140 women died in a factory “sweatshop”
fire
 Bosses had locked many doors to prevent
theft or workers leaving early
◦ Fire escapes were old and rusty; Broke as
workers stampeded the exits
◦ Building was too tall for fire ladders


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Major issues were unsafe job conditions,
wages, work schedule, and loss of worker
autonomy
◦ “Bread and Butter” Issues
By banning together workers hoped to
strengthen their power to bargain with
owners
Depression of 1893–1897
 Coxey’s Army, 1894 – March on
Washington for jobs better wages
Many workers looked to government for help,
but felt government was siding with rich
Many “new immigrants” joined unions to
confront terrible working conditions
◦ “New immigrants” often viewed as
anarchists and socialists, which then were
associated with unions
 Karl Marx “Communist Manifesto”


Sought to form a giant American labor
union by uniting local trade unions
◦ 8 hour day; working conditions
◦ Called for a National Labor political party
 Supported arbitration over strikes
 Arbitration is based 3rd party
negotiation
 Strikes are refusal to work
◦ Withered away in depression of the 1870s

Terrance Powderly
◦ 8 hr work day; working conditions
 Opposed socialism and extremism

Samuel Gompers
◦ Loosely affiliated association of trade or
craft unions
 “Skilled Workers”
 Better wages for “skilled workers”,
ignored unskilled workers


Great Railroad Strike of 1877
45 day strike throughout railroad industry
over many cities
◦ Pittsburgh, Baltimore

RR workers were asked to take a 2nd pay
cut during depression of 1874-1877
◦ Owners were still making money
◦ Many workers supported Tilden in the
election of 1876, and thought Hayes and
the rich had stole the election
◦ When local police or militias would not
use force to stop strikes federal troops
were used
◦ Hundreds killed, millions of dollars in
buildings and trains destroyed
 Blamed on immigrants, communists
 RR owner Thomas Alexander Scott
suggested striking workers should be
given "a rifle diet for a few days and
see how they like that kind of bread."

Police were breaking up a peaceful rally for
striking workers
◦ Someone threw a pipe bomb and set off a
riot
 At least 12 dead, many more wounded
◦ Revealed growing class tensions in
Chicago between rich and poor
 Hurt Knights of Labor; unions in general
Workers struck over better pay, hours,
conditions
 Not all workers supported the strike
 RR Owner Jay Gould hired scabs / strike
breakers
◦ Replaced striking workers
 Gould 'I can hire one half of the working
class to kill the other half.'

◦ Hired Pinkertons to beat and harass union
supporters
 Led to the collapse of Knights of Labor and
creation of AFL



Carnegie Steel Mill
Carnegie hoped to break the union, but without
bloodshed
◦ Previous strike had given workers huge gains
◦ Carnegies believed the union was restricting
productivity and wanted to reduce pay
Henry Fick, plant manager hired scab workers
and pinkertons
Fick built a tall barb wire fence around
factory and locked out union workers
◦ Fence included sniper towers
 Workers surrounded fence and barred
managers and pinkertons from getting to
the factory
◦ PA militia brought in to disperse workers
 Overtime support weakened and then
union collapsed

American Railway Union workers struck
over reduced pay and hours
◦ Led by Eugene V. Debs
 President Cleveland sent army to stop
strike
◦ Said strike interfered with mail delivery,
which is a federal crime
 Debs was sentenced to 6 months in jail


Fighting broke out between striking coal
miners and CO national guard
 19 dead
•
•
Blacklists – Business owners tried not to
hire union members / leaders
Yellow dog Contracts - Forced workers to
sign papers promising not to join unions

“Big Bill” Haywood and the Industrial
Workers of the World
◦ Wobblies
◦ Hoped to organize workers into “one big
union”
 Commitment to revolution
23 million, mostly from Europe
 On surface, differed from “old immigrants”
in significant and important ways
◦ Religion, Languages, Western vs. Eastern
Europe

 In truth, more similar than different
Sources of
Immigration
Often performed difficult, unskilled jobs
◦ Tended to cluster in professions by
ethnicity
◦ Faced opposition from unions and “old
immigrants” on the job
 Chinese Exclusion Act
 Job and living conditions were the worst of
all workers


Immigrants established their own,
ethnically based aid networks to meet
America’s challenges
◦ Language, Literacy
 Ethnic Ghettoes became the norm in
most cities
 Germantown, Chinatown, Little Italy
 Fueled nativist fears that immigrants
would not “assimilate” or “Americanize”

Political Machines – Corrupt city govt.; met
people’s needs, usually through bribes /
kickbacks
◦ Usually ran on the support of one or two
ethnic groups
 Better jobs, safety for votes
◦ Favored their friends over the interests of
all
 Led to widespread corruption and fueled
anti-immigrant anger
Boss Tweed – NYC; His machine gained
wealth and power while others suffered;
eventually went to prison
◦ Political Boss – Head of the machine
 Supported by Irish immigrants; promised
to fight for better treatment
◦ Thomas Nast – Political Cartoonist;
Extremely critical of the Irish & Tweed

The Brains that
achieve
democratic party
victory

Emergence of organized crime
◦ Ethnic gangs had been the norm for
decades
◦ Born of economic necessity
 Gangsters not numerous, but left their
mark

As cities industrialized there were
numerous negative effects
◦ Sanitation issues
◦ Outbreaks of disease
◦ Crime and violence
◦ Conflict among Americans, immigrants,
and each other
◦ Overcrowded housing
◦ EXTREME POVERTY!!!!
Run down, over crowded apartment
buildings
◦ Majority did not have plumbing
◦ Most “apartments” were one room
◦ Little to no lighting
 All this after working 12+ hours


Jacob Riis – Exposed the conditions
working class people lived in
◦ “How the Other Half Live”
7 Cent Nightly
2nd Great Awakening encouraged
Christians to create heaven here on Earth
◦ Social Gospel – express faith through
good deeds, volunteering
 Walter Rauschbusch
 The first Progressives were young, mainly
middle-class Protestants
◦ Became “Ministers of reform”
 William Jennings Bryan

Large houses were built or settled by
various “upper” class people in
impoverished immigrant neighborhoods
◦ Mostly staffed by women
 Attempted meet the needs of the working
poor
◦ Medical, educational, safety, cultural
adjustments, ethnic celebrations, day
care

Campaigned for reforms to help the
working poor
◦ Many became the social welfare programs
of today
 The most famous was Hull House in
Chicago
◦ Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr


Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (1887)
◦ Took place in 2000 where the US is now a
socialist Utopia
◦ 3rd most popular book of the 19th century
◦ Spawned socialist utopias
 Utopias are perfect societies
Growing middle-class began to emerge
◦ Expansion of white collar jobs
◦ Entrepreneurs in a variety of businesses
and skilled trade workers
 Further grouping by ethnic group by
profession
 Middle class life home and family-oriented
◦ Department and mail order stores meet
consumer demands
 Advertising became major industry

Amusements
◦ Dance halls, vaudeville, nickelodeons,
amusement parks
 Movies most popular
◦ Literature
 Dime novels and newspapers
 National Culture emerging
◦ Rise in consumer goods and advertising
 Culture of consumption

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◦
Cultural institutions
◦ Libraries, Museums
◦ Genteel standards in literature
 Wealthy, Aristocratic
 William Dean Howells, Edward Bellamy
1892 Columbian Exhibition – Worlds’ Fair
in Chicago