Era of Good Feelings and the Era of the Common Man, 1815-1840
5. James Monroe, 1817-1825
3) McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819: The state of Maryland tried to limit the power of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all money not minted within the state of Maryland itself.
4) Missouri Compromise, 1820: Prohibited slavery within the territory of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel. Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine as a free one.
5) US extends recognition to new republics of Latin America, 1821: This was a precursor to the Monroe Doctrine, which promised to maintain the sovereignty of the free states of the Americas.
6) Denmark Vessey’s rebellion, 1822: A slave rebellion that ended in the death of several white slave owners and dozens on slaves. Created worry in the South that slaves could one day overthrow the established system.
7) Monroe Doctrine, 1823: The United States committed itself to defending the independence of the free nations of the Americas against European colonialism.
8) Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824: The Supreme Court decided that the federal government had power to regulate trade betweent the individual states of the Union.
9) American System, 1824: Industry was protected through international trade tariffs, government invested in infrastructure (roads and canals), and a national bank was established.
6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
1) “Corrupt Bargain”: An election dispute in 1824 that ended with John Quincy Adams taking the presidency.
2) Opening of Erie Canal, 1825: Increased trade and transportation in the northern areas of New York. Set the standard for transportation technology of the day, leading to the establishment of new canals across the country.
3) Irish and German immigration begins, 1827-1838: Both immigrants established relatively homogenous communities throughout the eastern United States. Germans were typically more successful than the Irish, getting involved in both agriculture and mechanical production. The Irish came to be seen as lower in society than black slaves.
4) Tariff of Abominations, 1828: A 62% tax was put upon 92% of goods imported to the American South. Faced great opposition from Southern landholders.
5) South Carolina demands rights to nullify federal laws, 1828: A sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Was based upon the tariff of abominations, and ultimately threatened to splinter the Union.
7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
1) “Kitchen Cabinet”/”Spoils System”: A system in which people were appointed to high positions in government due to their relationships with people in positions of power. People were often given jobs purely because of their familiar relation to someone else.
2) Jacksonian Democracy: A form of democracy in which the common man takes part in the decisions made by his government, whereas such decisions had been primarily made by the moneyed before.
3) The first railroad locomotive enters service, 1829: The railroad revolutionized transportation technology, allowing both people and goods to be moved over long distances of land in relatively short periods of time.
4) Mormon Church founded, 1830: The early Mormons faced severe discrimination at the hands of Protestants in this country due to their belief in the practice of polygamy. Were ultimately forced to take lands in the West; that is to say, Utah.
5) Indian Removal Act, 1830: Indigenous peoples living in areas desired for the production of crops by white settlers were forced to move westward, resulting in the loss of both life and property. The infamous Trail of Tears was part of this action, in which thousands of Cherokee were forced to move from their native Georgia to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
6) Underground Railroad: A system of escape for African American slaves in which common people helped them to clandestinely migrate to the free states of the North.
7) Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831: The Cherokee sued for their right to remain on their native tribal lands in Georgia. Failed.
8) Nat Turner’s insurrection, 1831: A slave named Nat Turner led an unsuccessful slave revolt in the Carolinas, result in many deaths and putting fear into the hearts of Southern slave owners.
9) The Tariff of 1832 and the nullification controversy, 1832: A tariff that had to be lowered 25% in order to appease South Carolina landowners.
10) Tariff of 1833 (a Henry Clay compromise) and the Force Act, 1833: Proposed by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun in order to appease the worries of Southern landowners in response to the Nullification Crisis.
11) Black Hawk War, 1832: A war fought against Indians in the Midwestern United States between the forces of Chief Black Hawk and white settlers.
12) Worcester v. Virginia, 1832: A Supreme Court decision.
13) Formation of the Whig Party/Second Party System, 1832/1834: A party founded in 1832 in response to increasing tension and disagreement among members of the Federalist and Republican parties.
14) Trail of Tears: The forced removal of thousands of Cherokee Indians from their native lands in Georgia and their travels across the southern United States to Oklahoma.
15) Republic of Texas proclaimed, 1836: United States settlers were originally allowed to settle in Texas given that they accepted a Mexican identity and converted to Catholicism. They did so, but continued practicing Protestant faiths and ultimately desired to take the territory for the United States. They did such in 1836 after much fighting with the forces of General Santa Anna, though the land was not accepted as a state until later.
16) Bureau of Indian Affairs established, 1836: A federal agency established to maintain the distribution of land between Native Americans and white settlers. Was preferential towards the white settlers.
17) Rise of manufacturing in the North, 1830s: This began the North’s ascent as an economic power in both the United States and Western world. Industrialism was influenced by technology developed by Britain during earlier decades.
18) Transcendentalism, 1836-1850: The belief, propagated by such men as Emerson and Thoreau, that man had to get in touch with nature in order to be truly happy, as well as find his own way in life.
8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
1) Panic of 1837: An economic depression that came about because of excessive economic speculation.
2) Joseph Smith leads Mormons from Ohio toward Missouri, 1838: The Mormons would inevitably be rejected by the other settlers of Missouri, much as they had been by those of Ohio before.
3) Rise of popular press, 1840: Literacy and involvement in politics became more common as people had easier access to both opinions and information.
4) Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign, 1840: This is a type of campaign tactic in which the candidate tries to present himself as a man of the people. This was the case during the 1840 presidential election, when Whig candidate John Tyler emphasized his war record in order to gain popular support.
Antebellum Period, 1840-1860
9. William Henry Harrison, 1841
10. John Tyler, 1841-1845
1) John C. Fremont surveys Oregon Trail, 1842: The territory of Oregon was discovered to be a good place for future American settlement. The Oregon Trail opened a land route to reach it.
2) Commonwealth v. Hunt, 1842: Labor unions that tried to shut down a workplace could be charged with conspiracy.
3) Beginnings of nativism/American Republican Party, 1843: As more immigrants began to come to the United States, American sentiment quickly turned against them, leading to the development of nativist, xenophobic policies.
4) Oregon border dispute, 1844-1846: The modern-day border between the United States and Canada was established.
5) Texas annexation, 1844-1845: Texas was admitted to the Union as a slave state.
Reconstruction, 1865-1877
18. Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877
1) Board of Indian Commissioners, 1869: Created in order to force Native Americans onto small areas of cheap land called reservations.
2) First transcontinental railroad completed at Promontory Point, Utah, 1869: Commerce and dialogue was quickened across the United States, bringing about an economic boom.
3) National Woman Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president, 1869: Worked to earn both women the right to vote and the right to be admitted into labor unions.
4) The Noble Order of the knights of Labor, 1869: People in rural towns began to form community groups in which they stressed family values and rural living.
5) Wyoming Territory extends suffrage to women, 1869: Wyoming becomes the first state to grant women the right to vote, opening up opportunities for women in other states.
6) 15th Amendment ratified, 1870: Allows everyone to vote regardless of race or color.
7) Department of Justice created, 1870: Oversees court decisions made at the state and federal level, establishing a common course of law that all could follow.
8) Indian Appropriations Act, 1871: Denies Indians all rights, makes them wards of the state, and cancels all previous treaties made with tribal peoples.
9) William “Boss” Tweed exposed by the New York Times, 1871: A politician that was at the head of the Philadelphia political machine in the late 19th Century. His exposure began the period of muckraking experienced in the American press.
10) Big Chicago Fire, 1871: Fire that swept through the poorer areas of Chicago, leaving many immigrants dead, injured, or homeless.
11) Credit Mobilier scandal, 1872: Congress awarded contracts without bidding to the Crédit Mobilier Company.
12) Slaughterhouse Cases, 1873: Set the standard for the meat packing industry, giving employees certain rights and making sure the meat was treated in a relatively cleanly matter. This was later proven not to have worked.
13) Panic of 1873: Many banks across the country went out of business due to suspicions concerning the stock market that circulated via telegraph.
14) Farmers’ alliances begin forming in South and West, 1873: A rural ideal begins to be promoted by everyday Americans, consisting of an industrious attitude towards life.
15) Use of Bessemer process in making of steel expands nationwide, 1873: Steel becomes a much more readily available material for building. Though it does not come to be widely used until much later, it allows for the construction of taller architecture.
16) The Grangers issue their Declaration of Purpose, 1874: This cultish group formed out of communities in rural farming areas of the West and South.
17) Civil Rights Act of 1875: Guaranteed liberated slaves equal rights as those provided to white under the Constitution. Was not enacted in many parts of the United States.
18) Whiskey Ring, 1875: Republican politicians siphoned off millions of dollars in taxes in order to support the liquor industry in which they were involved.
19) Social Gospel Movement, 1870s: Similar to the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th Century, people began to take a more personally active view of religion, practicing it more commonly in their daily lives.
20) Jim Crow laws enacted in Tennessee, 1875: Southerners begin to discriminate against blacks legally again, ending a period of judicial equality experiences immediately following the Civil War.
21) Opening of Black Hills, South Dakota, to gold seekers after Custer’s exploratory expedition, 1875: People begin to migrate to the Midwest in search of riches, whereas such activity had previously been more or less restricted to the West.
22) Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone, 1876: The telephone allows people to communicate more easily over large distances, speeding up the flow of news and stimulating the American economy.
23) Frederick Law Olmsted completes New York’s Central Park, 1876: Americans begin to take an interest in developing pleasant recreational areas in the hearts of their major cities. The construction of parks becomes common.
24) Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876: Indian forces obliterate General Custer’s troops, striking fear into the hearts of many Western Americans.
Gilded Age, 1877-1900
19. Rutherford B. Hayes, 1877-1881
1) The Compromise of 1877: Hayes won the presidency under the understanding that he would remove federal troops from several Southern states, where they were placed in order to support Republican governments.
2) Munn vs. Illinois, 1877: Dealt with corporate rates and agriculture.
3) End of Reconstruction, federal troops withdraw from South, 1877: The South starts to recover from the losses suffered after the end of the Civil War.
4) Major railroad strike paralyzes nation as federal troops are dispatched, 1877: The economy suffers due to the loss in economic drive and transportation.
5) Chief Joseph surrenders to U.S. army and his Nez Percé are forced into Oklahoma, 1877: The lands of the Nez Percé were taken away from them even though they supported the United States and its culture.
6) Thomas Edison establishes Edison Electric Light Company, 1878: Electricity begins to become more common in American businesses, eventually finding its way into the typical American home.
7) Women’s suffrage amendment introduced in Congress for the first time, 1878: Women begin to demand more rights as American citizens.
8) George Selden applies for a patent for the gasoline-powered automobile (granted 1895), 1879: The automobile will eventually allow American cities to expand more than they had been able to before.
9) Edison demonstrates the first practical incandescent light bulb, 1879: Electric lighting will eventually be installed in most major American cities as a form of infrastructure.
10) Woolworth’s “5-to-10-cent” store opens in Utica, NY, 1879: Americans are able to find all the household necessities in one place, instead of a few scatted through many stores.
11) The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union formed, 1879: Women begin to take a more active role in their communities, calling for societal reform and betterment.
22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
6) Pullman Strike, 1894: 4,000 Pullman Company workers reacted to a 26% wage cut by going on a “wildcat strike” in New York City.
7) Congress makes Labor Day a national holiday, 1894: The labor movement begins to integrate itself into the accepted American social fabric.
8) Coxey’s Army of 400 unemployed workers marches on Washington, 1894: The army is driven away by federal troops, a bad public relations move on the part of Cleveland.
9) Edison introduces the kinetoscope motion picture viewer, 1894: This is a precursor to the modern movie projector, which did not become commonplace until the late 1910s.
10) US vs. E.C. Knight Company, 1895: Limited the government’s power to control monopolies in business.
11) Cuban revolution against Spain begins, 1895: Americans supported the war due to the sensational journalistic techniques of William Randolph Hearst.
12) Democratic party splits into the Silver Democrats and Gold Democrats, 1895: Gold democrats will find themselves increasingly attracted to the ideals of the Republican Party.
13) In re Debs, 1895: Debs was cited for being in contempt of court due to his refusal to end the strike of U.S. Mail.
14) Anti-Saloon League founded, 1895: This was an offshoot of the temperance movement, directed at maintaining morality in society.
15) Booker T. Washington calls upon blacks to emphasize education and economic gain over political activism and equality, 1895: Washington’s advocacy of learning leads many African Americans living in the U.S. during the last decade of the 19th Century to search for education alternatives to segregated white colleges. Black colleges develop.
16) Gold on Klondike River, Yukon Territory, triggers gold rush, 1896-1898: Many Americans head to the Yukon Territory of Canada to pursue gold in the frigid waters of the Klondike River. A substantial amount return to the United States richer men.
17) Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896: Upheld the constitutionality of African Americans’ status of being “separate, but equal.”
18) Henry Ford produces his first automobile, 1896: Besides revolutionizing the transportation industry, Ford was able to devise new ways of running a factory, including offering employee discounts and higher wages.
25. William McKinley, 1897-1901
1) “New Imperialism” embraced by Assistant Secretary of the Navy TR (R-NY) Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA), and Secretary of State John Hay (Indiana), 1898: Japan, Europe, and the United States expanded their colonial powers during the first half of the 20th Century.
2) The USS Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, 1898: This is used as justification for the invasion of Cuba by American troops.
3) Volunteer Army Act established the “Rough Riders” cavalry united under TR, 1898: TR uses his involvement in his excursion during his later political campaign. He is photographed wearing the Rough Rider cavalry uniform.
4) Spain declares war on US, 1898: The US becomes intrinsically involved in the liberation of Cuba from European dominance.
5) Congress passes resolution annexing Hawaii to the US, 1898: The US wrests power away from the puppet queen previously put in charge of Hawaii, Queen Liluokalani.
6) Spain accepts cease-fire, agrees to Cuban independence, cedes Guam and Puerto Rico, and agrees to talks on the status of the Philippines, 1898: The United States is successful in taking away many of Spain’s colonial holdings, permanently hurting the later’s power in the imperial world.
7) Treaty of Paris, 1899: The United States gains many important ports en route to China, consolidating the country’s interests in the Eastern world and its economy.
8) The Anti-Imperialist League
Was a group of technology-deprived baboons.