The Progressive Era

By jzwolfman98

  • Louisiana Purchase

    Announced to the American public on this day, the Louisiana purchase is the largest addition to the United States in history, greatly increasing its size. This was an important step in westward expansion.

  • Donner Party

    The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the immigrants resorted to cannibalism to survive, eating those who had succumbed to starvation and sickness.

  • California Gold Rush

    The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 brought many to California in search for this precious resource. This rush to California provided quick development of the area.

  • The Meeting of the Two Railroads

    Construction by the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad of the 1,928 mile "Pacific Railroad" link between Council Bluff,IA/Omaha, NE and the San Francisco Bay at Oakland, CA via Ogden, UT and Sacramento, CA connecting with the existing railroad network to the East Coast via ferry creating the world's first transcontinental railroad when it opened in 1869 was made possible by the Congress through the passage of Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862, 1864 and 1867.

  • 15th Amendment Ratified

    Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Led to the creation of the Jim Crow Laws and poll taxes, which were designed to keep blacks from voting.

  • American Federation of Labor Founded

    The first federation of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in May 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. It encouraged the fromation of labor unions and forced separate unions seeking to represent the same or closely related jurisdictions to merge, or to mediate disputes between rival factions where both sides claimed to represent the leadership of an affiliated union.

  • Oklahoma Land Rush

    This led to rapid growth of the Oklahoma territory and helped to develop the area.

  • Hull House Established

    A settlement house in the United States that was co-founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. It opened its doors to recently arrived European immigrants. Throughout the first two decades, along with thousands of immigrants from the surrounding area, Hull House attracted many female residents who later became prominent and influential reformers at various levels.

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    Prohibits certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be anticompetitive, and requires the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. Senator John Sherman was the principal author. It has since been used to oppose the combination of entities that could potentially harm competition, such as monopolies or cartels.

  • Plessy vs. Ferguson

    Plessy deliberately sat in the white section and identified himself as black. He was arrested and the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

  • President McKinley Assasinated

    President McKinley was shot by an anarchist acting alone while in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died on September 14 and Roosevelt was sworn in at the Ansley Wilcox House.

  • Panama Canal Opened

    A ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. Proposed and carried out by Theodore Roosevelt. Allowed faster travel from the east coast to the west coast by ship.