Timeline Project

By: Taylor Davis

1862 1864 1866

Homestead Act- Law that offered 160 acres of land to any citizen or intended citizen. Around 600,000 took up the offer.

Buffalo Soldiers- Nickname given to African American soldiers by the Native Americans tribes they fought.

Sand Creek Massacre- When returning to their reservation, the Cheyenne were attacked and over 150 inhabitants were killed.

1867 1868 1869

Oliver Kelley- Started the Patrons of Husbandry, an organization for farmers.

George Westinghouse- An American entrepreneur and engineer who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry.

Tammany Hall- New York City’s powerful Democratic political machine, headed by Boss Tweed

1869 1870s 1870s

Transcontinental Railroad- A network of railroads the crosses a continental mass. Opened trade across the country.

Grange- Name given to the Patrons of Husbandry. Helped families and fought the railroads, gave rise to other organizations.

Wild Bill Hickok- After serving as a scout and spy in the Civil War, he became a marshal and was in the acting business for a brief period of time. Became a symbol for the West.

1870s 1870s 1871

Kickback- Illegal payments given to the political machines and individual politicians.

Tweed Ring- A group of corrupt politicians who defrauded New York City, it was led by Boss Tweed.

Fredrick Law Olmsted- Landscape architect who spearheaded the movement for planned urban parks. In the 1870s he planned the landscaping for D.C. and St. Louis.

1872 1873 1876

Mail-Order Catalog- Started in 1872 by Ward and grew from a single sheet to a booklet filled with orders.

Battle of Little Bighorn- (Custer’s Last Stand) The Native Americans outflanked and crushed Custer’s force, within an hour all of the Seventh Calvary was killed.

Patronage- The giving of government jobs to people who had helped a candidate get elected.

1876 1876 1876

George Armstrong Custer- Colonel in the army who attacked and then was crushed by the Native Americans and Little Bighorn.

Thomas Alva Edison- Become a pioneer on the new industrial frontier when he established the world’s first research laboratory.

Sitting Bull- Leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux who defeated Custer. Led his people by the strength of his character and purpose.

1876 1876 1876

Alexander Graham- Invented the telephone with Thomas Watson. His invention opened the way for a worldwide communication network.

Socialism- An economic and political system based on government control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth.

Telephone- Opened the way for a worldwide communication network. Created new jobs for women, increased business, and communication speed along with the typewriter.

1877 1877 1877

Chief Joseph- Leader of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce during a difficult time. He looked for peaceful ways to resist the removal of his tribe, and showed admirable leadership.

Vanderbilt Family- A family of railroad nobility who became socially and economically prominent during the first half of the nineteenth-century.

Nez Perce- Indian tribe that was forced off their lands in Wallowa County, Oregon. Fought back but eventually surrendered.

1879 1870s-1880s 1800s

Dumbbell Tenements- Law that required that every inhabitable room have a window opening to plain air, led sanitation problems.

Ragtime- A blend of African-American spiritualist and European musical forms. Originated in the saloons of the South.

Graft- The illegal use of political influence for personal gain.

1880s 1880s 1880s

Monopoly- When a firm has complete control over its industry’s production, wages, and prices.

Angel Island- Place where Asian immigrants arrived at on the West Coast for gaining admission, immigrants endured harsh questioning.

John D. Rockefeller- Established the Standard Oil Company and used trusts to gain total control over the oil industry.

1880s 1881 1882

Political Machine- An organized group that controlled the activities of a political party in a city. Offered services to voters and business in exchange for support.

Trust- Agreements where participants turned their stock over to trustees. In return, the companies were entitled to dividends on profits earned by trusts.

Booker T. Washington- Prominent African American who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value.

1883 1884 1886

Joseph Pulitzer- A Hungarian immigrant who had bought the New York World in 1883, pioneered popular innovations.

Samuel Gompers- Led the Cigar Makers’ International Union to join with other craft unions.

Mugwumps- A group of Republican activists who supported Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the presidential election.

1886 1886 1887

Haymarket Affair- While people were protesting against police brutality someone threw a bomb into the police line, then causing violence to erupt.

Dawes Act- Law that aimed to “Americanize” the Native Americans. The act broke the reservation and then the government was going to sell the lands and give the money they received back to the Indians. However, this did not happen, settler occupied the land and the Indians received no money.

Collective Bargaining- Negotiation between representatives of labor and management, to reach written agreements on wages, hours, and working conditions.

1888 1888 1889

Jacob Riis- Known for using his photographic and journalist talents to help the impervished in New York City.

Jane Adams- One of the most influential members of the Settlement house movement.

George Eastman- Developed a series of more convenient alternatives to the heavy glass plates previously used. He introduced the Kodak camera.

1890s 1890s 1890s

Sweat Shops- Term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous.

Robber Barons- Term that was typically applied to businessmen who were viewed as having used questionable practices to amass their wealth.

Urbanization- Growth of cities do to immigration, mostly in the regions of the Northeast and Midwest.

1890 1890 1890

Wounded Knee- After rounding up 350 Sioux the soldiers demanded that the Native Americans give up all of their weapons. A shot was fiered then the soldiers opened up with cannon fire killing around 300.

Settlement House- Community centers in slum neighborhoods that provided assistance to people in the area, especially immigrants.

Sherman Antitrust Act- Made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with other countries.

1890 1890 1892

Orville and Wilbur Wright- Started with printing newspapers but then their interest was drawn to bicycles and then ultimately to airplanes. They first experimented with gliders at Kitty Hawk in 1900. They later, they achieved powered flight in 1903.

Omaha Platform- The party program adopted at the convention of the Populist Party. Demanded that reforms to lift the burden of dept form farmers and workers and give the people a greater voice in their government.

Jim Crow Laws- Laws that separated white and black people in public and in private facilities. Put segregation into effect in schools, hospitals, etc.

1892 1892 1892

Scab- Also known as strikebreakers, hired workers for replacement of workers that are striking to keep the business going.

Ida B. Wells- Became an editor of a local paper after moving to Memphis. After March 9, 1892, when 3 black businessmen, her friends, were lynched she made racial justice her crusade.

Ellis Island- Place where immigrants had to pass through inspection to be admitted into the country.

1894 1894 1895

Eugene V. Debs- Attempted to form a union for a specific industry , the American Railway Union.

W.E.B. Dubois- The first African American to receive a doctorate, from Harvard. Strongly disagreed with Washington’s gradual approach to racism.

Pullman Strike- Business fell off making Pullman cut jobs and wages and increase working hours, leading to a strike. The strike turned violent after Pullman hired strikerbreakers. Grover Cleveland had to send in federal forces to stop the violence.

1895 1896 1860s-1890s

William Randolph Hearst- Purchased the New York Morning Journal in 1895, and already owned the San Francisco Examiner. He sought to out do Pulitzer who trying to surpass him, led to a battle of slander and fallacies.

Gilded Age- Period of history following the Civil War, during which the Progressive Era began. Time of economic growth, along with corruption, that attracted millions.

Plessy vs. Ferguson- The Supreme Court ruled that the separation of races in public accommodations was legal and did not violate the Fourteenth Amendement.