Labor Unions & Big Business

• Identify each of the following events or people. Give an explanation or description of the item. Answer the questionswho, what, where, and when.
• Explain the historical significance of each item in the space provided. Establish the historical context in which the item exists. Establish the item as the result of or as the cause of other factors existing in the society under study. Answer this question: What were the political, social, economic, and/or cultural consequences of this item?

the Knights of Labor

a. Identification-founded in 1860 by Philadelphia garment cutters. Only broad-based labor organization to survive depression of the 1870's. Membership reached 730,000. 

b. Significance-Welcomed women, African AMericans, immigrants and unskilled/semiskilled workers.

the Haymarket riot

a. Identification-largest spontaneous labor demonstration in the country's history. Took place on May 1, 1886. Rioters were radical anarchists and craft unionists.

b. Significance-Drew attention to the growing discontent of laborers and revived the middle-classes fear of radicalism.

the American Federation of Labor

a. Identification-became major worker's organization after the 1886 upheavals. It was an alliance of national craft unions and its members were native born skilled workers. It was headed by Samuel Gompers. Their goals were higher wages, shorter hours and the right to bargain collectively.

b. Significance-its peak membership was 2.5 million in 1917 and included 111 national unions and 27000 local unions. It accepted industrialism and worked to improve wage and hours system.

Samuel Gompers

a. Identification-Immigrant who had headed the Cigar Maker's Union. He later became the leader of the American Federation of Labor.

b. Significance-Under his leadership the AFL became its most influencial with 2.5 million members. His policy was to support labor's friends and oppose its enemies regardless of party.

the Homestead strike

a. Identification-Took place on July 2, 1892 when the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers decided to strike against paycuts. Henry C. Frick, the president of Carnegie Steel Company closed the plant.Frick hired 300 guards which the strikers attacked. After 5 months the strikers gave in. 

b. Significance-Public pinion turns against the strikers because of an anarchist's attempt to kill Frick, although he was not a striker.

the Pullman strike

a. Identification-1894. Residents in a rigidly the rigidly controlled town of Pullman near Chigaco call a strike after the town's founder Pullman cuts wages but refuses to lower living expenses in the town. Eugene V. Debs aids strikers by refusing to handle Pullman cars but ends up being jailed. Strikers give in within 1 month. 

b. Significance-President Cleveland sent troops down to crush the strike because it was "obstructing the railways and holding up the mails".

Eugene V. Debs

a. Identification-Led the American Railway Union. He was jailed for 6 months after he aided Pullman strikers.

b. Significance-The Supreme Court Upheld his prison sentence on the grounds that the federal government had the power to remove obstacles to interstate commerce.

the Industrial Workers of the World

a. Identification-New Labor organization formed in 1905 that wanted to unify all labors and form one big union. They used tactics of socialism, violence and sabotage. "Mother" Jones, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and William D. Haywood all led strikes in western mining and lumber towns. The organization never exceeded 15,000 members.

b. Significance-Attracted lots of attention through violent strikes.

14-3 Terms and Names

Read Chapter 14-3 and then identify the significance of each of the following terms / names:      (Post your answers in your blog before the beginning of class.) 

Andrew Carnegie- after gradually working his way up, Carnegie became an industrial mogul after his boss gave him the opportunity to buy stocks. With his money he supported many charities. He is an example of an American success story.
Social Darwinism- philosophy lading to beliefs that success and failure were governed by natural law and no outside force should have control over it.
John D. Rockefeller- Established the Standard Oil Company. The company went to processing about 3 percent of the countries oil to owning 90 percent of all oil refining companies within a decade. Rockefeller drove competitors out of business by lowering prices to less than t cost to make it and then hiking them up when the competition was gone. Despite this he had donated over 500 million dollars to charity.

Sherman Antitrust Act-in 1890 this act made it illegal to establish trust that interfered with free trade between states or between other countries.
Samuel Gompers- led the cigar market's international trade union to join with other craft unions in 1886. Was also president of The American Federation of Labor. 
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Eugene V. Debs- attempted to form an industrial union, the American Railway Union. In 1894 the union won a strike for higher wages.
Industrial Workers of the World- was composed of miners, lumberers, cannery and dock workers. It welcomed african americans although it never became as big as the ARU. They one only one major strike in 1912. Also called the Wobblies.
Mary Harris Jones-supported the great strike of 1877 and later organized the UNited MIne Workers of America. She was in jail with coal miners and had had her life threatened by people before. In 1903 she took a group of 80 child mill workers who had been disfigured in their work to the white house to see president Rosevelt, which helped to pass child labor laws.

Expansion of Industry

Question:
  

What were the three major factors that contributed to the immense technological boom that took place in the United States after the Civil War? Explain how two of these factors helped to bring about this technological boom.

The three major contributing factors of the technological boom that tool place in the United States after the Civil War were large quantities of natural resources (like oil), the government supporting businesses, and expanding populations in cities that would provide cheap labor and serve as a consumer market.

Natural resources that aided the technological boom were oil and iron and later other scrap metals that could be made into steal. Oil was purified into kerosene (used in lamps) and during the process, gasoline is released. With the invention of the automobile, gasolines became very important and fueled the automobiles. Iron was first transformed into steal through a process called the Bessemer process. Steel was important because it was both lightweight and durable and made it possible for architectural feats like the Brooklyn Bridge and the first skyscraper to be built.

Expanding urban populations were also very important in assisting the advancement of technology in the late 19th century. With new machines, there was a need for factory workers. The same workers were also buying the products, For example, women who would have previously been sewing clothing for their families at home were now buying the clothes made in factories where many of the workers manning the machines were women themselves.