There have been many years throughout American labor history that have changed the ways that the affected communities live. Many movements have shifted styles of working, changed the nature of the working-class life, and have brought about such things as unions that we still possess today. In particular there are three major eras that have brought about such changes and one that is of the most importance. The progressive era brought us many changes in the workforce along with changes in technology. Also the roaring twenties was a period that started with great wealth extravagance and ended in the great depression that changed the entire country. Then there was the 1930's where FDR proposed the New Deal and had great ideas of where to take the country. Each of these eras created significant differences in the way the people worked and lived and will be further discussed in detail.
The progressive era began in the late 1890's with a depression that led to one of the greatest movements of the era, the Pullman strike. The Pullman strike was started because of the depression and because of the fact that George Pullman, the man who owned Pullman Palace Car Company, fired a third of his employees and then cut the wages of the rest by 25 to 40%. The worked were left with hardly anything to bring home and they met to organize this strike. It became a national strike because nearly every railroad had Pullmans and there was no other way to transport the goods across country. The strike eventually became so large that it was halted by the government and ultimately ended in great violence. However, the Pullman strike was a success; it created organization amongst workers and gave workers a voice for the first time. Another large movement during this era was the influx of new immigrants and the emergence of nativism. Segregation was still a large part of the American life however now immigrants began moving to the country and they faced a greater prejudice than had all other earlier groups. An anti-immigration sentiment swept the nation and led to what is called nativism. Nativists believed that the immigrants caused corruption, kept wages low, and blamed them for political turmoil and were even discriminated for living in poverty and having peasant habits.
During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them. In the final analysis, from the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States.
“Industrial unions dominated the landscape of the late nineteen century U.S. labor movement.” They gathered all level workers together without discrimination of gender, race, or nationality. They declared the eight-hour workday for the first time when normal work time should be 12. Low wage of workers caused the “Great Strike of 1877”, which began with railroad workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After the “Great Strike”, industrial union started to
The Transportation Revolution in the 1800s, sparked up industrialization and the building of railroads that stimulated every other industry causing an economic boom known as the Gilded Age. From the outside, America seemed like the place to go to make all your dreams come true. But in reality, in was an era of serious social problems mainly caused by an economy with a free market policy, low tariffs, low taxes, less spending, and a hands-off government. This type of economy would eventually lead to the development of monopolies. These monopolies would then, in turn, lead to worker uprisings ‒caused by the suppression of unions created mostly by unskilled workers‒ that would contribute to the rapid rise and downfall of America. An example of this suppression is the Homestead Strike of 1892; due to hostility created by the unions, the employer fired all the workers, and rehired them on the basis that there would not be any more unions. After the workers started working again, the conditions were still unbearable, so the workers shut down the facility. The police got involved, the workers were pushed back, and the facility was reopened union free.
In the late nineteenth century known as the Gilded Age (or the Reconstruction period) and the early twentieth century known as the Progressive era, the nation went through great economic growth and social change. Beginning from the 1870s, there was rapid growth in innovations and big businesses. This could be because there was population growth and when there is population growth, there is a high demand of products and other necessities in order to strive in society. Many immigrants from Europe, mostly from the eastern and southern Europe, and Asia moved to American cities. Additionally, farmers from rural America desired to increase economically in society and since corporations ruled and political problems occurred, they decided to move into the cities. Afterwards, the 1900s started with the dominance of progressivism which many Americans tried to improve and solve the problems that were caused or had arisen because of the industrialization of the Gilded Age. It was basically the time when progressives fought for legislations like regulation of big businesses, end of the political corruption, and protection of the rights of the people: the poor, immigrants, workers, and consumers. Thus, between the periods 1870 to 1920, big businesses had arisen and taken control of the political and economic systems through corruption and innovations. In response, American citizens reacted negatively and formed labor unions and political systems to diminish the power that large corporations had in America.
The rise of industrialization and laissez faire were key constituents in the rise of labor unions; businesses were given more breathing room and had more influence in the economics than the government. Citizens were feuding the need to obtain better working hours, reasonable wages, and safer working conditions; this was mainly prompted by industrialization. The three most prominent labor unions in this time period were the American Railway labor(1890s), Knights of Labor (mid-1880s) and the National Labor Union (1866); they pushed forward forward
In the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was booming, new technology flourished. The rapid industrialization brought achievement to the United States, however, it also caused several social problems. Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a few, and poverty and political corruption were widespread. As people became aware of these problems, a new reform group was created. Unlike populism, which had been a group of farmers grown desperate as the economy submerged into depression, the new reform movement arose from the educated middle class. These people were known as the progressives. The Progressive Movement was a movement that aimed at solving political, economic, and social problems. The Progressives were people from the middle class who had confidence that they could achieve social progress through political reform. The Progressives sought after changes and improvements in the society through laws and other federal actions.
The Progressive Movement The progressive movement of the early 20th century has proved to be an intricately confounded conundrum for American historians. Who participated in this movement? What did it accomplish, or fail to accomplish? Was it a movement at all? These are all significant questions that historians have been grappling with for the last 60 years, thus creating a historical dialogue where in their different interpretations interact with each other.
When discussing change in the late 1800’s a few things come to mind, but the progression of capitalism was a major catalyst for most of them. Capitalism is an economic system of free market. It promotes private or corporate ownership of goods from investments based upon price, production, and distribution of goods. This new idea tended to promise wealth and stability, but when the distinction between the working lower class and bourgeoisie became more evident, people were irritated. Capitalism began to exploit the greed in man and bring fear to the strongest of wills. Many dreamed of this as the golden age of man kind and saw new prosperity as a benefit for all “for how could there be greed when all had enough.”(George, p.21) Poverty spread through the working class like disease and forced millions of Americans to fight for survival. In a trip to Chicago Rudyard Kipling furiously describes the dreary, money driven conditions that consumed the earth, water, and air. “I spent ten hours in that huge wilderness, wandering through scores of miles of these terrible streets, and jostling some few hundred thousand of these terrible people who talked money through their noses....
Reformers known as Progressives attempted to undo the problems caused by industrialization. The Progressive movement sought to end the influence of large corporations, provide more rights and benefits to workers, and end the control possessed by party leaders. At the national level, Progressivism centered on defeating the power of large businesses. The Progressive Era was a period in American history in which improving working conditions, exposing corruption, improving the way of life, expanding democracy, and making reforms were the objectives at hand. With the emergence of the Progressive Era, two important figures gradually emerged as well.
The labor movement in the U.S. changed drastically with the Industrial Revolution era. It altered the way employers conducted business and impacted the labor of skilled craftsmen. As the revolution altered the workforce and companies became decentralized, commerce became more mobile. Industrialization changed the way employers conducted business and dramatically changed the working conditions for employees necessitating the need for a more formalized labor relations process. Labor unions became more widespread during this era with several rising to the top:
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
The turn of the century was marked by a movement known as the Progressive Era, during which many groups sought to reshape the nation's government and society in response to the pressure of urbanization and industrialization. Progressives were mainly members of the Post-Civil War generation that made an attempt to master a world much different then that of their parents.
The way in which people work in the labor force and are managed has changed quite a big deal since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Industrial Revolution many people worked on the land and worked at a pace that was applicable for them with no one looking over their shoulder to make sure work was being done. One of the biggest reasons for the changes to the industrial society pertains to the discipline and surveillance in the labor force. Some of the many changes that that occurred because of the how laborers worked and having a manager were: strikes, the ending to child labor, creation of the middle class, and new political ideology.
After the civil war, America was rapidly growing socially and economically. Because of the rapid industrial growth, many businesses were abusing their workers and therefor gave them very low wages. Workers and many other people began to unite and fight for their rights and for the well-being in society. This time period, known as the Progressive era, brought very important social changes and reforms. The Progressive era was very successful because the majority of the changes were to improve the lives of all American workers and to make a beneficial change. The Progressive Era had four main goals; Protecting Social Welfare, Promoting Moral Improvement, Creating Economic Reform, and Fostering Efficiency. The changes took a long period of time to implement and it was not easy making people aware that there was need for change.
middle of paper ... ... This act proved to be a major turning point in the evolution of the labor movement in the United States. It has been said that the union work is one struggle after another, but union work is also the most rewarding legacy we can leave our children. U.S. Labor History Essay #1 Unionism can be described as "a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment" (Smelser).