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Iron Horse
The country's railroad network significantly expanded in the late 1800s. Because of the high costs and risks associated with building railroads, Congress subsidized the cost of many railroad construction projects. Congress also gave a lot of unused public land to the roadroad companies -
New Immigrants
The New Immigrants of the 1880s came from southern and eastern Europe. They came from countries with little history of democratic government, where people had grown accustomed to harsh living conditions. -
New Inventions
The telephone was created in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. This invention revolutionized the way Americans communicated. Thomas Alva Edison invented numerous devices; the most well-known is the electric light bulb in 1879 -
Interstate Commerce Act
Congress passed this act which prohibited rebates and pools, required the railroads to publish their rates openly, forbade unfair discrimination against shippers, and outlawed charging more for a short trip than for a long trip over the same line. -
Unhappy Farmers
In the late 1800s, poor soil and droughts forced many people to abandon their farms and towns.
Farmers sold their produce in an unprotected world market, but they had to buy their manufactured equipment in a tariff-protected home market. -
Election of 1896
William McKinley won the election of 1896. Many of McKinley's votes came from the East. Many of Bryan's votes came from the debt-stricken South and the trans-Mississippi West. Businesses and wage earners in the East voted for their jobs and had no reason to favor inflation, which was the heart of Bryan's campaign.