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The Pony Express
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Period: to
Realism in America
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Civil War Begins
South Carolina fires on Fort Sumter starting the Civil War -
Civil War Ends
The surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant is signed. -
13th Amendment Ratified
the Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery. -
Reconstruction Begins
America assesses how to integrate all the newly freed slaves into everyday society. -
Abraham Lincoln Assassinated
Abraham Lincoln is shot and killed by James Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. -
U.S. buys Alaska from Russia
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14th Amendment Ratified
The fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship to all people born in the U.S. (exclusive of Natives) -
First Transcontinental Railroad is completed
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The 15th Amendment is Ratified
The fifteenth Amendment gives African American men the right to vote. -
Indian Appropriation Act
The act ends recognizing Indian tribes as sovereign nations. Policies about Natives will be made through law and executive decision. -
Yellowstone is the first National Park
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The Telephone is Invented
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone. -
General Custer's Last Stand
General Custer's troops are defeated by the Sioux and Cheyenne at Little Big Horn River, Montana.
General Custer and 274 cavalrymen are killed. -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws establishes racial segregation in the U.S. Named after a minstrel routine (called Jump Jim Crow) from 1828 -
Reconstruction Ends
Troops leave the South, ending the occupation of the former Confederacy and the protection afforded the free slaves. -
Edison invents the first practical lightbulb
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Standard Oil Trust
J.D. Rockefeller creates the Standard Oil Trust. Owns 90% of the oil in America. He is also the first American to have a worth over 1 billion dollars. -
Statue of Liberty Dedication
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General Allotment Act / Dawes Act
The Dawes Act permits the president to divide Native lands into individual allotments to be held in trust for twenty-five years, with "surplus" lands to e sold to non-Natives. This led to Natives losing roughly 90 million acres of land by the time the Act was repealed in 1934. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
U.S. Calvary massacres over 200 Sioux Natives. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Act ends monopolies in America. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Trial upholds segregation in transportation. -
U.S. annexes Hawaii
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Spanish-American War
U.S. acquires Puerto Rico and a portion of Cuba (Guantanamo) and the Philippines and Guam. Cuba becomes an independent country. -
Ford Motor Co. founded
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Wright Brothers first flight
Gas-powered plane Flyer 1 covers 852 feet in a 59-second flight in North Carolina. -
Standard Oil Company Dissolved
Supreme Court rules Rockefeller's oil company violates the Sherman Antitrust Act. Standard Oil is broken into several other oil companies. Rockefeller actual profits more from competition in the market. -
World War 1
The Great War begins with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. -
U.S. enters World War 1
