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Industrialization, Urbanization & Immigration
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Westward Expansion
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Homestead Act
The U.S. government offers up free land to farmers who agree to live on the land for five years and make improvements to the land. Many people rush to places like Oklahoma to claim their land. -
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Reconstruction
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Civil Rights Bill
Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill over Johnson's veto. Johnson objects to the Bill on the grounds that blacks did not deserve to become citizens, and that doing so would discriminate against the white race. He also thought that both the Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill would centralize power at the federal level, thus depriving states of the authority to govern their own affairs (a typical prewar philosophy of government). -
The Transcontinential Railroad Is Completed
The Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroads meet at Promontory, Utah and the railroad is completed. -
Reconstruction Ends
Almost immediately after taking office, Hayes withdraws the federal troops from the South. The last Radical state governments collapse and the Redemption Period begins. -
Invention Of The Telephone
By enabling people to instantly communicate with others across great distances, the telephone forever changed the way humanity interacts. Even in its emergent form with basic voice quality, the telephone immediately captured the focus of American society and quickly became a necessity of life. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
An American Indian army composed of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapahoe defeat General Custer and the 7th Calvary. -
The Tweed Ring Scandal
Boss Tweed", brought wide public attention to corruption in office, as well as the dire need, at the time, to have independent accounting of public funds. He is reputed to have stolen between 25 and 100 million dollars -
The Great Railroad Strike Of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the country's first major rail strike and witnessed the first general strikes in the nation's history. The strikes and the violence it spawned briefly paralyzed the country's commerce and led governors in ten states to mobilize 60,000 militia members to reopen rail traffic.