Industrial Workers In The Gilded Age

For instance, labor workers began to take their first strides to unity. Workers came together to fight for better wages and better working conditions. A group of people called the Knights of Labor formed and about 200,000 of them won shorter hours. They wanted to combat child labor and wanted companies to give better health benefits and medical aid, and after many strikes and protests they eventually achieved this goal. Women were also greatly impacted in the Gilded Age as the number of employed women skyrocketed. Even still, women were placed in unfair and unsafe working conditions. Many different unions, bearing successful strikes going after these conditions, emerged like the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. These battles for improved conditions delivered higher wages and reduced working hours. Farmers were another group that were affected in the Gilded Age. Farmers faced a great deal of debt because their interest rates were being changed. Farmers felt that banks were purposely targeting them. As a result of this farmers began to lose their farms because they could not pay off their loans. Another effect was the new machinery that was invented. These machines were faster and more efficient, so more crops were produced, which caused the price of them to drop. This did not help the farmers. The money policy also hurt the farmers. They wanted a money system based on gold and silver because

Imagine working sixteen hours a day in an unsanitary, dangerous, place for a big business gaining two dollars.This is what laboring-class Americans had to go through during the Gilded age. Politically, the first largest American labor union was formed during the Gilded age and many other organizations formed as well as violent strikes.Socially, different ethnics joined together to share their thoughts and realize the evils of big business and of the federal government. Mentally, most we 're losing their personal life while some were financially stable and glad. During the Gilded Age laboring-class Americans attempted to better their lives in the power of big businesses and the federal government. Many different attempts were taken by the laboring-class Americans but they were more successful uniting to become one. To obtain an eight hour work day, paid sick days, health care, sanitary conditions, and higher pay.

*The Pullman Strike was widespread by the United States railroad workers, approximately a quarter-million worker were on strike at the peak and it impacted the expedition the railroad system across the states. The strike between the American Railway Union and George Pullman changed the course of future strikes when President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to break up the strikers; its influenced how the federal government and the court system would handle labor issues. The labor issues during the Pullman Strike were not limited that of rights of the workers, the role of management in the workers private life, and the roles of government resolving labor conflicts. Pullman planned communities for his workers how he determined

In Homestead Pennsylvania, Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish man owned a steel plant. Carnegie had emigrated from Scotland as a young boy, and had had to work his way up the American work industry. He had a business partner named Henry Clay Frick who owned a coke manufacturing company. Carnegie and his friend had an individualistic opinion when it came to the matters of the workers union, and opposed any form of authority by anyone. In 1892 while Carnegie was on a visit to Scotland, Frick informed all workers that the contract with current workers would no longer be honored or acceptable and also informed them that anyone who is still interested in continue working would need to switch to a nonunion labor. This greatly outraged the laborers. Frick began to construct a wooden fence around the mill, and called for the assistance of the Pinkertons, a detective agency, but in reality were a well-armed mercenary army of private police officials used to crush labor strikes. The Pinkertons were instructed to arrive by the boat in high hopes that they would go unnoticed. Unfortunately, some scouts had observed the odds in events and were able to realize what

In the 1840’s there was a wave of democratization created after Jackson’s presidency. It was created the value of the common man, and the importance of every person who was in the government. Of course, there were exceptions to this rule as there still certain groups like blacks or women that were viewed as inferior, but the majority of the population felt like they had worth. This led to series of reforms: hospitals for the mentally ill, schools for people with physical disabilities, the temperance movement, and labor unions. This movements fought a better society with better treatment even though there would be no economic incentives to do so.

The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Union strikes were not an uncommon occurrence in the 1900s due to inflation caused by the war. Wages were low, and working conditions had room for improvement. In 1919, the Boston Police force went on strike, effectively stripping the city of the majority of its police force. Without much authority, crime rates went up, and the public began to turn against the police.

Rapid industrialization during the Gilded Age affected the nation as a whole. The steady increase in population and industrialization lead to the creation of two different sects of the Common Man; the farmers and the industrialists. The farmers mainly gravitated out west due to events such as the California Gold Rush and the large amount of states joining the union. The industrialists worked on railroads and in factories created by corporations. Both the Common Man industrialist workers and farmers acted on industrialization by unionizing to fight against unfair treatment in workplace and by emphasizing the need for government regulation of the corporations.

Throughout history, there was a time called the Gilded Age. During, this time period there were a lot of negative effects that affects the people. The Gilded age was known as a period that was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath. In this time period the people were in need of a jobs in order to support their family and feed their love ones.Well, in time period the only job that people could have really gotten was working in factory. Working in the factory it wasn’t easy for the people they had no type of space to work in. Throughout the Gilded Age, a fire had broke out in a factory. In this factory there was no way out.There was a group of worker that had family and they all died due to the tight working space and no type of exits to get.

Businesses could not afford to slow downproduction during the Panic, so they continued to keep their prices high, but the people didn’thave access to the scarce money. Not only were businesses charging high prices, but also thePhiladelphia and Reading Railroad went bankrupt, causing less modes of transportation for work-ers and farmers. In total, over 15,000 companies went bankrupt during the Panic and the unem-ployment was the highest in history.Labor Unions were also created during the Gilded Age, which added to the idea of theGilded Age being truly “gilded”. The American Federation of Labor was one of the first laborunions created in the United States. The AF of L wanted “unionism” and opposed socialism. TheKnights of Labor, another labor union, was created in 1869 and enlisted in their ranks not only alllaborers but also everyone who could be truly classified as a producer.Labor unions, the two major depressions and the three “robber barons” were three of theforemost reasons the Gilded Age got its name. The “robber barons” invested in things that wouldultimately lead to a “Golden Industrial Age” but they didn’t achieve it totally legitimately, and thecreation of the labor unions sided with the workers, but at times, grew violent in their methods.They had good intentions but didn’t always carry out their plans correctly to keep things peace-ful. People were injured, killed, and bankrupted and with the Panics of 1873

The Homestead Strike was a industrial lockout and strike culminating into a battle between strikers and private security. Carnegie Steel Company went against the nation's strongest trade union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. A strike in 1889 got steelworkers a good 3 year contract , but Carnegie was determined to break the Union. Carnegie had his plant manager, Henry Frick, step up production demands and when the unions refused, Frick locked the workers out of the plant. The workers were fighting to get their wages back, the wages that were cut by Frick and Carnegie. Carnegie thought that if he negotiated with the workers and threatened their jobs that they would drop the union, but he was mistaken. The workers planned to strike for what they deserved.

Are unions really worth the required monthly dues? In 1881, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions was first established. 5 years later, it transitioned into the American Federation of Labor (AFL) Unions have bridged the upper and lower class. If the Supreme Court passes the Janus case, it could mean the decline of the middle class.

In both the early and late 19th century there were a lot of things that contributed to the growth of America. Economically, during this point in time there was extreme growth. Up to the end of the Civil war, the way people went about life was about to change even more than what has already changed in the last fifty years. Post-Civil war, over 4 million slaves were freed. They migrated and assimilated towards the pacific coast and towards northern states. This left southern farms in crisis. The amount of people working on the farms compared to the size of the farm meant it was going to be really tough to maintain the farm himself. What did this mean for the country? There was a crisis that needed to be taken care of, and how would the country handle it? The industry needed something new. The Industrial Revolution can be viewed as one of the most significant reason towards the rise of economic powers in this country. It helped the country in so many ways. This was the start of a new life style for the people of the United States.

During the interwar years, workers in the United States faced multitudes of oppression. Many hardships were difficult for the workers to overcome because of the lack of government intervention and organization by the workers. The lack of legislation to protect workers and the lack of planning on the workers’ part made the prevalence of strong unions scarce. It was not until the 1930s that the government had finally begun to take action and the workers realized that they needed to efficiently work together. Gradually, both the government and the workers would try to correct the issues associated with the absence of effective unions. Without the aid of the government and unity amongst themselves, the workers had almost nowhere to turn to. Due to the changes in government action and the revolution of worker mentality in the labor movement, the workers were eventually unshackled from the chains of capitalist despotism and were slowly but surely able to practice industrial democracy by the onset of WWII.

The Industrial Revolution prevailed under the leadership of the Capitalists. However, the capitalists were not effective leaders. They led the nation further towards social inequality. The true building block of the nation was the working class. The laborers fueled the manufacturing of goods and services, and that fueled the economic and industrial growth of the country. The workmen, women and children sold their labor and sacrificed their freedom to making the country become more independent and dominant. The greedy capitalists viewed it as opportunity to prosper from the demotion of the working class. Regardless of the poor’s immense effort to improve living conditions, the capitalists used their ambition and desperation against themselves.