1880's Flashcards
The Snow Winter
Winter of 1880-1881, most severe ever known in the United States. Primarily affected the area of Chicago into Dakota, numerous townspeople died of starvation as the trains couldn’t travel.
Cash register
Invented in 1880 by James Ritty, the first of these were very primitive, but symbolic of the gradual turn of American small business.
Pat Garrett
The Old West lawman who killed Billy the Kid in 1881.
Oscar Wilde
An influential Irish writer and poet who toured the United States and published “The Picture of Dorian Gray” before being arrested for engaging in sex with other men.
Edmunds Act
The 1882 Congressional Act which said bigamy is a felony was aimed at Utah, and caused a profound governmental reformation in that state.
Knights of Columbus
World’s largest Catholic fraternal service founded in America in 1882.
Robert Ford
The infamous outlaw who assassinated his own leader Jesse James in 1882.
Labor Day
A holiday created in 1882 to appease the disgruntled laborers of the Gilded Age.
spoils system
The practice of a political party, after coming into power, giving government jobs away to friends or fundraisers.
time zones
Instituted by the U.S. and Canadian railroads in 1883.
Eight-hour day
Instituted May Day 1884, eight hours for work, sleep, and play.
International Meridian Conference
Held in Washington D.C. (at Arthur’s request) in 1884, this conference established the Greenwich Meridian as the zero longitude.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This 1884 Mark Twain novel was extremely popular and published a sympathetic view of the South, it’s noted for being written almost entirely in vernacular.
Statue of Liberty
A colossal sculpture in New York City gifted to America by a French artist and built in 1886, although initially unpopular with Nativists, it eventually become synonymous with the American ideal of liberty.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
A stock market index created in 1885.
