Timeline of the history of the United States (1860–1899)

Presidency of James Buchanan • April 3, 1860 – Pony Express begins from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. • November 6 – 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln elected president and Hannibal Hamlin vice president with only 39% of the vote in a four-man race. • December 18 – Crittenden Compromise fails. • December 20 – President Buchanan fires his cabinet. • December 20 – South Carolina secedes from the Union • January 9, 1861 – Secessionist forces in South Carolina fire at the USS Star of the West, forcing it to withdraw. • January 9 – Mississippi secedes from the Union • January 10 – Florida secedes from the Union • January 11 – Alabama secedes from the Union • January 19 – Georgia secedes from the Union • January 26 – Louisiana secedes from the Union • February 1 – Texas secedes from the Union • February 4 – Secessionist states establish the Confederate States of America • February 9 – Jefferson Davis elected provisional president of the Confederacy. Alexander H. Stephens elected provisional vice president of the Confederacy. • February 11 – Stephens becomes provisional vice president of the Confederate States. • February 18 – Davis becomes provisional president of the Confederate States. • March 2 – The Corwin Amendment to enshrine slavery forever is passed by Congress. It is not ratified. Presidency of Abraham Lincoln • March 4, 1861 – Lincoln becomes the 16th president and Hamlin becomes the 15th vice president • 1861 – American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter • 1861 – First Battle of Bull Run (First Battle of Manassas) • 1861 – Davis unanimously elected to full term as Confederate president, Stephen unanimously elected to full term as Confederate vice president. • February 22, 1862 – Davis becomes Confederate president, Stephens become Confederate vice president. • 1862 – Battle of Hampton Roads (Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack; first ever naval battle between iron-sided ships) • 1862 – Homestead Act • 1862 – Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act • 1862 – Gen. Robert E. Lee placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia • 1862 – Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Battle of Manassas) • 1862 – Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) • 1862 – Dakota War of 1862 begins • 1862–1863 – Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation • 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg • 1863 – The Siege of Vicksburg ends • 1863 – New York City draft riots • 1863 – Pro-Union Virginia counties become separate state of West Virginia • 1863 - Lincoln announces the 10% Plan • 1864 – Gen. Ulysses S. Grant put in command of all Union forces • 1864 – Wade–Davis Bill • 1864 – Sand Creek massacre • 1864 – Nevada becomes a state • 1864 – U.S. presidential election, 1864; Abraham Lincoln is reelected president and Andrew Johnson elected vice president on the "fusion" Union Party ticket. • 1864 – Sherman's March to the Sea • 1865 – Robert E. Lee made commander-in-chief of all Confederate forces • March 4, 1865 – President Lincoln begins second term; Johnson becomes the 16th vice president • 1865 – Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, captured by a corps of black Union troops • 1865 – Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House • 1865 – Freedmen's Bureau Presidency of Andrew Johnson • April 15, 1865 – President Lincoln assassinated; Vice President Johnson becomes the 17th president • April–June 1865 – American Civil War ends as the last elements of the Confederacy surrender • 1865 – Ku Klux Klan founded • 1865 – Slavery abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment. • 1866 – Civil Rights Act of 1866 • 1866 - Tennessee becomes the first Confederate state readmitted to the union • 1867 – Tenure of Office Act enacted • 1867 – Territory of Alaska purchased from the Russian Empire • 1867 - The US Annexes the Midway Islands in the Pacific • 1867 – Nebraska becomes a state • 1867 - Congress passes a series of Reconstruction acts and the period of Radical Reconstruction begins • 1868 – Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, acquitted by the Senate by one vote. • 1868 – Fourteenth Amendment is ratified; second of Reconstruction Amendments. • 1868 – The Copperheads are dissolved. • 1868 – Ulysses S. Grant is elected president and Schuyler Colfax is elected vice president. • 1868 - Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama are admitted back into the union. • 1868 - Boss Tweed gained control of Tammany Hall. Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant • March 4, 1869 – Grant becomes the 18th president and Colfax becomes the 17th vice president. • 1869 – The First transcontinental railroad is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. • 1869 – Texas v. White upholds Radical Reconstruction and states that once Texas joins the Union, its union was indissoluble. ==1870s==

• 1870 – 15th Amendment • 1870 – First graduate programs (at Yale and Harvard) • 1870 – Black Codes • 1870 - Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia are readmitted to the union • 1871 – Great Chicago Fire • 1871 – Treaty of Washington with the British Empire regarding Canada • 1871 - The New York Times published evidence of Tweed's rampant greed. • 1871 - Civil Service Reform Act passes • 1871 - Ku Klux Klan Act • 1872 – Yellowstone National Park created • 1872 – Crédit Mobilier scandal • 1872 – Amnesty Act • 1872 – Alabama Claims • 1872 – U.S. presidential election, 1872: Ulysses S. Grant reelected president; Henry Wilson elected vice president • 1872 - Victoria Claflin Woodhull, first woman presidential candidate, enters presidential race. • 1873 – Panic of 1873 • March 4, 1873 – President Grant begins second term; Wilson becomes the 18th vice president • 1873 – Virginius Affair • 1873 - One of the first schools of nursing opens at Bellevue Hospital in New York • 1874 – Red River Indian War • 1874 - National Woman's Christian Temperance Union formed in Cleveland • 1875 – Aristides (horse) wins first Kentucky Derby • 1875 – Resumption Act • 1875 – Civil Rights Act of 1875 • 1875 – The Art Students League of New York is founded • November 22, 1875 – Vice President Wilson dies • 1875 - Whiskey Ring Scandal • 1876 – National League of baseball founded • 1876 – Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia • 1876 – Munn v. Illinois establishes public regulation of utilities • 1876 – Colorado becomes a state • 1876 – Battle of Little Bighorn • 1876 - Central Park opens in New York City • 1876 – Wild Bill Hickok is killed by a shot to the back of his head by Jack McCall while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota. He held aces and eights, now known as the Dead man's hand. • 1876 – U.S. presidential election, 1876 seemingly elects Samuel J. Tilden president and Thomas A. Hendricks vice president, but results are disputed with 20 Electoral College votes allegedly in doubt. • 1877 – The Electoral Commission awards Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency and William A. Wheeler the vice presidency in return for ending the military occupation of the South. • 1877 – Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes • March 4, 1877 – After only two days as president-elect and vice president-elect, Hayes becomes the 19th president and Wheeler becomes the 19th vice president • 1877 – Reconstruction ends • 1877 – Nez Perce War • 1878 – Bland–Allison Act • 1878 – Morgan silver dollars first minted • 1879 – Thomas Edison creates first commercially viable light bulb • 1879 – Knights of Labor go public ==1880s==

• 1880 – University of Southern California founded • 1880 – U.S. population exceeds 50 million • 1880 – U.S. presidential election, 1880: James A. Garfield elected president and Chester A. Arthur vice president. Their popular margin is less than 2,000 votes. Presidency of James A. Garfield • March 4, 1881 – Garfield becomes the 20th president; Arthur becomes the 20th vice president. • July 2, 1881 – President Garfield is shot by a deranged gunman on a train platform. Presidency of Chester A. Arthur • September 19, 1881 – President Garfield dies, Vice President Arthur becomes the 21st president • 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory • 1881 – Clara Barton creates the American Red Cross • 1881 – Tuskegee Institute founded • 1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett near Fort Sumner • 1881 – A Century of Dishonor written by Helen Hunt Jackson • 1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act • 1882 – Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert and Charlie Ford • 1883 - The Southern section of the second transcontinental railroad line is completed. • 1883 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West show founded. participants include: Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley. • 1883 – Civil Rights Cases 109 US 3 1883 legalizes doctrine of segregation • 1883 – Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act • 1883 – Brooklyn Bridge opens • 1883 - Joseph Pulitzer buys the New York World • 1884 – U.S. presidential election, 1884: Grover Cleveland elected president and Thomas A. Hendricks elected vice president • 1884 – Washington Monument completed First presidency of Grover Cleveland • March 4, 1885 – Cleveland becomes the 22nd president; Hendricks becomes the 21st vice president • November 25, 1885 – Vice President Hendricks dies • 1886 – Haymarket Square Riot • 1886 – American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus, Ohio • 1886 – Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) dedicated • 1887 – The United States Congress creates Interstate Commerce Commission • 1887 – Dawes Act • 1887 – Hatch Act • 1888 – Publication of Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy • 1888 – National Geographic Society founded • 1888 – U.S. presidential election, 1888: Benjamin Harrison elected president and Levi P. Morton vice president despite coming in second in the popular vote. Presidency of Benjamin Harrison • March 4, 1889 – Harrison becomes the 23rd president and Morton becomes the 22nd vice president • 1889 – Oklahoma Land Rush (April 22, 1889) • 1889 – Centennial of the Constitution celebrated. • 1889 – North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington become states • 1889 – Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania • 1889 – Jane Addams founds Hull House • December 6, 1889 – Former Confederate president Jefferson Davis dies. • 1889 - During a speech given by Benjamin Harrison, he becomes the first U.S. president in history to have a voice recording. ==1890s==

• 1890 – Sherman Antitrust Act • 1890 – Jacob Riis published "How the Other Half Lives" • 1890 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act • 1890 – McKinley Tariff • 1890 – Yosemite National Park created • 1890 – Idaho and Wyoming become states • 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre • 1890 – National American Woman Suffrage Association founded • 1890 - Reporter Nelly Bly circles globe by train and steamship in 72 days • 1891 – Baltimore crisis • 1891 – James Naismith invents basketball • 1891 - Hamlin Garland publishes Main-Travelled Roads • 1892 – Homestead Strike • 1892 – General Electric Company founded • 1892 – Sierra Club founded by John Muir • 1892 - Populist national convention held in Omaha • 1892 – U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland elected president and Adlai E. Stevenson, vice president Second presidency of Grover Cleveland • March 4, 1893 – Cleveland becomes the 24th president; Stevenson becomes the 23rd vice president • 1893 – Panic of 1893 • 1893 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed • 1893 - Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago • 1894 – Coxey's Army • 1894 – Pullman Strike • 1894 – Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act, including income tax • 1894 – Sunset Limited service opened on the second transcontinental route by Southern Pacific Railroad • 1895 – Lee Shelton shoots Billy Lyons, spawning countless ballads. • 1895 – ''Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.'' strikes down part of Wilson-Gorman Tariff • 1895 - William Randolph Hearst purchases the New York Morning Journal • 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson 163 US 537 1896 affirms the idea of "separate but equal" • 1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech • 1896 – Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike • 1896 – Utah becomes a state • 1896 - Henry Ford builds his first automobile • 1896 – U.S. presidential election, 1896: William McKinley elected president and Garret A. Hobart vice president Presidency of William McKinley • March 4, 1897 – McKinley becomes the 25th president; and Hobart becomes the 24th vice president • 1897 – Boston subway completed • 1897 – Dingley tariff • 1898 – The City of Greater New York is created through the annexation of Brooklyn, Western Queens County, and Staten Island into New York City • 1898 – USS Maine explodes in Havana, Cuba harbor, precipitating the Spanish–American War • 1898 – De Lôme Letter • 1898 – Treaty of Paris (1898) ends Spanish–American War; Philippine–American War begins • 1898 – Hawaii annexed • 1898 – Newlands Resolution • 1898 – American Anti-Imperialist League organized • 1899 – Teller Amendment • 1899 – Newsboys' strike of 1899 • 1899 – American Samoa occupied • 1899 – Open Door Notes; Boxer Rebellion begins • November 21, 1899 – Vice President Garret Hobart dies ==See also==