break-up of an anarchist meeting protesting the treatment of strikers at the
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. Seven deaths and many injuries result. -
Redition of Geronimo
The US sent men, notably Henry Lawton, to capture Geronimo. Lawton was given orders to head up actions south of the U.S.–Mexico boundary, where it was thought that Geronimo and a small band of his followers would take refuge from U.S. authorities. Completely worn out, the small band of Apaches returned to the U.S. with Lawton and officially surrendered to General Miles on September 4, 1886, at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. -
Interstate Commerce Commission
The goal was to create a government agancy able to regulate the railroads companies' monopolies and calm the anti-railroads sentiments. -
Dawes Severalty Act
They decided to divide the land of reservations into small plots of land and distribute them to each head of federal. The purpose was to reach self-reliance and independence and for the Indians to assimilate the individual property of land. The aim was also to cut food rations. -
Separate Car Act
Law passed in Louisiana which required "equal, but separate" train car accommodations for Black and White passengers within the state. -
Closing of the Frontier
The Frontier (area between the wilderness and colonised lands) closed in 1890. This meant that there was no more land to colonise. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce and consequently prohibits unfair monopolies. -
Murder of Sitting Bull
The leader of the Ghost Dance was killed in the reserve of Standing Rock. -
Ghost Dance massacre
The soldiers ended up killing defenseless Sioux on December 29th,1890, putting an end to the Ghost Dance movement. -
Immigration Act 1891
Established the Office of Immigration (later the Bureau of Immigration) to administer immigration affairs. The government also appropriated money to build a new immigrant inspection station on Ellis Island. The Immigration Act assigned the Marine Hospital Service (later the Public Health Service) the responsibility of examining the health of immigrants entering the United States. -
Geary Act of 1892
The law required all Chinese residents of the United States to carry a resident permit, a sort of internal passport. Failure to carry the permit at all times was punishable by deportation or a year of hard labor. In addition, Chinese were not allowed to bear witness in court, and could not receive bail in habeas corpus proceedings. -
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States. It began in February 1893 and officially ended eight months later. The Panic of 1896 followed.[1] It was the most serious economic depression in history until the Great Depression of the 1930s. It deeply affected every sector of the economy and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment and the presidency of William McKinley. Unemployment rates in many states rose above 25% and poverty became widespread. -
Overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy
The Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown in a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani that took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu. The coup was led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents (five Americans, one Scotsman, and one German[6]) and six Hawaiian Kingdom subjects of American descent in Honolulu. The insurgents established the Republic of Hawaii, but their ultimate goal was the annexation of the islands to the United States, which occurred in 1898. -
Cuba Rebellion
There was a rebellion against Spanish rule in 1895.
It got the support of Cuban exiles, who who fled and found refuge in the USA (mostly Florida and New York). They contributed to make Florida a Republican state which impacted the elections in the 2000s. At the time, the President of the USA was Robert Clevand, who argued that the US had to help the Cuban rebellion but the president refused military intervention, he negotiated with the Spanish authorities for more autonomy which was a failure. -
Atlanta Compromise speech
Booker.T Washington, said that vocational education (aka commercial training) was more valuable than social advantages : "“In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” -
Plessy v Ferguson
Legal case in which the Supreme Court of the US declared segregation constitutional : "separate but equal". This case originally challenged the Separate Car Act. -
Sunking of the Maine
The Maine was sunk in Havana in February 1898. The Americans accused the Spaniards of blowing up the ship in the port of Havana and killed 260 sailors. Many people at the time were convinced that Spain was guilty. Later, there was an investigation that hinted that it may have been a mere accident. -
Splendid Little War - Spanish-American War
Congress declared War on Spain. The US navy was much stronger, new battleships had been built because some generals believed that the USA would play a huge part in overseas domination. It ended in august of the same year. -
Annexation of Hawaii
President McKinley lobbied Congress to pass it, calling annexation a necessary war measure and claiming the U.S. military would greatly benefit from using Hawaii as a coaling station and naval base in its fight against the Spanish Navy in the Pacific. On June 15, 1898, the House passed the resolution by a vote of 209 to 91; three weeks later, the Senate passed it by vote of 42 to 21. Annexation had finally succeeded, passed by a joint resolution rather than by treaty. -
Anti-Imperialist League
Organization established on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The anti-imperialists opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated the fundamental principle that just republican government must derive from "consent of the governed". -
Spanish Surrender
The Spanish surrender at Santiago. They were previously defeated at Manila Bay (Philippines), the battle of San Juan Heights and Santiago Bay. -
Treaty of Paris
Peace treaty was signed between Spain and the USA. The USA grabbed the Island of Guam and the Island of Puerto Rico from Spain.
For the casualties: 379 soldiers dead on the American side.
As for Cuba, they were declared independent and a new government was set up but the American government wanted to remain influential. -
First Philippines Republic
Philippine nationalists constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899, seven months after signing the Philippine Declaration of Independence. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899, in the Battle of Manila. -
Imperialism Policy
A policy allowing imperialism in the Philippines was passed in the Senate by one single vote, leading to fervent oppositions. Two days earlier, hostilities had begun at Manila between U.S. troops and insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo. For more than three years the Filipinos carried on guerrilla warfare against U.S. rule. -
Platt Amendment
Brought modifications to the Treaty of Paris, this granted the USA to build a naval base in Cuba, Guantanamo. And the USA had the right to intervene militarily whenever order was threatened. (which is what they did in 1906). In other words, Cuba looked more like a protectorate. It was a colonial war that lasted 3 years (1899-1901). They put Philippinos in camps like in Cuba and at least 200,000 civilians died there as well. In 1901, the Rebel leaders were captured, putting an end to the war. -
Aguinaldo Captured
Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901, and the war was officially declared over by the US on July 4, 1902. However, some Philippine groups – some led by veterans of the Katipunan, a Philippine revolutionary society that had launched the revolution against Spain – continued to fight for several more years. -
Assassination of President McKinley
Upon the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley, his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, becomes president. Roosevelt takes office with progressive ideas and hopes to reform several arenas of American society. -
Secession of Panama from Columbia
With the collaboration of French lobbyist Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla and United States President Theodore Roosevelt, Panama declared independence from Colombia and negotiated a treaty granting the U.S. the right to construct the canal. -
Panama Canal Zone
The U.S. acquires the Panama Canal Zone after supporting Panama’s revolt from Colombia. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Food safety practices in the meat processing industry are brought to the public’s attention by muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair, whose book The Jungle (1906) outraged and disgusted people. This led Congress to pass legislation on June 30 to help regulate food safety, including the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, which passed on the same day.