1876-1900

  • 1876 Election

    1876 Election
    Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the 19th President of the United States.
  • Farmers Alliance

    Texas farmers form the first agricultural labor union in Lampasas, Texas. They call themselves the "Farmers' Alliance".
  • The Great Railroad Strike

    Railroad laborers go on strike across the country. The workers' campaign for higher wages was ultimately a failure, but it sowed the seeds for the formation of the first labor unions.
  • End of Reconstruction

    The Federal Government pulls out of the South, and Democrats return to power, undoing much of the progress in the region.
  • Interstates Commerce

    Congress Passes the Interstate Commerce Act. This aids in stopping discriminatory pricing in businesses.
  • Edison and the Light

    Edison and the Light
    Thomas Edison displays his lights and generators to reporters and investors
  • George writes Bestseller

    Henry George writes his best-selling book, Progress and Poverty.
  • James A. Garfield

    James A. Garfield
    James A. Garfield becomes the 20th President of the United States
  • Transformation of the Reaper

    Transformation of the Reaper
    Cyrus McCormick hires a new production manager to industrialize his plants. This served to increase output to double in five years.
  • 21st President

    21st President
    Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States
  • Sitting Bull

    Sitting Bull
    Sitting Bull surrenders to the United States Army, ending major Native American resistance to white settlers
  • Immigration Act

    Congress passes the Immigration Act. This limits immigrants that cannot support themselves, the mentally ill, and criminals from entering the United States
  • Chinese Exclusion

    Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese immigrants from entering the country.
  • Wild Wild West

    Wild Wild West
    William "Buffalo Bill" Cody starts his Wild West show. This served to romanticize the West in the eyes of the population.
  • Rodeo

    Cowboys in Pecos, Texas compete in what is later called the first Rodeo.
  • Grover Cleveland

    Grover Cleveland
    Grover Cleveland become the 22nd President of the United States.
  • Nation Grinds to a Halt

    Nation Grinds to a Halt
    A nationwide strike is acted out. Three to five hundred workers go on strike in an effort to gain an eight-hour work day.
  • Dawes General Allotment

    Congress passes the Dawes General Allotment Act, splitting Indian tribes into individual family units, rather than a single tribal group.
  • Wilhelm

    Kaiser Wilhelm II ascends to the German throne.
  • Looking Backwards

    Edward Bellamy publishes "Looking Backward", a novel urging reform in American industry.
  • Period: to

    Edison and Film

    During this period, Thomas Edison worked on and developed what would later become Motion Pictures. In 1888, he patented the concept of motion pictures. By 1891, he had also invented the motion picture camera and a motion picture viewer.
  • Benjamin Harris

    Benjamin Harris
    Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd President of the United States.
  • Who Can You Trust?

    The Sherman Anti-Trust Act is passed. This prevents some of the business practices used by monopolies to limit competition.
  • Iron Strike

    The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers strikes at one of Andrew Carnegie's steel mills. The state militia is called in to break the strike, which in turn destroyed the union.
  • Frontier Thesis

    Frederick Turner publishes his Frontier Thesis.
  • Pullman Strike

    Workers at the Pullman rail car factory strike. They are aided by the American Railway Union. The strike is broken by the arrest of the union's leader, Eugene Debs.
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    This Supreme Court Case ruled that discrimination was legal as long as separate facilities were equal.
  • William McKinley

    William McKinley
    William McKinley become the 25th President of the United States.
  • Hawaii

    The United States acquires the territory of Hawaii.
  • Open Doors

    The Open Doors Policy is passed, calling for all Western Markets to have equal access to Chinese markets.
  • Gold

    Gold
    Congress passes the Gold Standard Act, ending the monetary debate by putting the United States on a gold standard.