Outcome of Industrialism
• The growing industrial economy had resulted in a
steady and substantial increase in national
wealth, rising living standards for much of the
population, and the creation of great new
fortunes.
• But industrialization did not spread its fruits
evenly. Large areas of the country and large
groups in the population, most notably minorities,
women and recent immigrants, profited relatively
little from economic growth.
• Industrialization brought both progress and pain
to late-nineteenth-century America.
“Galley Labor”
The Struggle to Unionize
• Labor attempted to fight back against the atrocities
of industrialism by adopting some of the same
tactics their employers had used so effectively:
creating large organizations, or unions. But by the
end of the century their efforts had met with little
success.
• The first attempt to organize separate unions into a
single national organization came in 1866, with the
founding of the National Labor Union.
– Claimed 640,000 members
– Excluded women workers
Labor Union Membership
The Opposition to Unions
• There was widespread middle-class
hostility toward the unions. When labor
disputes with employers turned bitter and
violent, as they occasionally did, much of
the public blamed the workers.
• They labeled them as “radicals” or
“anarchists” (people who want to destroy
all governments and laws).
Knights of Labor
• The first major effort to create a
genuinely national labor organization.
• Goals:
– They pushed for an 8 hour work day.
– The abolition of child labor
– By 1886, the Knights claimed over
700,000 members
Knights of Labor
Terence V. Powderly
An injury to one is the concern of all!
Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor trade card
AFL
• American Federation of Labor (AFL), rejected the
Knights’ idea of one big union for everybody. The
AFL was an association of several independent
craft unions all combined into one organization.
• Goal was to secure for the workers a greater share
of capitalism’s rewards.
• Supported the immediate objectives of most
workers: better wages, hours and working
conditions.
• While union members hoped to attain its goals
through collective bargaining (meaning negotiating),
it was ready to use strikes if necessary.
Haymarket Square
• Industry and government responded forcefully to
union activity, which they saw as a threat to the
capitalist system.
• In May, 1886 3,000 people gathered at Chicago’s
Haymarket Square to protest police brutality- a
striker had been killed and several had been
wounded at the McCromick Harvester Plant the day
before.
• As police arrived the crowd was dispersing. Then,
someone tossed a bomb into the police line. No
one knows who threw the bomb, but the three
speakers from the demonstration and five radicals
were charged.
• After Haymarket, the public began to turn against
the labor movement.
Haymarket Martyrs
Haymarket Riot (1886)
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
Other Strikes
• To most middle-class Americans, the
Haymarket bombing was an alarming
symbol of social chaos.
• Other violent strikes such as the
Homestead strike, which required 8,000
National Guard troops, and the Pullman
strike (2,000 troops), turned many
Americans against unions.
Labor Unrest: 1870-1900
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike
of 1877
Homestead Steel Strike
(1892)
Homestead Steel
Works
The Amalgamated
Association of
Iron & Steel Workers
The Pullman Strike of 1894
Management and Government
Pressure Unions
• The more powerful the unions
became, the more employers began
to fear them. Management refused to
recognize unions as representatives
of the workers. Many employers
forbade union meetings, fired union
members, and forced new employees
to sign “yellow-dog contracts,”
swearing that they would not join a
union.
The Tournament of Today:
A Set-to Between Labor and
Monopoly
Management and Government
Pressure Unions
• Industrial leaders even turned the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act against labor.
Industrial leaders would simply say
their workers were organizing a strike
and the state or federal government
would issue an injunction (court
order) against labor.
Teddy Roosevelt:
The Square Deal
• Roosevelt became president in 1900. Citing
federal responsibility for national welfare,
Roosevelt though the government should
assume control whenever states proved
incapable of solving problems. He explained
“It is the duty of the president to act upon the
theory that he is the steward of the people, and
…to assume that he has the legal right to do
whatever the needs of the people demand,
unless the Constitution of the laws explicitly
forbid him to do it.”
Teddy Roosevelt:
The Square Deal
• Roosevelt believed he
should influence the
news media and shape
legislation for the benefit
of the people. He
started the “Square
Deal” a term used to
describe reforms he
made to business to help
improve life for workers
and consumers.
Trust Busting
• Teddy did not believe that all
trusts were harmful, but he
sought to curb the actions of
those that hurt the public
interest. The president filed
suits against trusts in the
Supreme Court. If the court
found the trust was harmful
to the consumer, they
dissolved it. The Roosevelt
administration filed 44
antitrust suits, winning a
number of them, but unable
to slow the merger
movement of big business.
Teddy Intervenes for Public Welfare
• In 1902 140,000 coal workers went on
strike to demand a raise, a 9 hour work
day and the right to unionize. Five
months into the strike, coal reserves ran
low. Roosevelt intervened, calling both
sides to the White House and settling the
dispute.
• Roosevelt’s actions demonstrated a new
attitude of the government towards
strikes. When a strike threatened public
welfare, the federal government was
expected to intervene.
Teddy Intervenes for Public Welfare
• Overall, Roosevelt’s real goal was federal
regulation. He established several government
organizations to regulate business from
establishing high rates, bribery, or other unfair
business practices. For example, he had the
Elkins Act passed, which made it illegal for
railroads to change rates without notifying the
public.
• Under Roosevelt, and the next presidents Taft
and Wilson a series of Progressive Laws were
passed that broke up trusts, protected the
consumer, and improved working conditions and
wages.
• The Progressive reading and laws assignments
will give further details about these changes.