Lincoln's Assassination April 14, 1865

Lincoln’s Assassination April 14, 1865

On April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. He went to the Ford's Theater that night with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, John Wilkes Booth stepped into the presidential box, and shot him with a derringer pistol. This is significant because this was Abraham Lincoln was the president during this time period.

National Telegraphic Union 1866

The National Telegraphic Union was formed in 1866 made up of telegraphers from across the country. Pope was their New York district secretary. They published a very popular magazine titled The Telegrapher. The magazine proved to be a telegrapher’s only link to recent developments in the industry. Franklin Pope had a long association with the publication as a writer, artist, and editor. In early articles his work was signed under the pseudonym, "Electron." The average telegrapher in the field came to rely upon Pope's ability to explain seemingly complicated new systems with clear and practical descriptions.

Factory Act 1867

The factory act stated no one under the age of eighteen should work between 8:30 P.M and 5:30 A.M in any cotton, woolen, worsted, hemp, flax, tow, linen, or silk mill. No one under the age of eighteen should be working in any mill for more then 12 hours in one day or more then 69 hours in one week. There should be no less then one and a half hours for meals and so on. This is significant because there were very dangerous working conditions during the industrial revolution and people were dying.

Incandescent Lamp 1869

The reaper was a horse drawn farm implement invented by Cyrus Hall McCormick in 1869 to cut small grain crops. The mechanical reaper replaced the manual cutting of the crop with scythes and sickles. Developed to cut down wheat more quickly and more efficiently. This was sufficient because it helped farmers cut crops faster

Transcontinental Railroad May10,1869

The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was built in the 1860s, linking the developing railway network of the Eastern coast with California. Ceremonially completed on May 10, 1869, it gave America a nation-wide transportation network, forever changing the American West. This was significant because factories were making products faster they needed a faster way to transport them across the country.

Invention of the Telephone 1876

The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell on March 10,1876. The telephone was invented to convert sound to electrical impulses of carious frequencies and then back to a tone sounding like a voice. This is significant because it was used to communicate between households.

Light Bulb 1879

Thomas Edison developed a practical light bulb toward the end of 1879. In 1880 he designed this version, the first to have all the essential features of a modern light bulb a glass bulb with a screw base. For it to be practical, it had to glow when an electric current passed through it, possess high electrical resistance, and last a long time. This is significant because it was easier and more practical to use instead of candlelight.

First Skyscraper 1883

After the Great Fire of 1871 Chicago has become a magnet for daring experiments in architecture. William Le Baron Jenney completes 10-story home insurance company building; the first to use steel-girder construction; more than twenty skyscrapers will be built in Chicago over the next 9 years. His is significant because people weren’t able to build higher buildings until the industrial revolution when steel was invented. With out steel buildings only got to be between 2-3 stories high. This also comes back to having dangerous working conditions in factories because bosses demanded workers to make a product faster and the workers were locked into rooms. Well if a fire started being a new building there were no fire escapes and people would die. So people had to work out minor details before making skyscrapers and factories any larger.