The area of the Great Plains was filled by settlers. The Indian Wars occurred on the Plains. The cattle industry boomed due to the demand for beef in the East. Many soldiers from the Civil War were restless and moved west to become cowboys. The railroad network expanded, allowing more cattle to be shipped by rail, therefore decreasing the long cattle drives. This in turn forced buyers to purchase meat by the pound instead of by the head.

1870:
The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, establishing the right to vote by all male citizens regardless of "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude," is ratified. Standard Oil Company of Ohio, with a capitalization of $1 million, is formed by John D. Rockefeller.

1871:
The application of buffalo hide belts to industrial machinery touches off "the big kill," in which 3,700,000 buffalo are destroyed. All American Indian people are made wards of the U.S. Government and General Sheridan issues orders forbidding western Indians to leave reservations without the permission of civilian agents. Phineas T. Barnum produces the first "Greatest Show on Earth" circus in Brooklyn, N.Y.

1872:
Susan B. Anthony tests the Fourteenth Amendment by leading a group of women to cast ballots in the Presidential election. She is arrested, found guilty, and fined $100.

1873:
More immigrants come to the U.S. than in any previous year: the total is almost 460,000.

1874:
Eads Bridge, the first bridge to cross the lower Mississippi River, is opened in St. Louis.

1875:
Fifteen thousand gold seekers enter the region of the Black Hills, enticed by reports from General. Custer's expedition and ignoring Indian rights in the area. Mary Baker Eddy publishes Science and Health, the basic text of Christian Science.

1876:
General George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry attack more than one thousand Lakota (Sioux), Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians led by Crazy Horse, encamped along the Little Bighorn River. In the battle that follows, Custer and 270 cavalry men, scouts and Indian allies are killed. The centennial exposition of the United States Independence is held in Philadelphia. Almost ten million people come to see such machines as a self-binding reaper, web printing press, typewriter, refrigerated boxcar, duplex telegraph, the Corliss engine, and Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone.

1877:
Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the nineteenth President of the United States. Thomas A. Edison perfects the electric light bulb.

1878:
Thomas A. Edison is awarded a patent for the phonograph. The first bicycles, called "wheels," are manufactured in the U.S.

1879:
Thomas A. Edison brings three hundred spectators to his shop in New Jersey to see a demonstration of hundreds of incandescent lamps. Edison's system makes electricity for home light able to compete with gas. Frank W. Woolworth and his partner W.H. Moore open a "five and ten cent" store in Utica, New York.

1880:
Gold is discovered near Juneau, Alaska. Tenth census: U.S. population - 50,156,000

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