Chronology 2: 1886-1893

1886
Inventions/discoveries: aluminum extraction, alternating current, Neighborhood Guild (first social
settlement)
Peak year of strikes: 610,000
Severe drought, blizzards and overgrazing in Great Plains.
Haymarket Square riot in Chicago
Supreme Court (Yick Wo v. Hopkins) rules that a municipal ordinance discriminating against Chinese
laundries violates 14th Amendment.
Supreme Court (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad) states that a corporation is a person
and is protected by 14th Amendment.
Chief Geronimo captured, ends last major Indian war.
State of Liberty dedicated.

1887
Interstate Commerce Commission established.
Opium importation banned.
President Cleveland makes tariff reduction his top issue.

1888
Department of Labor, National Geographic Society and Geological Society of America founded.
Great Blizzard of ’88 in the East.
Secret ballot first introduced (Louisville, Kentucky)
Benjamin Harrison (Republican) defeats Cleveland in presidential election.

1889
American Academy of Political Science, General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Sons of American
Revolution, Southern Alliance, Catholic University, Pan American Union and Hull House all founded.
Bill signed to admit four new states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington.
Johnstown flood
Samoan Treaty signed.

1890
Population: 62,947,714
National Women’s Suffrage Association, Daughters of the American Revolution, Yosemite National Park
founded.
Idaho and Wyoming enter the Union.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act passed.
Sitting Bull arrested and killed.

1891
Inventions: the zipper, basketball
Nine circuit courts created.

1892
Inventions: first American automobile.
Society of Colonial Wars, National Society of Colonial Dames, University of Chicago all founded
Homestead strike in Pennsylvania
People’s (Populist) Party meetings for first convention.
Cleveland defeats Harrison in presidential election

1893
Stock market crash and financial panic
Hawaii proclaimed a protectorate.
Rank of ambassador established.
First Ford automobile produced.
Columbian exposition in Chicago.
Historian Frederick Jackson Turner declares the American frontier closed.
Colorado adopts woman’s suffrage.