1865

Thirteenth Amendment passed by Congress and ratified by two-thirds of states still in the Union

President Abraham Lincoln assassinated; V.P. Andrew Johnson assumes the office

Congress creates Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands to assist with physical reconstruction and human welfare in the defeated Confederacy

President Johnson extends recognition to Southern state governments, on lenient terms, while Congress is not in session; Congress rejects his action, refuses to seat representatives from ex-Confederate states, and creates a Joint
Committee to assert its authority in Reconstruction

Congress creates Secret Service

1867

Congress passes Reconstruction Acts to establish military rule in former Confederacy, except Tennessee

United States Supreme Court Room, Washington City - Chief-Justice Chase and Associates Hearing the Arguments in the Mississippi Injuction Case.
"United States Supreme Court Room", Harper's Weekly, Apr. 1867, p.265.

1868

Congress attempts to impeach President Andrew Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act in firing the secretary of war without Congressional approval, and in a broader sense for obstructing and undermining Congressional policymaking; the House of Representatives votes to impeach but the Senate fails to do so, by one vote

Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, defeats Horatio Seymour, Democrat, in the US presidential election; popular vote 3,013,421 to 2,706,829; electoral vote 214 to 80

Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress in the election; hold majority of 149 to 63 in the House, 56 to 11 in the Senate

1869

Congress establishes Railway Mail Service, greatly increasing speed and reliability of postal delivery

Massachusetts establishes the first state board of health

Prohibition Party founded in Chicago

1870

Congress passes KKK Act to repress violence against blacks in the South

First African-American Congressman seated

US Weather Bureau established

Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives with stunning gains in midterm elections; hold majority of , while Republicans hold Senate 52 to 17

All states represented in Congress for the first time since 1860

1871

In rider to Indian Appropriations Act, Congress declares that it will no longer make treaties with Indian tribes, but instead they are subject to Congressional legislation and executive agreements

U.S. Life-Saving Service professionalized and funded by Congress

Boss William Tweed, of New York’s Tammany Hall Democratic political machine, arrested and convicted of graft

1872

Ulysses S. Grant wins presidency over Liberal Republican Horace Greeley; popular vote 3,596,745 to 2,843, 446; Grant receives all 286 electoral votes when Greeley dies shortly after the election. Minor candidates include Victoria Woodhull, first woman to run for president, on the Equal Rights ticket

Congress establishes Yellowstone as world’s first national park

Nebraska becomes the first state to celebrate Arbor Day

Republicans attain a majority of appointments on the US Supreme Court, a majority they maintain until 1939

Crédit Mobilier scandal implicates high-level Grant Administration officials and Congressmen with bribes and kickbacks in construction of the Union Pacific Railroad (1872-1873)

Ulysses S. Grant, Republican,wins re-election as US president over Horace Greeley, Liberal Republican; popular vote , electoral vote (1872-1873)

1873

Coinage Act establishes process for placing the United States on the gold standard over the next six years; specie payments resume in 1879

Comstock Law prohibits use of US postal service for obscene literature, including information on birth control

Timber Culture Act permits homesteaders to take 160 more acres, in addition to 160 provided by earlier Homestead Act, if 40 of the new acres are planted in trees

1874

Congress passes law for protection of bison from hunters; vetoed by President Grant

1876

Colorado enters the Union as the 38th state

Greenback Party founded, to become Greenback Labor Party two years later

US v. Cruikshank

Contested presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden, driven by conflicting returns from three southern states where conservatives are in the process of overthrowing Reconstruction governments; voting on party lines, an election commission elects Hayes. Popular vote 4,036,592 for Hayes, 4,284,020 for Tilden; electoral vote (by ruling of commission) 185 to 184 (1876-1877)

1877

In Munn v. Illinois the US Supreme Court upholds an Illinois law regulating storage rates in grain-elevators, stating that such businesses are “clothed in the public interest” and subject to state regulation
Congress creates National Guard

Desert Land Act permits homesteaders to buy 640 acres at $1.25 each, in designated arid areas, if within three years they irrigate the land they purchase

1878

Greenback Labor Party founded

Socialist Labor Party founded

In re Ah Yup, US Supreme Court declares Chinese immigrants ineligible to naturalize and become US citizens

1879

US Geological Survey created to study the nation’s topography and nature resources

Standing Bear v. Crook

1880

James Garfield, Republican, defeats Winfield S. Hancock, Democrat, in the US presidential election; popular vote 4,453,295 to 4,414,082; electoral vote 214 to 155. Minor candidates include James B. Weaver on the Greenback-Labor ticket and Neal Dow on the Prohibition ticket

1881

US President James Garfield assassinated; V. P. Chester A. Arthur assumes the office

1882

Congress passes Edmunds Act prohibiting polygamy in federal territories

1883

Congresses passes Pendleton Act, establishing Civil Service Commission and designating some federal offices as meri-based

Hatch Act provides federal support for agricultural experiment stations, run by states through state universities

US Supreme Court strikes down Civil Rights Act of 1875

1884

Grover Cleveland, Democrat, defeats James G. Blaine, Republican, in the US presidential election; popular vote 4,879,507 to 4,850,293, electoral vote 219 to 182; minor candidates include Benjamin Butler on the Greenback-Labor ticket, John St. John on the Prohibition ticket, and Belva Lockwood on the National Equal Rights ticket

The only democratic presidential candidate who stands a chance of election in 1884.
Puck, Jan. 1883, p.321.

1885

New York establishes Adirondack Forest Preserve

1886

In Wabash v. Illinois, Supreme Court sets limit on government regulation of railroads

1887

Dawes Allotment Act

Edmunds-Tucker Act makes further attempts to abolish polygamy and limit Mormon power in Utah Territory, and disfranchises the Territory’s women

With Interstate Commerce Act, Congress establishes Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate and oversee interstate trade

Massachusetts Bureau of Labor uses the term “unemployment” for the first time, in its modern usage, in one of its reports

1888

Benjamin Harrison, Republican, defeats President Grover Cleveland, Democrat, in the US presidential election; popular vote 5,477,129 to 5,537,857; electoral vote 233 to 168. Minor candidates include Clinton Fisk on the Prhoibition ticket, Anson J. Streeter on the Union Labor ticket, and Belva Lockwood on the National Equal Rights ticket

Massachusetts is first state to adopt Australian ballot system

1889

North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming enter the Union (39th, 40th, 41st, and 42nd states)

First use of electric chair for execution, in New York state; execution botched

1890

Idaho and Wyoming enter the Union (43rd and 44th states)

Lodge Elections Bill, providing federal oversight of polls when petitioned by local citizens, defeated by one vote in the Senate

McKinley Tariff passed

Forest Reserve Act authorizes president to set aside public lands as forest reserves

California returns Yosemite Valley to federal control as a national park

Department of Agriculture becomes a cabinet-level agency

In Minnesota Rate Case, the Supreme Court limits government regulation of shipping rates

Sequoia National Park established

1891

Court of Private Land Claims adjudicates conflicting property claims in the Southwest (1891-1904)

1892

First national People’s Party convention in Omaha, Nebraska

Grover Cleveland, Democrat, defeats Benjamin Harrison, Republican, and James B. Weaver, Populist, to win a second term (non-consecutive) as US president; popular vote 5,555,429 to 5,182,690, electoral vote 277 to 145, with Weaver winning 1,029,846 votes and 22 electoral votes. Minor candidates include John Bidwell on the Prohibition ticket and Simon Wing on the Socialist Labor ticket

President Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom Cleveland, whose image was
widely used to sell thread and many other consumer products--over the
president's protests.  Image courtesy the Victorian Scrapbook at
 The Trade Card Place. 

1893

Federal Railroad Safety Appliance Act requires air brakes on alll trains

1894

Congress passes federal progressive income tax

Carey Desert Land Act grants federal land to the states for irrigation companies to develop and settle

Federal Bureau of Immigraton created

Labor Day made a national legal holiday

1895

In Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust, Supreme Court rules federal progressive income tax unconstitutional unless the tax can be apportioned by state rather than by individual, a stipulation that proves unworkable

In US v. E. C. Knight Company, Supreme Court rules that Sherman Antitrust Act does not give the federal government power to regulate the sugar monopoly

1896

Utah enters the Union (45th state)

William McKinley, Republican, defeats William Jennings Bryan, Democrat, in the US presidential election; popular vote 7,102,246 to 6,492,559, electoral vote 271 to 176; Populist party also endorses Bryan but he does not acknowledge their support; minor candidates include Joshua Levering on the Prohibition ticket and John Palmer on the Gold Democratic (National Democratic) ticket

Congress provides rural free mail delivery (RFD); all Americans can now receive mail at home free of charge

In Ward v. Race Horse, Supreme Court upholds right of government to prosecute Indians caught hunting on unoccupied public lands

1897

Social Democracy of America founded, forerunner of Social Democratic Party

1898

In U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, Supreme Court rules that all people born in the United States are US citizens irrespective of race

In Holden v. Hardy, Supreme Court lets stand state regulations for health and safety in notably dangerous industries (such as mining)

1899

Nation’s first juvenile court established in Chicago

Mt. Rainier National Park created

In Addystone Pipe case the Supreme Court upholds government right to prosecute corporations for price-fixing

Delaware loosens corporate law, creating the “Delaware corporation”

1900

William McKinley, Republican,wins re-election as US president over William Jennigns Bryan, Democrat; popular vote 7,218,491 to 6,356,734 , electoral vote 292 to 155; minor candidates include John C. Wooley on the Prohibition ticket, Seth Ellis on the Union   Reform ticket, Wharton Barker on the Anti-Fusionist People’s ticket, and Eugene Debs on the Social Democratic ticket

Robert LaFollette elected as progressive governor of Wisconsin; implements “Wisconsin idea” of using social science expertise for better government

Lacey Act provides federal wildlife protection

1901

Governor Roosevelt Making a Speech from a Car Platform During his Campaign.
"Governor Roosevelt and his Opinions", Harper's Weekly, Sept. 1899, p.931.

President William McKinley assassinated, V.P. Theodore Roosevelt assumes the office

Congress creates National Bureau of Standards

1902

Newlands Recolmation Act allows public lands in arid West to be sold if irrigation is made available; creates Bureau of Reclamation

Crater Lake National Park created

1903

National Wildlife Refuge System created; Pelican Island, Florida, made nation’s first wildlife refuge

Wind Cave National Park created in South Dakota

Massachusetts becomes the first state to issue license plates for automobiles

1904

Theodore Roosevelt, Republican, defeats Alton Parker, Democrat in the US presidential election; popular vote 7,628,461 to 5,084,223, electoral vote 292 to 155; minor candidates include Eugene V. Debs on the Socialist ticket and Silas C. Swallow on the Prohibition ticket

In Northern Securities case, the Supreme Court upholds Justice Department action to break up a monopoly operating “in restraint of trade”

1905

US Forest Service created

In Lochner v. New York the Supreme Court strikes down a state law setting maximum working hours for bakers, arguing that the law violates the due process clause of the 14th Amendment

In Swift and Company the Supreme Court acknowledges some federal powers of regulation over manufacturers engaged in interstate trade

In Hale v. Hinkel the Supreme Court extends to corporations, as “persons,” the Fourth Amendment right against self-incrimination