| |
| 1883–90 |
| |
| The problem of the treasury surplus. Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) would deal with the surplus by reducing the tariff duties, which he urged in his message to Congress in 1887 and which he made the leading issue in the campaign of 1888. Republicans attempted to remove the surplus by retirement of Civil War bonds, the building of a new navy, and reckless pension legislation. | 1 |
| |
| 1884 |
| |
| Presidential race between James G. Blaine (Republican) and Gro-ver Cleveland (Democrat). The Mugwumps, the reforming wing of the party, deserted Blaine in favor of Cleveland. Cleveland was elected, 219 electoral votes to 182. | 2 |
| |
| 1885, March 4–1889, March 4 |
| |
| GROVER CLEVELAND, 22d president. | 3 |
| |
| 1886 |
| |
| The Presidential Succession Law, providing that in the event of the death of both president and vice president, members of the cabinet should succeed to the presidency in a predetermined order. | 4 |
| The Knights of Labor organized workers across racial, ethnic, and sexual lines. By 1887, the organization claimed nearly 60,000 black members. About the same number of women entered the “ladies’ locals” or mixed locals of men and women. After several unsuccessful strikes, the organization began to lose membership and soon gave way to the American Federation of Labor (formed in Dec.) as the first permanent national labor movement in American history. The germ of the AFL dated from 1881, when disgruntled members of the Knights of Labor, led by Samuel Gompers (1850–1924), formed the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions. | 5 |
| The Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago. Trade unions announced May 1, 1886, as the date for obtaining the eight-hour day in industry. As the deadline approached, a strike wave developed. Anarchists staged a protest meeting at Haymarket Square on May 4. When police sought to break up the meeting, someone threw a bomb, which killed seven persons and wounded several others. Eight anarchists were arrested and tried for conspiracy. Four were convicted and hanged. | 6 |
| |
| 1886–87 |
| |
| Apache resistance in Arizona and New Mexico dissipated following the capture of Geronimo (1829–1909). | 7 |
| |
| 1887 |
| |
| The railroad agent Richard Warner Sears joined the Chicago watchmaker Alvah Curtis Roebuck in a general merchandising business that by 1893, under the name Sears, Roebuck, and Company, sold a broad range of goods from a 196-page catalogue. The mail-order houses helped to nationalize the customs, styles, and manners of the expanding city. | 8 |
| Anti-immigrant sentiment gained sharp expression with the formation of the American Protective Association (1887), designed to combat what members perceived as the threat of Catholicism. | 9 |
| |
| Feb. 4 |
| |
| INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT. The growing realization of the unscrupulous practices of the railways led to the appointment by the Senate in 1885 of the Cullom committee, which conducted hearings in the principal cities of the country. This was followed by the passage of the Act of 1887. It declared that charges of the railways must be reasonable and just, made pooling illegal, contained a long-and-short-haul clause, declared rebates illegal, and created an Interstate Commerce Commission with power to inquire into the management of the carriers, summon witnesses, compel the production of papers, and invoke the aid of the federal courts. Up to 1903 the commission was largely frustrated by the courts. In 1897, in the Maximum Freight Rate case, the Supreme Court denied the commission's authority to prescribe a maximum rate. The long-and-short-haul clause was rendered ineffective, and the commission was left with the duty of collecting railway statistics and requiring the publication of rates by the companies. | 10 |
| |
| Feb. 8 |
| |
| The Dawes Act authorized the president to terminate tribal government and communal ownership of land among the Indians and to divide the land at the rate of a quarter section for each head of a family, full ownership to be withheld for 25 years. Supporters of the act hoped that Native Americans would be transformed into hard-working members of white society. In 1906 the Burke Act authorized the secretary of the interior to bestow full property title whenever convinced of the Indians' fitness. | 11 |
| |
| |
