Greeley dies on November 29, 1872, before the presidential electors meet on December 4 to cast the electoral votes.

The Greeley electors are not able to coordinate their votes before meeting, but their action makes no difference in the face of Grant's electoral college landslide.

Although the Liberal Republican Party does not survive Greeley's death, several of its reforms will materialize in the following decade.

Reform Republicans will accomplish the nomination and then election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, who will bring Reconstruction to an end and remove some of the more offensive of Grant's appointments.

The Liberal Republican call for civil service reform will be passed during the administration of President Chester Arthur.

North Polynesia (1876–1887 CE)

Economic Growth and the Kalākaua Era

Following the succession crisis and brief reign of King Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua (reigned 1874–1891), the first monarch of the House of Kalākaua, significantly reshaped Hawaii's political, economic, and cultural landscape during this era.

Kalākaua, often called the "Merrie Monarch" for his love of music, dance, and traditional Hawaiian culture, actively promoted Hawaiian identity. He sought to strengthen the monarchy, revive native cultural practices, and pursue modernization through international diplomacy and economic partnerships.

Reciprocity Treaty and Economic Expansion

One of Kalākaua's most significant achievements was the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 with the United States, allowing Hawaiian sugar and rice to enter the U.S. duty-free, significantly boosting Hawaii's sugar industry. In exchange, Hawai'i ceded Pearl Harbor, including Ford Island (Moku'ume'ume), to the U.S. This treaty marked a pivotal economic turning point, greatly expanding agricultural production, attracting foreign investment, and significantly increasing immigration to meet labor demands.

The high water requirements for growing sugarcane resulted in extensive water works projects on all major islands, diverting streams from wet windward slopes to dry lowlands.

Cultural Renaissance and Global Presence

Under Kalākaua, a cultural revival featured traditional hula performances, chant, and indigenous practices previously suppressed under missionary influence. The king's cultural patronage extended to significant landmarks, notably ʻIolani Palace, completed in 1882, which symbolized the kingdom's modern aspirations and national pride.

In 1881, Kalākaua embarked on a notable global diplomatic tour, becoming the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe. His journey strengthened diplomatic ties, encouraged immigration, and secured international recognition for Hawaii's sovereignty. During this tour, Kalākaua met with leaders including Emperor Meiji of Japan, Queen Victoria, and U.S. President Chester A. Arthur.

Kalākaua also commissioned the Kamehameha Statue in 1883, honoring the kingdom's first monarch, Kamehameha I. Initially lost at sea, the original statue was later recovered and erected alongside its replacement.

Immigration and Labor Dynamics

The rapid growth of the sugar industry necessitated significant labor imports. Thousands of contract laborers arrived from China, Japan, Portugal, and later Korea, dramatically altering Hawaii's demographics and culture. The first significant wave of Portuguese immigrants arrived aboard the ship Priscilla in 1878 from Madeira, shaping Hawaii’s social and cultural fabric significantly.

Political Tensions and the Bayonet Constitution

Despite Kalākaua's popularity, political tensions escalated, particularly with the influential Missionary Party, comprised predominantly of descendants of American missionaries and businessmen. They opposed Kalākaua’s attempts to reinforce monarchical power and favored a government with power primarily vested in the legislature.

In 1886, Kalākaua's ambitions to establish a Polynesian confederation, particularly with Sāmoa under Malietoa Laupepa, alarmed opponents. Additionally, an opium bribery scandal damaged his standing.

These tensions culminated in the forced adoption of the 1887 Bayonet Constitution, imposed by the armed Hawaiian League, primarily foreign residents and wealthy Hawaiian-born individuals of foreign descent. The constitution severely limited royal authority, shifted power toward the legislature, and disenfranchised many native Hawaiians and Asian immigrants by instituting restrictive property and income requirements for voting. It also enabled the U.S. to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor in November 1887.

Infrastructure and Urban Development

Honolulu continued to modernize under Kalākaua's rule. Notable infrastructure projects included road expansions, harbor improvements, and electrification. Kalākaua notably arranged for ʻIolani Palace to receive electric lighting in 1886, predating even the White House.

Additionally, the Hawaiian Hotel, opened in 1872, served increasing numbers of international visitors and officials, reflecting Hawaii's growing prominence.

Conclusion of the Era

Between 1876 and 1887, North Polynesia, particularly Hawaii, experienced significant growth and transformation. Economic prosperity driven by sugar cultivation, cultural revitalization, and notable demographic shifts characterized the period. However, these developments coincided with heightened political instability, leading to diminished monarchical authority and increased foreign influence, setting the stage for dramatic shifts in subsequent decades.

Northeastern North America

(1876 to 1887 CE): Indigenous Relocation, Industrial Consolidation, Infrastructure Standardization, and Political Evolution

Between 1876 and 1887, Northeastern North America underwent significant transitions in indigenous relations, infrastructure development, industrial growth, and political changes. This era saw the continued reshaping of regional economies, further integration through technological advancements, and notable shifts in governance.

Indigenous Affairs and Relocations

In 1876, Fort Belknap was discontinued, prompting the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine peoples receiving annuities there to relocate to Fort Peck and Wolf Point agencies. While the Assiniboine relocated without objection, the Gros Ventre refused due to tensions with the Sioux, forfeiting their annuities rather than move. The Fort Belknap Agency was reinstated in 1878, allowing the Gros Ventre and remaining Assiniboine to resume receiving supplies at the site.

Industrial Growth and Standardization

Bluestone Industry and Infrastructure

Bluestone continued as a critical construction material, shaping urban architecture and infrastructure. An eighteen-mile road built from bluestone "tracks" supported heavy wagon transport from quarries in villages later submerged by the Ashokan Reservoir, passing through Kingston down to Wilbur on Rondout Creek. Shipments from these areas, notably by entrepreneur Thomas Cornell's barges and tugboats, supplied urban areas like New York City extensively.

Kingston’s sidewalks and curbstones remained almost entirely bluestone, and notable buildings included Kingston's Old Dutch Church, designed by Minard Lefever, constructed from native bluestone blocks. Bluestone was also prominently used in residential architecture, exemplified by Henry Samson's Italian villa on West Chestnut Street.

Continental Time Zones

In this era, U.S. and Canadian railroads introduced five standard continental time zones, resolving confusion from thousands of local timekeeping systems and significantly aiding in transportation coordination and commerce.

Corporate Expansion

Industrial consolidation accelerated notably, with corporations such as Standard Oil becoming the world’s largest company. Trusts emerged to dominate commodities including oil, whiskey, sugar, and lead, signaling a growing concentration of economic power.

Political Evolution

Political transitions marked this period, beginning with Rutherford B. Hayes assuming the presidency in 1877following a contentious election against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Subsequent leaders, including short-tenured President James A. Garfield, assassinated in 1881, and his successor Chester A. Arthur, continued to steer national policy amidst rapid societal and economic changes. The facial hair of these presidents, evolving in style and prominence, reflected broader cultural trends of the period.

Legacy of the Era (1876–1887 CE)

The developments between 1876 and 1887 highlighted continuing indigenous struggles, significant technological advancements, economic centralization, and ongoing political shifts, all of which further defined Northeastern North America’s evolving character and historical trajectory.

President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes, whose beard is substantially longer than that of his predecessor, succeeds Ulysses S. Grant in 1877. (Hayes's Democrat opponent in the disputed election, New York governor Samuel J. Tilden, sports little, if any, facial hair.

The beard of Republican James A. Garfield (whose tenure—March 4 to September 19, 1881—is the second shortest in presidential history), is as full as, if shorter than, that of Hayes.

The murdered Garfield's vice president and successor, Chester A. Arthur, is the first beardless U.S. president since James Buchanan, although his mustache and side-whiskers are impressively full.

Grover Cleveland, who succeeds Arthur in 1885, wears only a mustache, no sideburns.

The Chinese were the largest immigrant group in California by 1860.

Predominantly healthy male adults, the Chinese workers provide cheap labor and do not use any of the government infrastructure (schools, hospitals, etc.)

The Burlingame Treaty with China, ratified by the Senate in 1868, allows an unrestricted flow of Chinese immigrants into the country.

As time passes and more and more Chinese migrants arrive in California, violence often breaks out in cities such as Los Angeles.

As the economy soured after the Panic of 1873, Chinese immigrants were blamed for depressing workmen's wages.

Anti-Chinese riots had broken out in San Francisco during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, and a third party, the Workingman's Party, has been formed with an emphasis on stopping Chinese immigration.

In response, Congress passes a Chinese Exclusion Act in 1879, abrogating the 1868 treaty.

President Hayes vetoes the bill, believing that the United States should not abrogate treaties without negotiation.

The veto draws praise among eastern liberals, but Hayes is bitterly denounced in the West.

Democrats in the House of Representatives attempt to impeach him  in the subsequent furor, but narrowly fail when Republicans prevent a quorum by refusing to vote.

After the veto, Assistant Secretary of State Frederick W. Seward suggests that both countries work together to reduce immigration.

The Ohio legislature had just chosen James A. Garfield in 1879 for the U.S. Senate seat when a faint movement began for Garfield as the next Republican nominee for President to succeed Hayes, who had chosen not to stand for reelection.

However, at the outset of the Republican convention, a deadlock had ensued between supporters of former President Grant, James G. Blaine, and Sherman; the delegates began to look to Garfield as an optimal compromise choice.

Garfield had eloquently defended dissenting West Virginia delegates in his speech against Sen. Conkling's convention rule that stated all state delegates must vote unanimously for only one candidate.

After over thirty ballots, the vote totals for the leading contenders were within five votes of where they had been on the first ballot.

With the 34th ballot, Wisconsin began the break to Garfield that ends with his nomination as the party's Presidential candidate.

Garfield's capture of the 1880 nomination for the Presidency over the prominent contenders is considered historic.

Garfield defeats the front runner Ulysses S. Grant's controversial third term bid for the nomination.

Thomas Nichol, Wharton Barker, and Benjamin Harrison are widely considered to be the primary architects of Garfield's ascendancy during the convention, but no one could have controlled this unpredictable outcome for such a dark horse—one who had personally objected at every step.

To obtain Republican Stalwart support for the ticket, former New York customs collector Chester A. Arthur is chosen as the vice-presidential nominee and Garfield's running mate.

The outlook for Garfield's campaign is less than optimal in the wake of such a fractured convention.

In an effort to heal residual wounds from the convention, Garfield travels to New York to bring the party's warring factions together in what is called the "New York Conference", and what is considered a personal triumph.

This is the only trip of consequence that Garfield makes away from home during the campaign.

Powerful railroad interests are courted by the party in the wake of Supreme Court decisions that had been adverse to their interests.

After assuring them that they will have the President's ear in such matters, Garfield gains their support.

Chinese immigration is another issue in the U.S. Presidential Election of 1880; those in the West, particularly California, are opposed to Chinese immigration, considered antithetical to normal economic growth in that region.

Easterners, such as Senator George F. Hoar, take a more philosophical and religious stand in favor of Chinese immigration.

On the eve of the election, the Democrats widely publish a letter—allegedly over Garfield's signature—which favors Chinese immigration, in an attempt to affect the outcome of the election.

The timing of the letter's publication, some obvious inconsistencies in the letter's wording, and even the handwriting itself, lead many to believe it to be a forgery.

In the general election, Garfield defeats the Democratic candidate Winfield Scott Hancock, another distinguished former Union Army general, by two hundred and fourteen electoral votes to one hundred and fifty-five.

The popular vote has a plurality of just over seven thousand votes out of more than eight million, eight hundred and eighty-nine thousand cast.

He becomes the only man ever to be elected to the Presidency directly from the House of Representatives and is for a short period a sitting Representative, Senator-elect, and President-elect.

King Kalākaua leaves Hawaiʻi on a trip around the world in 1881 to study the matter of immigration and to improve foreign relations.

He also wants to study how other monarchs rule.

In his absence, his sister and heir, Princess Liliʻuokalani, rules as regent (Prince Leleiohoku, the former heir, had died in 1877).

The King had first traveled to San Francisco, where he had received a royal welcome, then sailed to the Empire of Japan, where he had met with the Meiji Emperor.

He had continued through Qing Dynasty China, Siam under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), Burma, British Raj India, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the French Third Republic, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and back through the United States before returning to Hawaiʻi.

During this trip, he had met with many other crowned heads of state, including Pope Leo XIII, Umberto I of Italy, Tewfik, Viceroy of Egypt, William II of Germany, Rama V of Siam, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, and Queen Victoria.

In this, he has become the first king to travel around the world.

Kalākaua also builds ʻIolani Palace (the only royal palace that exists on American soil today) at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars—a sum unheard of at this time.

Many of the furnishings in the palace had been ordered by Kalākaua while he was in Europe.

The President is on his way to his alma mater, Williams College, where he is scheduled to deliver a speech, on the morning of July 2, 1881.

He is accompanied by James G. Blaine, Robert Todd Lincoln, and his two sons, James and Harry.

As the President is walking through the Sixth Street Station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in Washington at 9:30 am, he is shot twice from behind, once across the arm and once in the back, by Charles J. Guiteau, an apparently delusional if not wholly psychotic Federal office-seeker who had believes himself to be on close terms with Garfield even though he and Garfield have never spoken to each other.

Guiteau also believes himself assured of a Federal appointment as the United States consul in Paris – a position for which he has no qualifications.

Guiteau believes as well that a short speech he had partially presented before a small group of people during the presidential election campaign was in fact the cause of Garfield's election to the presidency and which, therefore, justifies his appointment.

When the appointment did not materialize, Guiteau believed he, the Republican Party, and the country had been betrayed and that God repeatedly told him (Guiteau) that he could save the party and the nation if President Garfield was "removed."

Guiteau had stalked Garfield for weeks, armed with a .44 caliber Webley Bulldog revolver.

As Guiteau is being arrested after the shooting, he repeatedly says, "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! I did it and I want to be arrested! Arthur is President now!"

This very briefly leads to unfounded suspicions that Arthur or his supporters had put Guiteau up to the crime.

Guiteau also believes he will be acquitted of any crime and be elected President after the trial.