response to industry

Unions

• An organization of workers joined to protect the common interests 

• To improve their working conditions

sweatshop

factory  where employees are forced to work long hours under difficult conditions for menial wages

strikes

• Organized and intentional stoppage or slowdown of the work by employees

• Intends to make employer comply with demands of the employee

collective bargaining

• Process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment

lockout

• Closing a factory or workplace to prevent workers from going to work and breaking a labor movement before it could get organized

strikebreakers

• Workers hired to do the jobs of striking workers until the labor dispute is resolved

injuction

• Weapon against labor strikes

• Court order, issued to prevent a company or union from taking action during a labor dispute

commonwealth vs. hunt

• The Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1842

• Ruled that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies in restraint of trade

• Labor unions = legal

labor goals

• Better working conditions

• Higher wages

• Collective bargaining rights 

• Shorter work days

Molly Maguires

• Secret organization

  • coal miners who sought better working conditions

• When their demands were not met, they took to destroying things on purpose

great railroad strike

• Nationwide strike by railroad workers

  • Protesting wage cuts and poor working conditions

• First major strike, spread quickly to other industries 

• Became one of the largest labor strikes in American history

haymarket square riot

• May 4, 1886

• Protest against police violence

• Chicago

• Bombing, one policeman killed and seven other fatally wounded; then policeman fired into crowd and killed an equal amount of people

homestead strike

• Violent

• Pittsburg

• Following a decision to cut wages by 20%

• Strike ended with the destruction of one of the largest labor unions at the time, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel workers

pullman strike

• Railroad strike and boycott

• Severely disrupted traffic in the Midwest in June/July of 1894

triangle shirtwaist factory fire

• Killed 146 workers and injured dozens more

• Turning point in American labor history 

• Played a significant role in advancing workers’ rights and workplace safety regulations

knights of labor

• First major labor organization of in the United States

• Campaigned for the eight hour workforce, aspired to form a cooperative society in which laborers owned the industries in which they worked

American Federation of Labor

• National umbrella trade union organized in support of labor reform

• members were skilled laborers representing a variety of trades and crafts

bread and butter unionism

• Union practice of concentrating on issues of immediate concern to its members

  • Such as reducing hours, and raising wages, rather than promoting broad social reforms

• Avoids larger political issues

• CCOT: kicking the pebble down the road, like slavery issues in congress (jackson and old west eras)

communism

• CCOT: cold war, red scare

• economic/political system

• Gov. owns all land and business 

• Needs of many outweigh the needs of a few people

capitalism

• System of economic production based on the private ownership of property

• Contractual exchange for profit of goods, labor, and money

socialism

• Political belief

• Promoting social and economic equality through the ownership and control of the major means of production

  • By whole community rather than by individuals or corporations

farmers’ struggles

• discriminatory railroad rates

• monopoly prices charged for farm machinery and fertilizer

• oppressively high tariff

• corporations that bought up huge tracks of land.

patrons of husbandry

• organized in 1867 aka “The Grange”

• Leader was Oliver H. Kelley

• the group with colorful appeal and many passwords for secrecy

• Group of farmers that worked for improvement for the farmers.

causes of agrarian discontent

• drought + blizzards

•  declining profits and rising costs of production

•  In response to a political system they believed ignored their concerns, farmers supported the People's Party.

The Grange — Oliver Kelley

• an association formed by farmers in the last 1800s to make life better for farmers by sharing information about crops, prices, and supplies

• Originally a social organization between farmers, it developed into a political movement for government ownership of railroads

cooperatives

• a store where farmers buy products from each other

• an enterprise owned and operated by those who use its services

granger laws

• Grangers state legislatures in 1874 passed law fixing maximum rates for freight shipments and railroad rebates

• The railroads responded by appealing to the Supreme Court to declare these laws unconstitutional

munn v illinois

• 1877

• Upheld the Granger laws

• allowed states to regulate business within their borders, including railroads

farmers alliances

Farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of their crops

populist party— supporters, goals

• Central goals

  • Create a coalition of between farmers in the South and West urban laborers

• Support from the farmers, used a progressive platform

election of 1892

• R: Benjamin Harrison

• D: Grover Cleveland

• Cleveland wins

depression of 1893

• Severe financial panic, lasting from May 1893 to November 1893

• Causes

  • Years of agricultural depressions

  • Draining of gold in the US treasury

  • Reduced international trade (due to McKinley tariff)

Wilson-Gorman Tariff

• Significantly cut tariff rates on imports and exports 

• Completely eliminated tariffs on imports of coal, iron, lumber, and wool

• Angered american businessmen

sherman silver purchase act

• Required gov. to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver each month for use as currency

• Goals

  • To increase money supply

  • To help farmers repay debts

free silver

• Policy

• Allowed unlimited production of silver coins by the US treasury

• Eliminated by the coinage act of 1873 (which led to outcry of this policy return)

crime of 73

• US ended the minting of silver dollars and placed the country on the gold standard

• Attacked by those who wanted a inflammatory monetary policy

  • Mostly farmers

Panic of 1873

• First global depression brought on by industrial capitalism

• Caused by too many railroads and factories being formed + over-loaning by banks

omaha platform

• Political agenda adopted by the populist party

• Omaha, Nebraska convention

• Called for: 

  • unlimited coinage of silver (bimetallism) 

  • Gov. regulation of railroads and industry

  • Graduated income tax

  • Election reform

“coin” harvey

• American lawyer, author, politician and health resort owner

• Advanced idea of silver bimetallism

• Founder of the Liberty party

pollock v. farmers’ loan and trust co.

Act violated the Constitution since it imposed taxes on personal income derived from real estate investments and personal property (such as stocks and bonds)

Coxey’s Army – Jacob Coxey

• hoped to persuade congress to authorize vast program of public roadbuilding

  • To provide jobs for the unemployed

• Response to economic depression of the panic of 1893

Hard Money vs. Soft Money

• Hard money

  • Believed in coinage only

  • Rejected all banks that issued paper money, including the national bank

  • Against expansion and speculation

• Soft money

  • Believed in economic growth and bank speculation

cross of gold speech

• Advocated bimetallism

• By william jennings bryan

• Call to action for many democrats

• Criticized supporters of the gold standard

greenback labor party

• Political movement formed by the Grangers, local advocates, and local men’s parties

• Focused on repeal of the Specie Resumption Act and the renewed use of gold-backed currency

  • In order to form a more expanded money supply

Election of 1896

• Demonstrated division in society between urban and rural interests, brought end to populism

• D: William Jennings Bryan

• R: William McKinley

• McKinley wins

Terence Powderly

• Served as a union leader of the Knights of Labor

• Organizer for the industrial brotherhood labor union

Samuel Gompers

• Leader of the American Federation of Labor

• He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.

Jay Gould

United States financier who gained control of the Erie Canal and who caused a financial panic in 1869 when he attempted to corner the gold market (1836-1892)

Mary Elizabeth Lease

speaker for the Populist party and the Farmer's Alliance. 

She believed that big business had made the people of America into "wage slaves," and challenged her fellow farmers to "raise less corn and more hell."

Sockless Jerry Simpson

• Ran against Lease in the Populist Party election in Kansas.

• A rural reformer

thomas watson

• helped Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone, he was the hands and built it

benjamin harrison

• 23rd President

• Republican, poor leader

•  introduced the McKinley Tariff and increased federal spending to a billion dollars

grover cleveland

• 22nd and 24th president

•  Democrat

• vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills

• achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

james b. weaver

• former Civil War general who ran for president with the Greenback Party (1880) and the Populist Party (1892).

JP Morgan

• Banker who buys out Carnegie Steel and renames it to U.S. Steel Co.

William Jennings Bryan

• Democratic candidate for president in 1896 under the banner of "free silver coinage" which won him support of the Populist Party.

mark hanna

• Ohio industrialist and organizer of McKinley's victory over Bryan in the election of 1896

William McKinley

• Created the McKinley tariff → Increased rates

• Disliked by farmers

(this is a name, not a court case) Eugene V. Debs

• Leader of the American Railway Union

•  voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike

•  jailed for six months for disobeying a court order after the strike was over.