Labor Movements and Native American Relations in the Gilded Age

Employment of Women and Children

• Women and children were the primary labor force hired during the Gilded Age because they were cheap to employ and took on unskilled positions.

• Men were generally much more expensive to hire than women or children.

• Women were primarily employed in textile mills, where clothing was manufactured.

• By the year $1900$, more than $2,000,000$ children under the age of $16$ were hired throughout the Gilded Age.

• Mary Harris, also known as Mother Jones, became a prominent labor leader after losing her family to yellow fever in Tennessee and her possessions in the great Chicago fire; she is specifically remembered for her work on child labor laws, helping to raise the minimum working age to $14$ in Pennsylvania.

Laissez-Faire and the Rise of Labor Unions

• The government practiced a policy of laissez-faire, or "hands off" governance, allowing big businesses to operate without regulations regarding safety, fair pay, or working conditions.

• Corruption was rampant as politicians profited from industries like railroads, steel, and iron.

• The Knights of Labor was a massive labor union that accepted all types of workers regardless of trade and campaigned for an $8$-hour workday, equal pay for equal work, and better safety standards.

• The American Federation of Labor ($AFL$), led by Samuel Gompers, differed from the Knights of Labor by only accepting skilled workers or artisans.

• Samuel Gompers argued for reforms through legal means and was strictly against the extremism and radicalism that led to the collapse of earlier unions.

Major Labor Strikes and Conflict

• The Haymarket Riot of $1886$ in Chicago occurred when thousands of protesters rallied for an $8$-hour workday; violence erupted when "scabs" (desperate workers taking jobs during a strike) clashed with protesters.

• During the Haymarket Riot, a bomb was thrown into the crowd, killing police and protesters, leading to the trial of seven labor leaders and the execution of four, who were viewed as martyrs by workers.

• The Pullman Strike was triggered by George Pullman of the Pullman Palace Car Company, who laid off $3,000$ workers and slashed wages by $25\%$ to $40\%$ during the economic depression of $1893$ while keeping his own salary and high rents in Pullman Town the same.

• Eugene V. Debs, leader of the American Railway Union, led Pullman strikers in a national boycott that halted train transportation and freighting before being shut down by the government.

Native American Hostilities and Treaties

• Western expansion and the railroad led to the destruction of Native American culture and the repeated breaking of land treaties by the US government.

• The Sioux Confederacy, a warlike and united tribe in the Northwest, staged a major revolt in $1862$ in Minnesota, killing settlers after their lands were stolen.

• Abraham Lincoln responded to the Sioux uprising by hanging $38$ Sioux leaders and forcibly moving the tribe from Minnesota to the Dakotas.

• The Sand Creek Massacre of $1864$ occurred in Colorado when John Shivington and $600$ US soldiers attacked peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho villages, killing more than $200$ people, primarily women and children.

• The Great Sioux Wars included the Battle of Little Bighorn, where Chief Crazy Horse and Chief Sitting Bull defeated Colonel George Custer, though the Sioux were eventually defeated by the US military by $1890$.

Policies of Assimilation and Americanization

• The Dawes Act of $1887$ was a policy designed for Americanization; it broke Native American lands into farmable plots to force natives to adopt the lifestyle of white American farmers.

• Indian boarding schools, such as the Carlisle School, were established to facilitate assimilation by stripping children of their native languages, customs, clothing, and religion.

• The guiding philosophy behind boarding schools was "Kill the native, save the man," aiming to transform Native American children into white American-style citizens.

Questions & Discussion

Q: What is a scab?

Response: These are workers that were so desperate, they took jobs during protests and strikes, which destroyed the purpose of the protest.

Q: Why did the Knights of Labor collapse after the Haymarket Square riot?

Response: The general public could not differentiate between general labor union members and radical extremists who threw bombs, leading people to view the entire union as a radical group.

Q: What were the arguments regarding land ownership between the American Colonel and Sitting Bull?

Response: Sitting Bull argued the land was sacred and belonged to them because they lived there before whites arrived; the Colonel argued that the Sioux had previously taken that land from other tribes like the Chippewa and that territorial expansion and colonization were normal historical practices.