The Siege of Peking begins as the anti-foreign, anti-imperialist Boxer movement (Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists) surrounds foreign legations in Beijing, trapping diplomats and missionaries including 56 American sailors and Marines from USS Oregon and USS Newark. The siege triggers …
Secretary of State John Hay issues a diplomatic circular to Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia articulating the “Open Door” policy for China, advocating three principles: (1) no power would interfere with trading rights of other nations within its sphere of …
John HayWilliam Woodville RockhillWilliam McKinleyAmerican Asiatic AssociationEuropean imperial powers+1 moregilded-ageimperialismcorporate-powertrade-policychina+1 more
Fighting erupts between U.S. forces and Filipino independence fighters led by Emilio Aguinaldo, transforming America’s supposed “liberation” of the Philippines from Spain into a brutal three-year war of imperial conquest. The conflict begins just two days before the Senate ratifies …
Emilio AguinaldoWilliam McKinleyU.S. Army forcesPhilippine independence movementFilipino civiliansgilded-ageimperialismwar-crimesmilitary-atrocitiescounterinsurgency+1 more
By the end of the 1890s, the Standard Oil Trust controls the refining of 90 to 95 percent of all oil produced in the United States, representing the most complete industrial monopoly in American history achieved through systematic elimination of competitors, strategic mergers, and exploitation of …
John D. RockefellerStandard Oil TrustRailroad corporationsCompeting refineriesState regulatorsgilded-agemonopoly-powercorporate-powercorruptionanticompetitive-practices+1 more
Armed white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina launched the only successful coup d’etat in American history, overthrowing the legally elected biracial government, murdering an estimated 60-300 Black citizens, and establishing one-party white Democratic rule that would persist for …
Alfred Moore WaddellFurnifold SimmonsRed ShirtsWilmington Black CommunityDemocratic Partyvoting-rightsracial-violenceelection-violencecoupwhite-supremacy+1 more
President McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution (House Joint Resolution 259) annexing the Hawaiian Islands, legitimizing a corporate coup d’état executed five years earlier by American sugar planters who overthrew the constitutional monarchy of Queen Liliuokalani. The annexation occurs …
William McKinleySanford B. DoleQueen LiliuokalaniSugar plantation ownersCommittee of Safety+1 moregilded-ageimperialismcorporate-powerregime-changeterritorial-expansion+1 more
The Spanish-American War’s largest scandal erupts as U.S. Army soldiers receive widespread distribution of extremely low-quality, heavily adulterated beef products from Chicago meatpacking corporations. General Nelson Miles denounces the meat as “embalmed beef,” describing how …
Russell A. AlgerWilliam McKinleyArmour & CoSwift & CoMorris & Co+2 moregilded-agecorruptionwar-profiteeringspanish-american-warcorporate-negligence+1 more
The United States declares war on Spain following the April 20 ultimatum demanding Spanish withdrawal from Cuba, launching what Secretary of State John Hay will call “a splendid little war” that transforms America into a global imperial power. Spain had severed diplomatic ties on April …
William McKinleyTheodore RooseveltU.S. NavySpanish EmpireCuban revolutionariesgilded-ageimperialismspanish-american-warmilitary-interventionterritorial-expansion
An explosion tears through the hull of the USS Maine anchored in Havana Harbor, Cuba, sinking the ship and killing 266 American sailors. Sober observers and an initial report by the colonial government of Cuba conclude the explosion occurred on board, but newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst …
William Randolph HearstJoseph PulitzerNew York JournalNew York WorldUSS Maine crew+1 moregilded-agemedia-manipulationimperialismpropagandaspanish-american-war
Sheriff James Martin and 150 armed deputies open fire on 300-400 unarmed striking coal miners marching to support a newly formed United Mine Workers union at Calvin Pardee’s Lattimer mine near Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The peaceful demonstration consists mostly of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian, and …
Sheriff James MartinLuzerne County deputiesUnited Mine WorkersImmigrant minersPennsylvania National Guard+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepolice-violenceimmigrationmining-industry+1 more
President McKinley signs the Dingley Tariff Act into law, establishing the highest protective tariffs in U.S. history at an average of 52% in its first year of operation (57% increase on average). The act shields domestic industries from foreign competition by hiking duties on sugar, salt, tin cans, …
William McKinleyNelson Dingley Jr.Republican PartyIndustrial trustsManufacturing corporationsgilded-agecorporate-powereconomic-policyprotectionismmonopoly-power
William McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan to win the presidency in what becomes a watershed moment in American campaign finance, powered by Republican National Committee Chairman Mark Hanna’s revolutionary systematic fundraising from corporations. The Ohio industrialist, shipping …
William McKinleyMark HannaStandard OilJohn D. RockefellerRepublican National Committee+1 moregilded-agecampaign-financecorruptioncorporate-powerelectoral-politics+1 more
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 36-year-old former Nebraska Representative William Jennings Bryan delivers the electrifying “Cross of Gold” speech supporting “free silver” (bimetallism) against the gold standard, concluding with the famous peroration: …
William Jennings BryanDemocratic National ConventionPopulist PartyEastern banking interestsWestern farmers and minersgilded-agecampaign-financepopulismeconomic-policybimetallism
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a unanimous 9-0 decision in In re Debs, upholding the federal government’s use of injunctions to suppress labor strikes and affirming Eugene V. Debs’s contempt of court conviction for continuing the 1894 Pullman Strike in violation of a federal court order. …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice David Josiah BrewerEugene V. DebsFederal judiciaryCorporate interestslabor-suppressiongilded-agejudicial-captureinjunctionsupreme-court+1 more
On January 21, 1895, the U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (156 U.S. 1) by a vote of 8-1, effectively gutting the Sherman Antitrust Act just five years after its passage. The case arose when the American Sugar Refining Company (the “Sugar Trust”) acquired four …
By 1895, following the Panic of 1893 that left one-third of American railroad mileage in receivership, J.P. Morgan had systematically reorganized the nation’s major railroads through a process known as ‘Morganization,’ consolidating competing lines into regional monopolies under …
J.P. MorganJ.P. Morgan & CompanySouthern RailwayErie RailroadNorthern Pacific Railroadbanking-consolidationrailroad-consolidationcorporate-powergilded-agefinancial-control
On July 3, 1894, President Grover Cleveland deployed federal troops to Chicago to crush the Pullman Strike, marking the first time the federal government used an injunction to break a labor action. The strike began on May 11 when Pullman Palace Car Company workers walked out after the company …
Eugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionPresident Grover ClevelandAttorney General Richard OlneyPullman Palace Car Companylabor-suppressionstate-violencefederal-intervention
Workers at George Pullman’s railroad car manufacturing company in Pullman, Illinois—a company town where Pullman owns all housing, stores, churches, and infrastructure—launch a strike protesting wage cuts averaging 25% following the Panic of 1893 while rents and prices at company-owned …
George PullmanEugene V. DebsAmerican Railway UnionGrover ClevelandU.S. Army+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepullman-strikecompany-townsfederal-intervention+1 more
Gold miners in Cripple Creek, Colorado, launch a strike after mine owners announce they will either extend the workday from eight to ten hours for the same $3 daily wage or maintain eight-hour days while reducing wages to $2.50 per day. Western Federation of Miners president John Calderwood issues a …
Western Federation of MinersGovernor Davis Hanson WaiteColorado State MilitiaJohn CalderwoodMine owners+1 morelabor-rightsgilded-agemining-industrystate-interventionunion-victory+1 more
On November 7, 1893, Colorado held a referendum on women’s suffrage that resulted in voter approval, making it the first time in U.S. history that voters—as opposed to legislators—approved women’s voting rights. The referendum passed with support from the short-lived Populist Party, …
Hard rock miners establish the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in Butte, Montana, as a direct response to the catastrophic defeat of the 1892 Coeur d’Alene strike in Idaho and the brutal military repression that followed. The WFM emerges from miners’ recognition that existing labor …
Western Federation of MinersButte minersCoeur d'Alene strikersMining industry workerslabor-organizinggilded-agemining-industrymilitant-unionismwfm
Congress passed the Anti-Pinkerton Act following public outrage over the Homestead Strike massacre, prohibiting the federal government from hiring “an individual employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or similar organization.” The legislation addressed “Congressional concern …
U.S. CongressPinkerton Detective Agencylabor-rightslegislative-reformcorporate-accountabilitygilded-age
On January 16, 1893, U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens orders 162 U.S. sailors and marines from the USS Boston to land in Honolulu under the pretense of protecting American lives and property. The following day, January 17, a Committee of Safety consisting of thirteen men—seven foreign …
Queen LiliuokalaniJohn L. StevensCommittee of SafetySanford B. DoleLorrin Thurston+4 moreinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionindigenous-rightsmilitary-interventionsovereignty-theft+2 more
Around 30,000 union members—half of New Orleans’ workforce and virtually all its unionized workers—strike on November 8, 1892, after the Board of Trade refuses to negotiate with the predominantly Black Teamsters union while offering contracts to white-dominated Scalesmen and Packers unions. …
Workingmen's Amalgamated CouncilTriple AllianceNew Orleans Board of TradeAmerican Federation of Laborlabor-organizinginterracial-solidaritycorporate-resistancegilded-age
Violent confrontation erupts between striking silver and lead miners and company guards at mines in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, after union workers discover a Pinkerton agent has infiltrated their organization and routinely provided confidential union information to mine owners. The violence follows …
Western Federation of MinersPinkerton Detective AgencyIdaho National GuardU.S. ArmyGeneral J.M. Schofield+2 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agemining-industrymartial-lawfederal-intervention+1 more
Three hundred Pinkerton Detective Agency agents attempt to forcibly seize Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel mill in Pennsylvania, triggering a 14-hour armed battle with locked-out steelworkers that leaves seven workers and three Pinkertons dead, with dozens more wounded. The violent …
Andrew CarnegieHenry Clay FrickPinkerton Detective AgencyAmalgamated Association of Iron and Steel WorkersPennsylvania National Guard+1 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agehomestead-strikeprivate-securitycorporate-violence+1 more
On July 1, 1892, Andrew Carnegie consolidated his various steel operations into the Carnegie Steel Company, creating the largest and most profitable steel company in the world through complete vertical integration of the entire steel production chain. The company headquarters were located in the …
Andrew CarnegieHenry Clay FrickCarnegie Steel Companycorporate-powersteel-industryvertical-integrationgilded-agemonopoly
The Supreme Court again explicitly affirmed corporate personhood, holding that “It is again decided that private corporations are persons within the meaning of [the Fourteenth] Amendment.” The case involved South Carolina’s requirement that railroads pay the salaries and expenses …
U.S. Supreme CourtCharlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad CompanySouth Carolina LegislatureState Railroad Commissioncorporate-personhoodsupreme-courtfourteenth-amendmentrailroad-regulationdue-process
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency operates throughout the Gilded Age as a private corporate army deployed against labor organizing, providing armed guards, infiltration agents, and strikebreaking services to employers seeking to crush unions through surveillance, espionage, and violence. …
Pinkerton National Detective AgencyAllan PinkertonCorporate employersState governmentsLabor unionsgilded-agelabor-suppressionprivate-securitycorporate-violenceunion-busting+1 more
The People’s Party formally organizes in Dallas on August 18, 1891, following years of escalating frustration among Farmers’ Alliance members who conclude that traditional parties are too attached to corporate interests and political office perks to be effective agents of reform. The …
Farmers' AllianceKnights of LaborPeople's Partypopulist-movementpolitical-realignmentlabor-organizingcorporate-resistance
Three hundred Tennessee coal miners successfully besiege the Briceville stockade after midnight on July 15, 1891, the anniversary of Bastille Day, freeing forty convict laborers and their guards and putting them on a train to Knoxville. Later that day, miners march on the Knoxville Iron Company mine …
Tennessee Coal Mining CompanyKnoxville Iron CompanyTennessee MinersJohn P. BuchananThomas J. Bradylabor-organizingconvict-lease-systemcorporate-resistanceinstitutional-racism
The U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounds a band of Lakota Sioux Ghost Dancers under Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and massacres over 250 Lakota people, primarily unarmed women, children, and elders. The 7th Cavalry—the same unit …
U.S. 7th CavalryBig Foot (Lakota Chief)Sitting BullLakota SiouxWar Departmentindigenous-genocidemilitary-atrocitiesghost-dancereligious-persecutionwar-crimes
On July 2, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act into law after it passed the Senate 51-1 (April 8) and the House 242-0 (June 20), creating America’s first federal anti-monopoly legislation—but the law was deliberately vague, weakly worded, and systematically …
Senator John ShermanPresident Benjamin HarrisonU.S. Congressantitrustregulatory-failurepolitical-theatergilded-agecorporate-power
On February 18, 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed through the merger of the rival National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), healing a 21-year split that had fractured the women’s rights movement since …
Alice Stone BlackwellElizabeth Cady StantonSusan B. AnthonyLucy StoneHenry Blackwell+1 morewomens-suffragemovement-organizationdemocratic-expansionstrategic-realignment
Pennsylvania coal companies established hundreds of “patch towns” where corporations owned all housing, stores, and infrastructure, creating systems of debt peonage that trapped workers through company scrip and inflated prices. Coal operators “controlled employment, housing, local …
Coal Mining CompaniesCoal and Iron PolicePennsylvania Coal Operatorslabor-suppressioncorporate-powereconomic-coerciongilded-ageinstitutional-capture
The Supreme Court formally declared corporate personhood as settled constitutional law, with Justice Stephen Field writing that “Corporations are persons within the meaning of the clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution concerning the deprivation of property, and concerning the …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Stephen FieldMinneapolis & St. Louis Railway Companycorporate-personhoodsupreme-courtfourteenth-amendmentdue-processequal-protection+1 more
In an 8-0 decision authored by Justice Stephen Field, the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly affirmed corporate personhood under the Fourteenth Amendment, holding that “Under the designation of ‘person’ there is no doubt that a private corporation is included. Such corporations are …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Stephen FieldPembina Consolidated Silver Mining and Milling CompanyCommonwealth of Pennsylvaniacorporate-personhoodsupreme-courtfourteenth-amendmentdue-processcorporate-rights
On October 27, 1887, after two years of negotiations, Henry Osborne Havemeyer orchestrated the formation of the Sugar Refineries Company, commonly known as the “Sugar Trust,” consolidating 17 of the 23 sugar refinery companies operating in the United States. Havemeyer successfully …
Henry Osborne HavemeyerSugar Refineries CompanyAmerican Sugar Refining Companymonopoly-powercorporate-consolidationtrust-formationprice-fixingmarket-manipulation
On July 6, 1887, the Hawaiian League—a secret organization of white American and European businessmen, lawyers, sugar planters, and missionary descendants—backed by the armed Honolulu Rifles militia, forces King Kalakaua at gunpoint to sign a new constitution that radically restructures the Hawaiian …
King KalakauaHawaiian LeagueSanford B. DoleLorrin ThurstonHonolulu Rifles+4 moreinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionindigenous-rightsvoter-suppressioncolonial-exploitation+1 more
President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes General Allotment Act (also called the Dawes Severalty Act), authorizing the President to subdivide Native American tribal communal landholdings into individual allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals. The Act represents a …
Senator Henry L. DawesU.S. CongressPresident Grover ClevelandBureau of Indian AffairsFive Civilized Tribesindigenous-genocideland-theftforced-assimilationtribal-sovereigntyinstitutional-corruption
On February 4, 1887, President Grover Cleveland approved the Interstate Commerce Act, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad industry conduct. This landmark legislation made railroads the first industry subject to federal regulation in American history, responding to …
U.S. CongressInterstate Commerce CommissionGranger MovementRailroad IndustryFarmers Allianceregulatory-frameworkdemocratic-resistanceinstitutional-accountabilitycorporate-regulation
Forty-two delegates representing 13 national unions and various local labor organizations convene in Columbus, Ohio, to establish the American Federation of Labor (AFL) as the successor to the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (founded 1881). The convention elects Samuel Gompers, an …
Samuel GompersFederation of Organized Trades and Labor UnionsKnights of LaborCraft unionslabor-organizinggilded-ageaflcraft-unionslabor-rights+1 more
On October 25, 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois (118 U.S. 557) in a 6-3 ruling that severely limited states’ power to regulate interstate commerce, effectively shielding railroad monopolies from state-level oversight. The case arose …
U.S. Supreme CourtWabash RailroadIllinois LegislatureInterstate Commerceregulatory-erosionsupreme-courtcorporate-powerinstitutional-capturestates-rights
In what would become one of the most consequential non-rulings in American legal history, a court reporter’s headnote to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad established the foundation for corporate personhood without the Supreme Court ever deciding the issue. Before oral arguments, …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Morrison WaiteJ.C. Bancroft Davis (Court Reporter)Southern Pacific RailroadSanta Clara County+1 morecorporate-personhoodsupreme-courtfourteenth-amendmentconstitutional-lawgilded-age+3 more
A peaceful labor rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago advocating for the eight-hour workday descends into violence when an unknown person throws a dynamite bomb at police officers attempting to disperse the gathering. The blast and ensuing retaliatory police gunfire kill seven police officers and at …
Chicago Police DepartmentAlbert ParsonsLucy ParsonsAugust SpiesCarter Harrison+3 morelabor-suppressiongilded-agepolice-violenceanarchismred-scare+2 more
The Supreme Court ruled in the Railroad Commission Cases that states possess constitutional authority to set railroad transportation rates through regulatory commissions, upholding Mississippi’s 1884 statute establishing rate-setting power. Filed the same year as the Santa Clara headnote, this …
U.S. Supreme CourtMississippi LegislatureFarmers' Loan & Trust CompanyMobile & Ohio Railroad CompanyMississippi Railroad Commissioncorporate-regulationsupreme-courtrailroad-regulationstate-police-powerproperty-rights+1 more
The Knights of Labor reaches its peak membership of over 700,000 workers (some sources report 750,000) under Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly, representing the largest and most inclusive labor organization in American history to that point. Founded in 1869 as a secret society and reorganized …
Terence V. PowderlyKnights of LaborJay GouldAmerican workerslabor-organizinggilded-ageknights-of-laborunion-membershiplabor-rights
In 1885, J.P. Morgan invited leading railroad executives to a meeting aboard his yacht to address what he perceived as “ruinous competition” in the railroad industry. Morgan used the gathering to convince railroad magnates controlling major lines including the New York Central and …
J.P. MorganNew York Central RailroadPennsylvania RailroadRailroad Executivesprice-fixingmarket-manipulationfinancial-coercioncorporate-consolidationanti-competitive-practices
Grover Cleveland’s narrow victory over James G. Blaine in the 1884 presidential election occurs during a pivotal transition in American campaign finance, as the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 reduces party organizations’ reliance on government employee contributions and shifts the …
Grover ClevelandJames G. BlaineU.S. Congresscampaign-financecorporate-influencesystematic-corruptioninstitutional-capture
Reform-minded Republicans—derisively called “Mugwumps” from the Algonquian word for “important person” or “kingpin”—bolt from their party following James G. Blaine’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in June 1884. The Mugwumps, a …
James G. BlaineGrover ClevelandCarl SchurzMark TwainHenry Ward Beechersystematic-corruptionpolitical-realignmentreform-movementsrailroad-corruption