U.S. establishes gold standard . 1875 First Kentucky Derby . Sioux kill Gen. George A. Custer and 264 troopers at Little Big Horn River. Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. After presidential election of 1876, Electoral Commission gives disputed Electoral College votes to Rutherford B. Hayes despite Tilden's popular majority.
Reconstruction ends in the American South.
Thomas Edison patents phonograph. The Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph is forced to surrender. Tchaikovsky 's Swan Lake. Thomas A. Edison invents electric light. 1880 U.S.-China treaty allows U.S. to restrict immigration of Chinese labor.