May 10, 1869 The first transcontinental railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central

Pacific met.

January 10, 1870 In Ohio, John D. Rockefellers Standard Oil Company was incorporated.

1871 1880 More than 2,812,191 immigrants arrived in the United States, primarily from Europe, between 1871 and 1880.

October 8, 1871 October 10, 1871 In Chicago, a disastrous fire destroys nearly four square miles of the city, leaving 300 people dead and 100,000 homeless. The city soon redevelops and rebuilds, emerging as a major industrial and economic center.

March 1, 1872 The Yellowstone National Park Act set an area of the Wyoming and Montana territories aside as the peoples pleasuring ground.

1875 Andrew Carnegie opened the nations largest steel plant just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

March 7, 1876 Inventor Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

July 14, 1877 Railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, initiated a strike to protest working conditions and wages. The strike spread and lasted more than a month, sparking violence and damaging the economy before being put down by federal troops.

February 28, 1878 In an attempt to counteract deflation, and over President Hayes veto, Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act, which authorized a limited amount of silver dollars.

May 8, 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act was the nations first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. The act, which was renewed and enforced until 1943, banned Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese from becoming citizens.

August 5, 1882 John D. Rockefeller created Standard Oil Trust by trading stockholders shares for trust certificates. The trust was designed to allow Rockefeller and other Standard Oil stockholders to get around state laws prohibiting one company from owning stock in another.

January 16, 1883 The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed. In an attempt to curb corruption and patronage, the act introduced federal exams and merit requirements for the hiring of civil servants.

May 4, 1886 In Chicagos Haymarket Square, anarchists gathered to protest the police killing of labor strikers. When police attempted to end the demonstration, a bomb was thrown and exploded in the crowd. In the ensuing clash, police fired into the crowd and eight policemen and several protestors were killed and many more injured.

December 8, 1886 The American Federation of Labor was formed by trade unions to organize skilled workers, with Samuel Gompers as its first president.

February 4, 1887 Under pressure from small businesses and farmers, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal regulatory commission.

July 2, 1890 Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to prohibit trusts and prevent monopolies.

January 5, 1892 Fifteen-year-old Annie Moore of Ireland became the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island.

June 30, 1892 In response to falling steel prices, Henry C. Frick, the general manager of Andrew Carnegies steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania, cut wages and attempted to quash the workers Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The workers protested, and Frick closed the mills and refused to negotiate with the union, declaring that he would only deal with individual workers. The workers tried to appeal to Carnegie, who had defended unionization, but Carnegie made himself unavailable. The workers voted to strike, and Frick hired a private army to disperse the strikers. The ensuing violent conflict lasted fourteen hours and was put down by the Pennsylvania state militia. The strikes leaders were blacklisted, and Carnegies company successfully broke unions in Homestead and throughout Pennsylvania steel country.

July 11, 1894 Pullman Palace Car Company workers initiated a boycott of Pullman train cars through the American Railway Union. The boycott, observed by 150,000 members of the American Railway Union, stopped rail traffic in and out of Chicago and affected rail traffic across the country. The US Attorney General issued an injunction against the striking workers, and President Grover Cleveland sent federal forces to protect trains being run by non-union strikebreakers. Pro-union mobs destroyed trains and buildings, leading to the jailing of union and strike leaders and the end of the American Railway Union.

1893 The stock market crashed, prompting the Panic of 1893 and leading to the bankrupting of the United States Treasury. The already weakened economy collapsed as people withdrew deposited funds and banks failed. Exports also declined and unemployment grew.

April 1, 1901 John Pierpont Morgan merged several of Andrew Carnegies companies to form US Steel.

April 11, 1898 December 10, 1898

The debate over Americas global role intensified when Cubans began to fight for their independence from Spain in 1895. Americans were sympathetic to Cubas struggle for independence, but were divided about how to help. President William McKinley was deeply ambivalent about war against Spain. Ultimately, however, the pressure of public opinion forced McKinley into the war that made the United States an international power. Newspaper publishers like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer worked up war fever among the public with reports of Spanish atrocities against Cuban rebels. Then, Hearsts New York Journal published a leaked letter in which the chief Spanish diplomat in Washington described President McKinley as weak and a petty politician. Hearst publicized the letter under the screaming headline WORST INSULT TO THE UNITED STATES IN ITS HISTORY. Days later an explosion sank the USS Maine in Havana harbor. A naval court of inquiry blamed the explosion on a mine, further inflaming public sentiment against Spain. After ten days of debate, Congress declared war, but only after adopting the Teller Amendment, in which the United States made it clear that it did not harbor imperialist ambitions. The amendment announced that the United States would not acquire Cuba. But after the United States defeated Spain, it set up a military government on Cuba and made the soldiers withdrawal contingent on the Cubans accepting the Platt Amendment, which gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba to protect life, property, and individual liberties. The 144-day war also resulted in the United States taking control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

1904 Aggressive national campaign for federal child labor law reform begins

1800

American Industrial Revolution Timeline

1900