Great Rail Road Strike Analysis

Improved Essays
In the late 19th century, the United States had no strong labor legislation that could intervene and solve the continuous unrest between workers and their employers. This led to several strikes by workers who had no means of pushing for their collective bargains except through strikes and go-slows. The strikes would often put pressure on employers and result in agreements between the two groups. However, at times it would also lead to many workers being laid off for their participation or organizing the strike.

In 1987, the Great Rail Road Strike went on for long 6 weeks. The strike completely paralyzed the industry and led to massive economic losses. The strike ended through the intervention of the federal troops. There was an urgent need

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Great Strike Dbq

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Great Strike of 1877 was one of the first of its kind, infectious enough to spread through the nation. As it collected tens of thousands of supporters, the strike shut down the American railroad system for six weeks before Pinkerton spies thwarted their revolution and put the freight trains back on rail. In the end, the Great Strike failed. But it begs to be asked: would the outcome have changed if the strikers had organized under a labor union strong enough to keep them fighting? One such union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), would be founded in 1905.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Textile Mill Strike Dbq

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages

    There were many significant labor strikes through the history of strikes in the United States. I chose the Textile Mill Strike of 1934; This strike particularly intrigued me because the Unions and labor laws were in their infancy stage and made a lot of mistakes along the way. This strike involved politicians, laws, and even touched the President at the time personally. This strike also affected the Northeastern part of the United States which is where we reside. First let us start with a little history about the current events at this time.…

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Organized Labor DBQ

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 became the first nationwide strike, which was caused by the wages being cut. It had occurred during the depression of 1870s, which made it more difficult for the workers. The strike reached to a serious point where federal troops had to be brought in and fired upon the strikers. Close to 100 people died in this strike. The image and reputation of the labor unions plummeted in the public’s eye.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Industrial Revolution DBQ

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An immediate reaction to most strikes that caused civil unrest was to send the military to put down the troublemakers, as mentioned above in the Reading strike, although their presence would bring retaliation if it didn’t put down the strikers (Doc 2.) At this time in history, the courts in the United States sided with the companies and the wealthy. After a strike on the Pullman railroad company, the courts had sent out an order that had forbidden any activity “that would have the effect of inducing or persuading men to withdraw from the service of the [Pullman] company, or that in any manner… interfere with the [railroads’] operation...” effectively disabling the unions. As described by Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, this action demoralized and broke up the union ranks, as they couldn’t perform their duties, and stopped the strikes in a way no army could (Doc…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Labor Unions DBQ

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sometime the strikes lasted a long time and of course when people go on strikes against their employers, they don’t usually go back to work unless they get what the asked for. Some strikes were by people who were bold, determined, and had huge sympathy for a large part of their community (Doc B). Different type of labor unions back then were too busy to even notice what was going on with the workers. They were to busy fighting against each other because there was a huge labor interest back then so they would miss out on what was going on with the workers that were already working (Doc F). Some of the strikes that the workers went on were deadly.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Industrial Revolution Dbq

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Large corporations saw an opportunity to take advantage of the large amount of labor force they could obtain from the poor people. They lowered wages which lead to strikes and protested, as well as, the hatred of immigrants. When a strike broke out the owners of the corporations, instead of raising the wages, would hire strikebreakers, for a low wage, which mostly consisted immigrants. Many governments state and Federal was riddled with corruption. Political members were some of the most corrupt of these people.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction The Haymarket Square Riot took place on May 4, 1886 in Chicago Illinois. In the United States, the labor unions have an extensive and compelling history increasingly developing the world’s largest economy in history, the union movement influence in many significant ways to this unparalleled expansion. The unions have delivered numbers of achievements to American workers. Some achievements include to a safe and intolerant work environment, collective bargaining power, the right hour workday, no child labor, wage standards, political guidance and much more.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This cut in pay ultimately led to the worker’s decisions to strike in order to make a change in the…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1800s, many workers (including men, women and children) had risen above their bosses and supervisors, in the form of petitions, strikes and marches that had took power against the horrid working conditions of that era. Lyddie, a novel written by Katherine Paterson is a memoir of a fictional character named Lyddie who works in a factory to repay her family's debt which takes place in the industrial revolution. Lyddie is 13-15 in the circumstances of the book, and she is hinted throughout the book to be the only provider for her family at the time. Lyddie is then thrown into situations where she is constantly bombarded with choices. An underlying tone that is presented in the novel is the danger that is presented during her time in the…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, exhausted workers could not afford to make any mistakes, as the intensely hot steel furnaces and the potentially unstable mines constantly threatened injury or death. Since workers were viewed as interchangeable parts, owners wouldn’t care if there were any death. Many Progressives responded to industrial America's deplorable working conditions by endeavoring to make life better for workers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was established to help workers with their problems. The AFL made it possible for the workers to go on strike by paying them enough money to live on or give them year-round health benefits to work their job.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was also illegal to go on strike. But workers did anyways because their needed to be a change in the working conditions. After all of the striking and protesting for a long time, labor laws were finally made that gave a child a certain age before they could start to work, they gave them the hours that they were to work weekly. And because of those things, it cut back the injuries of the workers.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Apush 2000 Dbq Analysis

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As the factory system succeeded, so did the egregious working conditions. Industry workers took initiative to their civil liberties and created labor unions, however, they weren't as affective in the late 1800s due to: the disunity among labor societies, the negative view upon organized labor, and the fact that strikes…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Gilded Age many people used greed to their advantage of becoming well known and wealthy. The definition of greed is the selfish desire for something, especially wealth and power. To the more fortunate, greed was a great thing because they kept gaining power from what they were doing, but to the less fortunate greed was seen as an awful thing because it gave them nothing to benefit from. Some people during this time that were seen as greedy would often give back to the community what they had taken away from it after they had passed. They would do this type of good deed to clear their name.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great railroad strike of 1877. It began in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The workers for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad wanted their pay cut returned to them, that they had lost over the last two years. The railroad workers have lost almost twice their wages over that period of time.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They breathed in toxic and dust, even the mill machines caused many people to get hurt or sadly even die. Later, hours were reduced from 56 to 54 hours, also adding the reduce in pay. So, on January 12 1912, a strike began due to short pay. Strikers increased daily each day, and were helped…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays