Key dates 1865-1890

AQA A-Level History - USA

When was the homestead act?

1862

When was the 13th amendment passed and what did it do?

1865 - Ended slavery

When was Lincoln assasinated?

1865

When was the Freedmen’s bureau set up?

1865 - U.S. federal agency established to help former slaves and poor whites in the South

When was the KKK founded?

1866

When did presidential reconstruction begin?

1866 - Under johnson

When was the Alaska purchase?

1867

When was the aquisition of the midway islands - gain of raw materials

1867

When was the Howard uni for african americans set up?

1867

When were the reconstruction acts?

1867 - readmitting s.states to the union

When was refrideration developed?

1867 - transport of non-perishable items

When was Johnson impeached?

1868

When was the 14th amendment passed and what did it do?

1868 - Equal citizenship rights for freed slaves

When was the burlingham treaty with china and what did it do?

1868 - established formal, friendly relations, granted China most-favored nation status in trade with the US, and allowed for free migration between the two countries

When and what was the Treaty of Fort Laramie?

Pair of agreements (1851 & 1868) - aimed at establishing peace and defining tribal lands - violated in the 1874 Dakota gold rush

When did congress decline the dominican republic’s request for colonisation?

1869

When was the transcontinental railroad completed?

1869

When were the Knights of Labour founded?

1869

When were the Jim Crow laws put in place? (southern states)

1870

When did Rockefeller set up his Standard Oil Company?

1870

When was the 15th amendment passed and what did it do?

1870 - banned discrimination by race

When and what was the amnesty act?

1872 - removed voting and office holding restrictions on confererate soldiers

When were the alabama claims settled and what were they?

1872 - were demands for compensation from Britain for damages caused by British-built Confederate warships - settles when the UK paid $15.5million

When was the economic panic?

1873

When did whites arrive in the Black Hills?

1874 - confirmed gold discoveries and triggered the gold rush - breaking agreements with the Native Americans

When was the treaty with hawaii and what did it do?

1875 - allows for pearl harbour naval base

When was the battle of little bighorn? (Custer’s men defeated)

1876

When was the disputed election?

1876 - between Hayes and Tilden

When were the great railroad strikes?

1877

When was the Compromise?

1877 - made Hayes president

How many states had yet to be redeemed by 1877?

3

What was the situation for Native americans by 1880?

majority were in reservations

When was the bessemer process introduced and what did it do?

1880 - first inexpensive, industrial method for mass-producing steel by blowing air through molten iron to quickly remove impurities like carbon

When was garfield assasinated?

1881

When was conkling removed for NY Customs house?

1881

When was the chinese exclusion act?

1882

When and what was the pendleton act?

1883 - tackle corruption & end spoils system

When was cleveland elected?

1885 - first democrat since the civil war

When was the Haymarket bomb riot?

1886 - caused TU support to decline

What year were troops sent to the mexico boarder?

1886

When was the American Federation of Labour Union founded and what was it?

1886 - national federation of trade unions focused on improving wages, hours, and working conditions for skilled workers through collective bargaining and practical economic action

When and what was the Dawes Act?

1887 - aimed to assimilate Native Americans by breaking up tribal lands and allotting individual plots to Native families - remaining land was sold to white settlers

When was the Oklahoma land rush?

1889 - 6000 new claims to land in 2 months

When was the Sherman anti-trust act?

1890

When was the National American Women’s Suffrage (NAWSU) Union formed?

1890

When did the gov announce the frontier was closed?

1890

When was the Turner thesis/essay and what did it argue

1893 - argued for the importance of the frontier

When and what was the Timber culture act?

1873 - additional 160 acreas if 40 was planted with trees

When and what was the desert land act?

1877 - additional 640 acres for $1.25/acre as long as some of it was irrigated

When and what was the Pacific Railroad Act?

1862 - authorised 2 companies to build a transcontinental railroad

When was Seward sec of state?

1861-1869

When was fish the sec of state?

1869-1877

When was Evarts sec of state?

1877-1881

When was blaine sec of state?

1881, 1889-1892

When did the US secure rights to pago pago in samoa?

1878

How many US ships were operational by 1882?

42/140

When was the 1875 Treaty of Friendship expanded with Hawaii?

1887

What were the years Lincoln was president?

1861-1865

What were the years Johnson was president?

1865-1869

What were the years Grant was president?

1869-1877

What were the years Hayes was president?

1877-1881

What were the years Garfield was president?

1881

What were the years Arthur was president?

1881-1885

What were the years Cleveland was president? (1st term)

1885-1889

What were the years Harrison was president?

1889-1893

What were the years Cleveland was president? (2nd term)

1893-1897

When was the black friday scandal?

1869

When was the whiskey ring scandal?

1875

What was the population size in 1860?

31.5 million

What was the population size in 1880?

50 million

When was the McKinley tariff and what did it do?

1890 - raised average duty on imports by 50%

When was the $2 georgia poll tax introduced for voting?

1877

When did mississipi introduce literacy tests for voting?

1890

When was the granger movement set up? - began as a social and educational organization for farmers, but later became focused on fighting for economic and political rights, particularly against railroads

1867

When and what were the Orange Riots?

1870 & 1871 - clashes rooted in religious and ethnic tensions between Irish Protestants and Catholics

When was the Colfax Massacre?

1873

What was the state of Republican party 1880?

Split into two

→ Half-breeds (blaine)

→ Stalwarts (grant)

• Garfield chosen as inbetween - won election by 10,000 votes

When did investigations into the star route postal service start?

1872

How many star routes were there by 1880?

• nearly 10,000

  • Costing the gov $6million/yr

What and when was the Texas seed bill?

1887 - $10,000 appropriated by congress to purchase seed from texas farmers - vetoed by cleveland

What was Tammany Hall?

• William Tweed in charge

• ensuring democratic votes by helping people financially and domestically so people feel ‘in debt’ to them

What was Lincoln’s 10% plan?

A new gov could be established when 10% of the 1860 electorate sore and oth of loyalty to the union and acepted the abolition of slavery

When as the louisiana state gov recognised?

1864

What did the Homestead Act do?

gave 160acres of land to people who agreed to live on the land farming and improving it for 5 years

4 reasons why reconstruction failed

→ Southern resistance/opposition

→ Actions/failures of the Presidents

→ 1876 election and 1877 compromise

→ Declining support from northern repubs

How did Hayes tackle cicil service corruption?

Said that people should get jobs based on merit not popularity

Campaign contributors couldn’t hold a job in the civil service

What was the state of the repub party in 1880?

Rebus party = split between half-breeds (want blaine) and stalwarts (want Grant)

How man votes did Garfield win by?

10,000

Actions of Garfield

• supported civil service reform

• Strengthened federal authority over the NY custom house

• Continued post office reform

• Gets rid of roscoe conclin - big victory to reduce corruption

What and when was the silver purchace act?

• 1890

  • U.S. federal law requiring the government to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver monthly

What and when was the pendleton act?

• 1883

• First law specifically to begin the prossesional handling of the civil service

What was the monroe doctrine?

US would avoid European affairs unless European interests were involved

When and what was the burlingham treaty?

1868 - treaty with china to promote trade

Evidence of isolationism in foreign policy

• seward rejected invitation from france and britain to pursede the tsar to be sympathetic to poland

• Rejected the Dominican republic request to be colonised

• 1868 no aid for cuban revolution against spanish rule, the us didn’t intervene

How much of the Navy were operational

42/140 ships and 14/17 steamships

Why did the economy grow?

• Civil War

• Population Growth / Immigration

• Transport

• Government

• Corporations / Trusts / Robber Barons

• Tech Innovation

• Westward Expansion

How much did the population grow 1860-1880?

1860 = 35.1mil

1880 = 50mil

How much railroad was built 1868-1873?

53,000km

When did J.P. Morgan set up his banking company?

1971 - ended up bailing US out of financial panic 1973

What was the 1877 national strike?

• Owners of Baltimore and Ohio railrouad announced a payout

  • Workers walked off the job and others did in solidarity

• Pittsburg → 5000 workers fought 650 federal troops

• $10mil in damages