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Homestead Act of 1862
Gave 160 acres of western land for free to any applicant who occupied and improved the property. Led to massive development in the West. -
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Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
A railroad that linked the East and the West of the United States; Manifest Destiny. -
Cornelius Vanderbilt
By 1864, he had retired from shipping, having amassed nearly $30 million in wealth. At age 70, Vanderbilt turned his attention more closely to railroads, acquiring the New York & Harlem and Hudson Line (which ran along the Erie Canal), and then going after the New York Central Railroad. He amassed a monopoly on the railroads. -
Oil
Standard Oil. One of the first monopolized resources responsible for the accumulation of wealth in John D Rockefeller. Also, gave birth to the oil lamp before the light bulb was invented. -
Indian Appropriation Act
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 declared that American Indians were no longer considered members of “sovereign nations” and that the US government could no longer establish treaties with them. -
Alexander Graham Bell
The invention of the telephone. Eventually was able to connect lines spanning from Chicago to New York. -
Thomas Edison
With the help of Nikola Tesla, Edison was able to invent and manufacture the first light bulb. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. Building on the 1875 Page Act, which banned Chinese women from immigrating to the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first and remains the only law to have been implemented, to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating to the United States. -
Skyscrapers
"The Home Insurance Building, built-in 1885 and located on the corner of Adams and LaSalle Streets in Chicago, Illinois, went down in history as the world's first modern skyscraper.” -
Dawes Allotment Act
Law that gave Native Americans individual ownership of land by dividing reservations into homesteads. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act, first legislation enacted by the United States Congress (1890) to curb concentrations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition. -
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Political Bosses
Political bosses were political leaders who got people to vote for them by giving favors. They also made deals with various contractors. The ring of people who made deals and got votes for the political boss was called the political machine. In NYC the political machine was called Tammany Hall. -
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history. During his last 18 years, he donated 350 million (roughly $5.2 billion in 2019) to charities, foundations, and universities – almost 90 percent of his fortune. -
Immigration Restriction League
The Immigration Restriction League believed that immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were ethnically inferior to Anglo-Saxons. They felt that the American way of life they saw as their birth right was being threatened; the League was created to lobby for legislation restricting what they considered undesirable immigration in order to preserve WASP hegemony. -
John D. Rockefeller
American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Standard Oil Company. Amassed one of the greatest fortunes in American history.
