Author: Mark T. Tomecko
Last saved by: Mark Tomecko
Company: Green Local Schools

KEY DATES
Unit 6:  The Gilded Age

1862 | Homestead Act | Act offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who promised to farm it for 5 years
1862 | Pacific Railway Act | Act provided for the establishment of a transcontinental railroad
1862 | Morrill Land Grant Act | Act encouraged states to use sale of federal land grants to support colleges
1861-1865 | Civil War | Civil War split nation, abolished slavery, and sparked postwar industrial boom
1867 | National Grange | Organized by Oliver Kelley as social and educational organization for farmers
1869-1877 | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant elected on the strength of Black voters; easily re-elected over Horace Greeley
1869 | Transcontinental Railroad | First transcontinental RR completed; “golded spike” driven at Promontory Point, UT
1869 | Knights of Labor | Union formed by Terence Powderly and was open to all workers
1872 | Credit Mobilier scandal | Congressmen bribed with stock to avoid investigation of fraudulent RR company
1873 | Panic of 1873 | Overspeculation and overbuilding led to unemployment and call for Greenbacks
1876 | Battle of the Little Big Horn | Sioux Indians ambushed General George Custer’s men in a rare Indian victory
1876-1877 | Compromise of 1877 | Hayes-Tilden electoral stand-off resolved by alleged deal to end Reconstruction
1877 | Reconstruction ended | Last Union troops withdrawn from South ending protection of southern Blacks
1877 | Great Railroad Strike | Wage cut sparked outbreak of violent strike; Hayes used troops to quell violence
1877 | Munn v. Illinois | Court upheld state right to regulate the railroads; will be overturned in Wabash case
1881 | James A. Garfield | Garfield elected, but soon assassinated by Charles Guiteau
1881 | A Century of Dishonor | Helen Hunt Jackson’s book inspired new policy of assimilation for Native Americans
1881-1885 | Chester A. Arthur | Arthur assumed presidency after death of Garfield; developed a modern navy
1882 | Chinese Exclusion Act | Act prohibited further immigration of Chinese workers
1883 | Pendleton Civil Service Act | Act created a merit-based system for federal jobs replacing patronage and spoils
1885-1889 | Grover Cleveland (1st term) | Cleveland overcame personal attacks to be first Democrat elected since Buchanan
1886 | Haymarket Square Riot | K of L protest turned violent damaging the public’s perception of labor unions
1886 | American Federation of Labor | Union of skilled workers formed by Samuel Gompers to attain practical goals
1886 | Wabash case | Court ruled that states cannot regulate interstate commerce
1886 | Interstate Commerce Act | Act required RR rates to be “reasonable” and set up ICC to regulate railroads
1887 | Dawes Severalty Act | Act redistributed Indian lands to individuals on promise to farm land for 25 years
1889-1893 | Benjamin Harrison | Harrison elected by supporting higher tariffs and veterans’ pensions
1889 | Oklahoma Land Rush | OK Indian Territory was last area of West to be opened to White settlement
1890 | Frontier declared “closed” | Census Bureau declared frontier “closed;” Turner wrote his “frontier thesis” in 1893
1890 | Battle of Wounded Knee | Over 200 Indians massacred by US Army in Dakotas; marked end of Indian wars
1890 | Billion-Dollar Congress | Congress passed higher McKinley Tariff, Silver Purchase Act, and Antitrust Act
1890 | Sherman Antitrust Act | Poorly-enforced and confusing Act outlawed monopolies and trusts
1892 | Homestead Strike | Wage cut at Carnegie plant forced a strike that was unsuccessful
1893-1897 | Grover Cleveland (2nd term) | Cleveland re-elected to second non-consecutive term; plagued by Panic of 1893
1893 | Panic of 1893 | Stock market crash led to massive depression; Cleveland took “hands-off” approach
1894 | Coxey’s Army | Jacob Coxey led unemployed on march to DC demanding public works program
1894 | Pullman Strike | Railroad workers launched major strike; Cleveland ordered injunctions to stop it
1896 | Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech | Bryan championed the farmer and free silver in his attack on the gold standard
1897-1901 | William McKinley | McKinley elected by supporting high tariff and gold standard; assassinated in 1901
1897 | Dingley Tariff | Republicans raised the tariff to nearly 60%
1900 | Gold Standard Act | Act made gold the official standard of US currency
1924 | Indians granted citizenship | In recognition of past failed policies, US granted full citizenship to Native Americans
1934 | Indian Reorganization Act | Act encouraged Indians to return to tribal ways and culture