1875

Society

1875. President Grant opens Oregon Territory occupied under an 1855 treaty by the Nez Perce to white settlement.

1875. Congress passes a Civil Rights Act March 1, guaranteeing blacks equal rights in public places and banning their exclusion from jury duty.

1875. The practice of osteopathy is founded by Kirksville, Mo., physician Andrew Taylor Still, who lost three of his children to spinal meningitis in 1864. He has convinced himself that all diseases are caused by abnormalities in or near bodily joints.

1875. Kalamazoo, Mich., inventor George F. Green patents an electric dental drill.

1875. Alexander Graham Bell pioneers the electric telephone that will revolutionize communication.

1875. The first American-made Christmas cards appear at Boston.

1875. The Kentucky Derby has its first running at Louisville's new Churchill Downs.

1875. U.S. cigarette production reaches 50 million but will increase rapidly after 1882 when a cigarette manufacturing machine comes into commercial use.

1875. President Grant vetoes a bill that would protect the bison from extinction.

Literature

The Passionate Pilgrim and Other Stories. Henry James. American/British. 1875. Stories. Title story: American lover of England dies before he can claim a rich estate. Other stories about Americans' adventures in England.

"The Wreck of the Deutschland." Gerard Manley Hopkins. British. 1875. Poetry. Death of five nuns drowned off the Welsh coast while seeking refuge in the U.S. from religious persecution in Germany. Problem of suffering, the decline of religion, man's relationship with God and the nuns' happiness in dying in God's hands.

The Raw Youth. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Russian. 1875. Novel. Youth tries to find something solid in the chaos of the times; decides on wealth. His true father is a product of the acceptance of Western ideas; he is also a rival for his son's love interest. Disillusioned, the son accepts his nominal father's quest for the love of all of God's creation.