1870's Flashcards
Brooklyn Bridge
Completed in 1883, designed by John Roebling. Culturally significant to New York City, and architecturally significant for its usage of steel.
Vertical integration
Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution. Used by Andrew Carnegie in steel production.
Hiram Rhodes Revels
Black senator from Mississippi (1870-1871), first person of color in the Congress.
Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition
An 1870 expedition into the Yellowstone region which occurred during Grant’s presidency.
The 15th Amendment
1870- Granted African-American men the right to vote.
Enforcement Act of 1871 (third act)
An act signed by Grant to counteract the Ku Klux Klan, he was successful in doing this during his presidency.
William Henry Jackson
An American photographer famous for his images of the Wild West.
Whaling Disaster of 1871
Several whaling ships got stuck off the coast of Alaska, dealing a serious blow to the whaling industry.
The Polaris expedition
An 1871 American expedition to reach the North Pole, led by Charles Francis Hall, although they did reach coordinates more northerly than any other explorer, the ship crashed and sank.
William “Boss” Tweed
A corrupt politician who embezzled millions of taxpayer dollars from New Yorkers.
Tammany Hall
A political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800’s and early 1900’s) seeking political control by corruption and bossism. Lead by Boss Tweed.
Victoria Woodhull
Radical feminist propagandist whose eloquent attacks on conventional social morality and advocacy for free love shocked many Americans in the 1870s
United States presidential election, 1872
Incumbent Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horace Greeley nominated by the defected Liberal Republicans and Democrats. Greeley died during the electoral process, so the liberal republican electors split their votes among various other groups. Main issues included Grant’s use of cronyism during his first term, and the ongoing armed occupation of the South. The Lib/Dem platform supported bimetallism, tariff reduction, and patronage reduction. The Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria Woodhull and Frederick Douglass.
Modoc War
An armed conflict lasting from 1872-73 between the United States Military and Modocs living in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Comstock laws
1873 censorship laws which prohibited the sending of obscene books and materials through the mail.
Barbed wire
An American invention debuted in 1873.
Levi Strauss
Inventor of blue jeans, a popular commodity in the West.
Panic of 1873
Post-war inflation and railroad speculation lead to this economic downturn during Grant’s presidency.
The Long Depression
An economic depression lasting from 1873-1879 as a result of the end of the Civil War.
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
First mass organization among women dedicated to social reform, formed in 1873.
Greenback Party
A party formed by farmers who were hurt by the Long Depression in 1874. They were against a return to a gold-backed economy. They eventually would become the People’s Party.
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Signed by Grant, it assured African-Americans equal accommodation in public facilities and jury duty. During the 1880s, it was dismantled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Tong Wars
Any of several feuds carried on in San Francisco between gangs of Chinese immigrants. These gang wars spanned a 70-year period beginning in the 1850s and continuing until the 1920s. The Tongs held a tight grip on San Francisco until a 1906 earthquake destroyed their brothels, casinos, and opium dens.
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the telephone
Buffalo Calf Road Woman
A Northern Cheyanne woman credited with striking the blow that knocked Custer off his horse at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Crazy Horse
A chief of the Sioux who resisted the invasion of the Black Hills and joined Sitting Bull in the defeat of General Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876.
Mark Twain
An American humorist and novelist most well-known for his novels about slow Missouri life.
Crédit Mobilier of America scandal
1872- A railroad company bribed high government officials during Grant’s presidency.
United States presidential election, 1876
Democrat Samuel J. Tilden earned a higher percentage of the popular vote than Rutherford B. Hayes, but Hayes won one more electoral vote than Tilden. The corruption of the Republican party was a major issue of the campaign.
Compromise of 1877
An informal deal in which 20 electoral votes and the presidency were given to Hayes in exchange for the withdrawal of troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction. Had catastrophic effects for black people.
The Molly Maguires
A secret Irish organization of coal miners in regions of western Pennsylvania and West Virgina in the mid to late 1800’s. The miners worked together to achieve better working conditions, and when demands weren’t met, they protested by destroying mining equipment and other activities. They were eventually brought down by a Pinkerton detective, and some alleged members had trials and were hanged.
Farmers’ Alliance
A Farmers’ organization founded in late 1870s; worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the government’s tight money policy. Eventually became the People’s (Populist) Party.
phonograph
A record player invented by Thomas Edison in 1877.
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
A large number of railroad workers went on strike because of wage cuts. After a month of strikes, President Hayes sent troops to stop the rioting.
Billy the Kid
The quintessential cowboy, Billy the Kid became notoriously associated with the recklessness of the Wild West, he also was an active participant in the Lincoln County War.
Lincoln County War
War that broke between rival cowboy factions of the Old West, between old timers and newcomers, to start a monopoly of dry food trade in Lincoln County. 1878.
Black Bart
Stagecoach robber and gentleman bandit, he left poems at the scenes of his crimes, active in the late 1870s.
Bike boom
1860s and 1890s, bicycles were extremely popular in America due to French and British innovations.
Portuguese immigration to Hawaii
1878-1913, Portuguese immigrants traveled to Hawaii to work in the sugarcane plantations.
Frank Winfield Woolworth
The founder of five and ten cent stores in the late 1870s-1880s, he pioneered the practice of buying merchandise direct from manufacturer, instead of haggling.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
A railroad owner who built a railway connecting Chicago and New York. He popularized the use of steel rails in his railroad, which made railroads safer and more economical. A philanthropist, he became one of the richest men in the world from a mediocre upbringing.
Doc Holliday
An American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. 1870s-1880s.
Meeker Massacre
The Utes of Colorado killed Nathan Meeker and his company due to the terrible messages he was spreading about them. As a result, Congress moved the Utes into smaller reservations.
Incandescent light bulb
Invented by Edison in 1879.
Mary Baker Eddy
Founded the Church of Christian Scientists in 1879 and set forth the basic doctrine of Christian Science.
“Progress and Poverty”
Henry George’s best-selling 1879 book that criticized entrepreneurs and advocated social reform through the imposition of a “single tax” on land. A very popular book, said to spark the Progressive movement.
The Whiskey Ring
A scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. Seen as a sign of the corruption of the Republicans post-Civil War.
