1870s
Economic factors
In 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed, opening up nation-wide trade. It also vastly increased the number of homesteaders headed to the West.
Industrialization was taking hold and the "robber barons" ruled. In January of 1870, John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil. Andrew Carnegie had done very well in the Civil War - he was Superintendent of the Military Railways - and was expanding his steel empire. Jay Gould was an infamous financier, who had been involved with Boss Tweed, and attempted to corner the gold market at one point. Oil, steel, railroads, and banking were the primary ways to make big money.
Political factors
The most radical phase of Reconstruction took place in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Andrew Johnson was president and fought with Congress over their radicalism, but was generally overruled by the progressive Congress.
In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment, decreeing that the right to vote could not be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was passed. While various forms of discrimination - the poll tax, literacy requirements, and outright voter suppression - kept many African Americans from voting, many did, and Southern state legislatures had about 25% African American legislators, except South Carolina, where 60% of the legislators were African American. A few African Americans were elected to the Senate and House of Representatives.
The South had been under military rule, and many ex-slave soldiers were used, which caused much tension and resentment. The Ku Klux Klan rose out of this resentment, although they were heavily prosecuted by the federal government.
The president from 1869 to 1877 was Ulysses S. Grant, who continued Reconstruction. Rutherford B. Hayes became president in 1877, and discontinued Reconstruction. He only one by one electoral vote, and the election was highly contested. It is generally accepted that a deal was struck that Hayes would discontinue Reconstruction in order to settle the vote.
Remember, the Republicans were the good guys, kind of. The Democrats were in the distinct minority, and were generally anti-civil rights and anti-Reconstruction. During the 1870s, Republicans began to split into Radical Republicans, and more moderate centrist Republicans. The non-Radicals ended up working closely with Democrats.
Generally, the early 1870s were some of the most liberal years for African-American civil rights the nation would see for 100 years, although brutal violence came with these rights. Post 1877, Jim Crow laws came into effect.
Technology
The lightbulb, telephone, and phonograph were all invented in the 1870s, around 1876.
Interesting tidbits
Susan B. Anthony voted in 1872 illegally and was arrested.
Central Park was officially completed in NYC in 1873.
In 1874, an elephant was used to symbolize the Republican party for the first time in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly.
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