-
Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president.
Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president. President Hayes has the first telephone installed in the White House after the first telephone line is built from Boston to Somerville, Massachusetts. -
James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president.
James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president. On July 2nd, He is shot by Charles Guiteau in Washington, DC, and later dies from complications of his wounds in Elberon, N.J. on September 19th. Garfield's vice president, Chester Alan Arthur, is inaugurated as the 21st president of the United States. -
Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president.
Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president, and is the first Democrat elected after the Civil War. He is the only President of the United States to leave office after one term and later return for a second term. -
Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
The Statue of Liberty is dedicated, which was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. The 305 ft statue was dedicated at New York harbor. -
Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated as the 23rd president.
Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated as the 23rd president and he submitted a treaty to the Senate to annex Hawaii at the end of his presidency. President Cleveland later withdrew it. -
Last major battle of the Indian Wars occurs at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
Last major battle of the Indian Wars occurs at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, where 250 and 300 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded. -
Plessy v. Ferguson: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional.
Plessy v. Ferguson: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South. This wasn't reversed until the Brown v. Board of Education decision May 17, 1954. -
William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th president.
William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th president, but is later shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, N.Y. 6 months into his second term. He is replaced by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt. -
U.S. declares war on Spain
U.S. declares war on Spain after USS Maine was blown up in Havana harbor on February 15th. The war is ended on December 10th with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. -
U.S. annexes Hawaii by an act of Congress.
U.S. annexes Hawaii by an act of Congress signed off by president McKinley. Hawaii remained a territory until it was granted statehood as the fiftieth state in 1959.