Episodes Located: Washington City, District of Columbia in the 1870's

  1. The Consequences of Non-Conformity
    date May 20, 1879map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Native-Americans, Carl Schurz

    Little Chief of the Cheyenne Indian tribe once said, "I'd rather die than conform to the white man's way." On the morning of May 19, 1879, Secretary of Interior Carl Schurz spoke to the Cheyenne Indians and their leader, Little Chief. Little Chief was old and spoke for the Cheyenne Indians, while the five other tribe members, being very young, listened. Schurz had told Little Chief, "the game has...

  2. National Board of Trade issues statement urging Congress to increase the federal government's role in the promotion of commerce.
    date December 11, 1879map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On December 11, 1879 the assembled representatives of the National Board of Trade adopted a resolution urging Congress to become more involved with regulation of commercial activity through a variety of measures. These suggested measures included the creation of a federal rail road commission that would force freight companies to charge equal rates to all customers, the adoption of a federal standard...

  3. President Ulysses S. Grant Gives Second Inaugural Address
    date March 4, 1873map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    After reelection in 1872, President Grant presented his second inaugural address on a frigid March day the following year. Called “the most brilliant inauguration which ever took place in this country' by The Courier-Journal, the speech was witnessed by thousands of spectators who had been attracted to Washington simply for this occasion. The immense crowd cheered the President as he passed...

  4. The Freedman's Bureau is abolished
    date June 28, 1872map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Education, War

    The Freedman's Bureau, officially known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, was created on March 3rd, 1865 to aid refugees of the U.S. Civil War as part of the U.S. government's effort to aid and assist its meager population. The Bureau also controlled and managed controversial or uncharted U.S. lands, but its main job was as an asset to newly freed slaves. These newly freed,...

  5. Congress Passes the Timber Culture Act
    date March 3, 1873map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture

    Throughout the 19th Century, the American government as well as people continued to maintain the desire to push the move out West. Dealing with westward expansion and land ownership, the United States government passed a series of Homestead Laws over the decade in order to promote the settlement of Americans westward. In 1841, Congress passed the Pre-emption Act in response to the demands of the...

  6. Resumption Act
    date January, 1875map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Economy

    The Resumption Act of 1875 was intended to shift America away from the paper currency “greenbacks' that had developed during the Civil war and to return to a gold standard. This was largely accepted except by those who promoted a silver standard as well, who felt that greenbacks were good because they could be traded for either gold or silver. This act provided for the redemption of US greenbacks,...

  7. Black Representation Increases in Federal and State Governments
    date March 4, 1873map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    As Reconstruction progressed, blacks became more assertive and prominent in the southern Republican Party. African-Americans began to flex their political muscles despite common obstacles of white dominance. An example of momentary white repression occurred in South Carolina to black politician Robert B. Elliott, who later took a seat in the House. It is likely that South Carolina would have had...

  8. The Exasperated Bourbon
    date January 19, 1878map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Politics, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    The editor of The Washington Post could not believe what he was reading. A staff member had just handed him a vicious letter from a reader that, in no uncertain terms, castigated his paper for being so brazen as to refer to black people as Mr. and Mrs. in its articles and stories. The man claimed to be one of the Bourbon Democrats, those who would spill the last drop of their blood rather...

  9. William Pitt Kellogg is officially named Governor of Louisiana by President Grant
    date May 22, 1873map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    After a much disputed 1872 election, which saw both candidates claim governorship, Illinois carpetbagger William P. Kellogg was named governor over Democratic candidate, John McEnery in early 1873. Although The Courier-Journal reported the allegation that Kellogg's opponent, John McEnery, received almost 7,000 more votes, the Courier also revealed that Kellogg issued a bill of complaint. Here, Kellogg...

  10. The Klan alters Congressional elections in Tennessee's 4th district
    date 1866 to February 14, 1871map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    Representative Horace Maynard of Tennessee presented the investigation into the contested election between Republican Louis Tillman and Democrat C .A Sheafe before the United States House of Representatives. Republicans charged that the Ku Klux Klan intimidated both white and black voters on behalf of the Democratic Party. In that election, C.A Sheafe won close election 44176 to 3810, but the...

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