History Timeline (1865-1900)

-Credit Mobilier was a construction company. They had managed to get the federal government to subsidize construction of the Union Pacific Railroad by bribing Congressmen. These Congressmen were allowed to purchase shares of stock in the company at face value instead of market value.
-This was very corrupt.
-”New York Sun” named this one of the most corrupt incidents in American history.

-Russia was struggling financially, so the Russian government offered to sell Alaska to the United States. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the deal for less than 2 cents an acre. Alaska was bought for 7.2 million dollars, the general public agreed that it was a good addition.
-The purchase prevented British and Spanish expansion in North America, and has had many positive effects that were well worth 7.2 million dollars.
-The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates Alaska has503 billion barrels of oil.. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable at $107 a barrel the resource would be worth around 5.3 trillion dollars.

• This was the day the transcontinental railroads were completed. It was a huge historical event in transportation because having a transcontinental railroad would be extremely time efficient, and because it was the completion of lots of hard work on building the railroad.
• The importance of this event is a huge leap in transportation.
• The transcontinental railroad was approximately 1777 miles long.

-F.V. Hayden went to Yellowstone on a big expedition. He compiled a comprehensive report on Yellowstone, which included large pictures. The land was signed to be a National Park in fear of the beautiful land being misused.
-The set aside land created an untouched place for people to visit and enjoy.
-According to the National Park Service, Yellowstone has an area of 3,472 square miles.

-This was a war between the Native Americans, and the Calvary of the US Army. The fight happened near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana territory. The battle turned out to be victorious for the Native Americans.
- The victory of the Indians in this war was one of the last they would ever have and eventually the US took over the Native Americans.
- The standard issue rifle used in this was was the Springfield Model 1873.

-The first official game of baseball took place in Hoboken, New Jersey.
-This marked the beginning of professional baseball, which is now one of the most watched programs on T.V.
-In 1869 the Cincinnati Red Stockings became America's first baseball club.

-This was a federal law that established the United States Civil Service Commission, which placed most federal employees on the merit system and marked the end of the “spoils system.”
-About 70% of the general public agreed with the act.

-The Haymarket Massacre occured on May 4, 1886, when, after police broke up an Anarcho-Communist meeting at Haymarket Square, Chicago, a bomb exploded among the front rank of police, who then opened fire (7 police fatally injured; 70 wounded).
-The actual bomb thrower was never established.

-The Dawes Act provided for the division of tribally held lands into individually- owned parcels.
-The act had a negative impact on the unity, government, and culture of Native American tribes.
-Native Americans lost, over the 47 years of the Act's life, about 90 million acres of treaty land.

-The Interstate Commerce Act required that railroads charge fair rates to their customers and make those rates public.
-This act made transportation by trains more affordable to the general public.
-Railroads often charged a higher price per mile for short hauls than for long hauls.