Forty-first United States Congress
The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1871, during the first two years of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Eighth Census of the United States in 1860. Both chambers had a Republican majority. Major events * March 4, 1869: Ulysses Grant became President of the United States * March 4, 1869: Carl Schurz R-Missouri became the first German American to serve in the United States Senate * May 10, 1869: Golden spike marked the completion of the First transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah * December 10, 1869: Wyoming Territory gave women the right to vote, one of the first such laws in the world * February 12, 1870: Utah Territory gave women the right to vote * February 25, 1870: Sen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants. Central sections of the present building were completed in 1800. These were partly destroyed in the 1814 Burning of Washington, then were fully restored within five years. The building was later enlarged by extending the wings for the chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing. The massive dome was completed around 1866 just after the American Civil War. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Digital Library
The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and to build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and among countries. It aims to expand non-English and non-western content on the Internet, and contribute to scholarly research. The library intends to make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The WDL opened with 1,236 items. As of early 2018, it lists more than 18,000 items from nearly 20 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fifteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of black freedmen. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party's future. On February 26, 1869, after rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Republicans proposed a compromise amendment which would ban franchise restrictions on the basis of race, colo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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District Of Columbia Organic Act Of 1871
The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 is an Act of Congress that repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown and established a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. Though Congress repealed the territorial government in 1874, the legislation was the first to create a single municipal government for the federal district. History The passage of the Residence Act in 1790 created a new federal district that would become the capital of the United States. Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the capital territory already included two large settlements at its creation: the port of Georgetown, Maryland and the town of Alexandria, Virginia. A new capital city named in honor of President George Washington was founded to the east of Georgetown in 1791. Shortly after establishing operations in the new capital, Congress passed the Organic Act of 1801, which organized the federal territory. The ter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Funding Act Of 1870
The Funding Act of 1870 (41st Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 256, , enacted July 14, 1870) was an Act of Congress to re-fund the national debt. It allowed the exchange of high interest, short-term floating bonds bearing lower interest and terms of up to 30 years. Principal and interest of the new issues would be paid in "coin of the present standard value." Legislative history The bill was sponsored by Senator John Sherman John Sherman (May 10, 1823October 22, 1900) was an American politician from Ohio throughout the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He also served as ... (R) of Ohio. Debate over the funding bill was long and intense. The discussion focused very heavily on public virtue, national honesty, and avoiding "repudiation" on the one hand and unearned reward to speculators on the other. Members generally agreed that an investor should finally receive no more and no less than ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Currency Act Of 1870
The Currency Act of 1870 (41st Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 252, , enacted July 12, 1870) maintained greenbacks issued during the American Civil War at their existing level, about $356 million, neither contracting them nor issuing more. It replaced $45 million in "temporary loan certificates," paper bearing 3% interest but which circulated as currency, with the same amount of national bank notes issued by newly chartered banks. While achieving currency stabilization, the act answered midwestern pressure for more currency, and midwestern dissatisfaction with the concentration of national bank charters in the Northeast. The limit of the new bank note issue was small enough for northeastern Republicans to accept. Greenback Republicans could console themselves that the bill did not contemplate replacing greenbacks with national bank notes. Legislative history The bill was sponsored by Senator John Sherman of Ohio. The act maintained greenbacks issued during the Civil War A civil war ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marine Hospital Service
The Marine Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the United States Merchant Marine, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries. The Marine Hospital Service evolved into the U.S. Public Health Service. It was the point of origin for several components of the current Public Health Service, including the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Institutes of Health, and multiple programs now incorporated into the Health Resources and Services Administration. History Background: Marine Hospital Fund The origins of the system of Marine Hospitals can be traced to the passage, by the 5th Congress of the United States, of "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen" in 1798. This act created Marine Hospitals to care for sick seamen. The Marine Hospital Fund was placed under the Revenue Marine Service (a forerunner of the present-day Coast Guard) within the Department of the T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Department Of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the U.S. attorney general, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current attorney general is Merrick Garland, who was sworn in on March 11, 2021. The modern incarnation of the Justice Department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant presidency. The department comprises federal law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It also has eight major divisions of lawyers who rep ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Enforcement Act Of 1870
The Enforcement Act of 1870, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870 or First Ku Klux Klan Act, or Force Act (41st Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 114, , enacted May 31, 1870, effective 1871) was a United States federal law that empowered the President to enforce the first section of the Fifteenth Amendment throughout the United States. The act was the first of three Enforcement Acts passed by the United States Congress in 1870 and 1871, during the Reconstruction Era, to combat attacks on the voting rights of African Americans from state officials or violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The Enforcement Act of 1870 prohibited discrimination by state officials in voter registration on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It established penalties for interfering with a person's right to vote and gave federal courts the power to enforce the act. The act also authorized the President to employ the use of the army to uphold the act and the use of federal marshals ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Judiciary Act Of 1869
The Judiciary Act of 1869 (41st Congress, Sess. 1, ch. 22, , enacted April 10, 1869), formally An Act to amend the Judicial System of the United States and sometimes called the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, provided that the Supreme Court of the United States would consist of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, established separate judgeships for the U.S. circuit courts, and for the first time included a provision allowing federal judges to retire without losing their salary. This is the most recent legislation altering the size of the Supreme Court. The Act was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. Impact Supreme Court size There were eight justices serving on the Supreme Court at the time the Act was enacted. The Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 had provided that the Court be reduced in size from ten to seven justices, but the reduction was to occur only as seats were vacated. Only one seat was vacated between the 1866 and 1869 Acts (this was in addit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Public Credit Act Of 1869
The Public Credit Act of 1869 in the USA states that bondholders who purchased bonds to help finance the Civil War (1861 – 1865) would be paid back in gold. The act was signed on March 18, 1869, and was mainly supported by the Republican Party, notably Senator John Sherman. Background Prior to the Civil War, the U.S. operated on a gold standard in practice. Bank notes were legal tender issued by state banks which could be exchanged for an amount of gold at any bank. Both gold and bank notes circulated as mediums of exchange. On February 25, 1862, the U.S. passed the First Legal Tender Act to help finance the Civil War. The act changed the economy to a fiduciary standard based on a fiat currency called United States Notes, or more popularly, greenbacks. Unlike bank notes, greenbacks were not backed by any metallic standard and functioned as a "loan without interest."Mitchell, Wesley Clair. ''A History of the Greenbacks''. Chicago: The University of Chicago press, 1903. p. 40 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hiram Rhodes Revels
Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827Different sources list his birth year as either 1827 or 1822. – January 16, 1901) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent History of Mississippi#Reconstruction, Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era of the United States, Reconstruction era, he was the first African American to serve in either house of the U.S. Congress. During the American Civil War, Revels had helped organize two regiments of the United States Colored Troops and served as a chaplain. After serving in the Senate, Revels was appointed as the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University), a historically ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |