The Gilded Age 1865-1900

  • 360,000 native americans west of the Miss. River

  • Union-Pacific Railroad allowed to be built

  • Homestead Act

    Settlers can get up to 160 acres for living on it for 5 years and improving it. But often this land was really bad.
  • Congresional Reconstruction:"10 Percent" Reconstruction Plan

    Southern states could once again join the union after ten percent of its voters took an othe of the Unites States and agreed to empancipation.
    Congress was scared of giving power back to the white planter aristocracy. When Louisinana passed the ten percent rule, Congress refued to seat the state.
  • Congressional Reconstruction: Wade Davis Bill

    50 percent of the southern voters had to take the oath of the United States and agree to emancipation.
    Congress had passed this in fear of giving power back to the white planter arostocracy. Lincoln vetoed the bill.
    The republicans no longer have the upper hand in Congress; the slaves were no longer 3/5, there were more representatives in the South.
  • Beginning of Gilded Age

  • 13th Amendment

    Officially banned slavery in the United States.
  • Civil Rights Bill

    Guarantees freedmen certain civil rights. Johnson vetoes it but Congress overrules, shows power of congress > power of president in reconstruction.
  • 14th Amendment

    Guaranteed freedmen certain civil rights
  • We get Alaska! Woohoo!

    An example of the US expansionism.
  • The Grange is established

    Designed to enhance the lives of farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities. By 1875 it had 800k members.
  • Military Reconstruction Act

    Divies the South into 5 military districts.
    Changes requirements of Southern states for readmission: now they have to ratify 13th and 14th amendments and give adult male blacks full suffrage.
  • Grant becomes president

    Several of Grant's cabinet memebrs were corrupt. By 1872 Grantism had a lot of haters.
    Reform minded citizens banded togher to for the Liberal Republican Party. This party urged the "purification of the Washington administration as well as an end to military reconstruction."
  • 15th amendment ratified

    Incorporates male black suffrage into the Constitution.
  • Standard Oil Company organized

    By 1877 they controlled 95% of all US oil refineries: power of corporations.
  • 20% illiteracy rate

  • Credit Mobilier Scandal

    The Credit Mobilier railroad company asked for extremely large loans to build the railroads. The extra money went into the pockets of the business owners.
  • Grant wins re-election

  • Economic Panic

    The panic started in Britain and eventually moved to America. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days.
    The freedmen's saving and trust company had made insecure loans to business owners, balck depositors lost all thier money. These kinds of companies lost support.
  • The Resumption Act of 1874

    "hard money": rich people favored this type of currency. This money was backed by gold.
    "soft money": Greenbacks: agrarian groups supported this type of currency. It would make debts easier to to pay of with higher prices.
    Resumption Act: stated that the governetn was to further withdraw all greenbacks from circulation and to bring back curency in backed by gold.
  • Civil Rights Act 1875

    Previous promises to the freedmen weren't being upheld, so this act was passed.
    It was supposed to support racial equality and prohibit racial discrimination in jury selection and pubilc places. It was pourly supported and in 1883 it was deemed mostly unconstitutional; it only worked on governemtn decisions not personal.
    The republican party eventually fell apart and the military reconstruction in the south disperesed.
  • Rutherford B. Hayes becomes president

  • Greenback Labour Party formed

  • James A. Garfield wins presidency

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

  • Grover Cleveland wins presidential election

    The first democratic president since the Civil War
  • American Federation of Labour created

    Powerful and had good weapons like the walkout and the boycott. Consisted of an association of self-governing labour unions.
  • We Get the Statue of Liberty (Thanks, France!)

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Designed to "bridle the iron horse". No rebates/pools. No discriminating against shippers. Publish rates openly. No charging more for a short ride than a long one. Set up the ICC to enforce these rules. Didn't actually change much, though.
  • Dawes Severalty Act

    Dissolves tribes, takes away tribal ownership of land. Says native americans get full citizenship and title to land if they behave like "good whites".
  • US gets naval-base rights in Pearl Harbour

    Shows US influence in HI
  • Indian Territory (Oklahoma) opened to settlers

    Shows how native americans are being pushed off their land
  • McKinley Tariff Act

    Bossts rates to the highest peacetime amount ever. Hurts farmers.
  • Farmer's Alliance

    McKinley passed acts which surprised the farmers. They were forced to buy manufactured good and sell their products in the same dagerous industry. Rural voters protested against what the president was doing. The Farmer's Alliance was a militiant group formed from the southern and western farmers. Republicans lost 88 seats and were no longer the majority.
  • Populations of NYC, Chicago, and Philadelphia pass 1 million

    Shows the move of the US population to the cities
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Combinations that restrict trade aren't allowed. It was designed to reign in the trusts but ended up just hurting unions.
  • Populists are a thing

    Rooted in Farmers' Alliance. Based in the agricultural belts of the west and south.
  • US ranked 1st among manufacturing nations of the world

  • Wilson- Gorman Tariff

    Barely lowered the tariff, and created a 2% income tax. (The Supreme Court stuck down the income tax in 1895.)
  • Labor Day Becomes a Thing

  • Some bankers loan the government $65mill in gold

    Shows the power of the wealthy, including JP Morgan. People are upset about this.
  • Cubans rise against the Spanish

  • McKinley Elected as President

    Leaned towards hard-money politics. He also liked a protective tariff.
  • Dingley Tariff Bill

    Raised tariffs in United States to counteract the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894, which had lowered rates
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    "Seperate But Equal"
  • Teller Amendment

    We tell the world that we'll give Cuba freedom once they're freed from the Spaniards.
  • 192,500 miles of railroad

    Railroad-building really took off in the 1890s and around 1900.
  • 5 transcontinental railroads in the US

    They got lots of governent land grants. A lot of railroads failed because they weren't in strategic places- aka overspeculation in ailroads.
  • 10.7% illiteracy rate

    Down 9.3% from 1870
  • End of Gilded Age