Timeline, 1877-1914
(This is a timeline generated by students in the course.)
- 1877
- The End of Reconstruction.
The Great Railroad Strike.
- 1878
- Susan B. Anthony writes the text for what will become the 19th Amendment, granting U.S. women the right to vote.
Terence Powderly founds The Knights of Labor.
- 1879
- 1880
- "New Immigration" begins.
- 1881
- 1882
- Edison leads electrification of New York City.
Chinese Exclusion Act.
- 1883
- Joining of Eastern and Western Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah.
Brooklyn Bridge opens.
Pendleton Act enacts civil service reform.
Long distance telephone service established.
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- American Federation of Labor founded by Samuel Gompers.
Statue of Liberty dedicated.
Haymarket Incident, Chicago (the beginnings of "May Day" as international day of the worker).
- 1887
- Interstate Commerce Act.
Dawes Severalty Act.
- 1888
- 1889
- North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington admitted as states.
Invention of the motion picture camera.
Hull-House founded by Jane Addams.
- 1890
- New York City begins using Electric Chair as a "humane" way of carrying out death penalty.
Trolleys.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Battle of Wounded Knee.
- 1891
- Invention of Basketball.
- 1892
- Ellis Island opened.
Beginning of the development of the motorcar in the U.S.
Populist Party founded.
Homestead Strike.
- 1893
- Stock Exchange Crash and worldwide depression.
- 1894
- Coxey's Army.
Pullman Strike.
- 1895
- Booker T. Washington speech, at Atlanta Exposition, on "accomodationism."
- 1896
- "Cross of Gold" Speech delivered at Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, by William Jennings Bryan.
Plessy v. Ferguson.
Transatlantic Cable.
- 1897
- 1898
- Spanish-American War.
Consolidation of the City of New York.
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- President William McKinley assassinated.
U.S. Steel Corporation formed.
- 1902
- 1903
- U.S. signs Panama Canal treaty.
First airplane in U.S?
- 1904
- 1905
- Flatiron Building, first skyscraper in US, dedicated.
W.E.B. DuBois founds Niagara Movement.
- 1906
- First African-American university fraternity founded.
Pure Food and Drug Act.
Meat Inspection Act.
- 1907
- 1908
- New York Film Review board established?
- 1909
- Federal Income Tax begins with 16th Amendment to the Constitution.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded.
- 1909-1910
- Ballinger-Pinchot Dispute over Hetch-Hetchy.
- 1910
- Mann-Elkins Act.
- 1911
- Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
- 1912
- New York establishes minimum wage.
- 1913
- Department of Labor established.
Henry Ford introduces conveyer belt in factory.
Federal Reserve Act.
- 1914
- Direct Election of Senators established with 17th Amendment.
"The End of Progressivism."
- Themes for the Course:
- Immigration versus Nativism
Old and New Immigration
Social Mobility: Escalators versus Revolving Doors
Labor Organization
Railroads and Westward Expansion
Industrialization and Corporate Consolidation
The "Thrill of the Modern"
Reform
Nationalization
The Culture of the Automobile
Internationalism and Imperialism
Civil Rights
Feminism and Suffrage
Last modified: Thursday September 19, 1996