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George Pullman was not always believed to be a cruel boss. George Pullman started off believing that anyone could be successful if they worked hard enough. But as his business grew, he took this belief too far, furthering his own company by working his employees hard, treating his employees like slaves. There were many factors included in how the Pullman strike started. George Pullman and the company’s treatment of employees, how the town of Pullman, Illinois reacted to their treatment, other strikes that led up to the Pullman employee unhappiness and their reaction, the Pullman Strike.
From a young age, George Pullman had a very positive attitude towards life. He was born in 1831 near Buffalo, New York (Burgan). Pullman was one of ten children and his family was not rich. His dad was a mechanic and owned a farm where he grew up. While George Pullman quit school at the age of 14 to start working, he still worked on his education at night. His initial job was with his brother doing carpentry, allowing him to learn a new craft. As he got older he was able to help his brother with the carpenting business (Laughlin). But George grew restless.
After working with his brother, George moved to Chicago. In Chicago George helped rebuild the houses that were being eroded by Lake Michigan (Laughlin). He believed in the American dream, that anyone who was hardworking, and inventive could become a great success (Laughlin). He was only 30 when he arrived in Chicago and had high aspirations for his life.(Burgan). On the train ride their, Pullman had difficulty sleeping because of how uncomfortable the seats were. Because of his discomfort he came up with his first idea, the idea of a sleeping car that would eventually become the main product...
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...Negligence; Employee Defined. 45 USCA. Sec. 51. West, 1908 and Supp. 1939. Print.
Limitations on Duty Hours of Dispatching Service Employees. 49 USCS. Sec. 21105. LexisNexis, 2012 and Supp. 1994. Print.
Pullman State Historic Site. Pullman State Historic Site, Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. .
“The Pullman Strike” [“The Pullman Strike”]. Illinois Periodicals Online. Ed. Drew Vandecreek, Jack Hendricks, and Brian ` Conant. Northern Illinois University Libraries, 3 Dec. 2003. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .
Steven. “The Pullman Strike, 1894 - Jeremy Brecher.” Libcom .com. libcom.com, 23 June 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. .
White, Richard. “Strike.” Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. N. pag. Print.
This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste...
To urban middle-class Americans of the late 19th century, nothing symbolized the progress of the American civilization quite as much as the railroad. Not only had the great surge in railroad construction after the Civil War helped to create a modern market economy, but the iron horse itself seemed to embody the energy, force, and technology of the new order. In fact, the fanning out of railroads from urban centers was an integral part of the modernizing process, tying the natural and human resources of rural areas to the industrializing core.
During the Railroad Strike of 1877, when large crowds in Baltimore attempted to attack militia breaking up the strike, President Hayes got word of the uprising and personally sent his troops to quell it (DOC B). Many witnesses of the strike used Yellow Journalism to make it seem as if Communists were causing the strike through the use of political cartoons in newspapers, such as “Always killing the goose that lays the golden egg” (DOC C), where the strike was purposefully invalidated to break up the labor movement. Nevertheless, the largeness of the uprising made strikes become more widely-known, causing employers to be slower to slash wages in fear of a bigger
In Henry George’s article, What the Railroad Will Bring Us, it discusses the main social, political, and economic transformations that the trans-continental railroad would bring to the state of California. More importantly, he discusses not only the benefits, but also discusses the major drawbacks with the arrival of the railroad. Henry George stated the railroad would be the “greatest work of the age” (297). With a railroad stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, multiple benefits would be brought to the state of California. First, the railroad will not only create a new means of transportation across the United States, it additionally would also become “one of the greatest material prosperity” of its time (298). This means more people, more houses,
James B. Weaver illustrates the true damage of monopolies on the public in “A Call to Action” (Document 4). Weaver, a two-time candidate for president of the United States, addresses the meticulous tactics which trusts and monopolies use to increase their profit at the expense of the public and asserts that their main weapons are, ”threats, intimidation, bribery, fraud, wreck, and pillage.” Arguments such as Weaver’s, suggest and end to the end of the laissez-faire capitalism that monopolies are sustained upon. Laissez-faire capitalism is essentially a system where the government takes no position in the affairs of businesses and does not interfere, no matter what harm is being done. This ideology dominated the business world of the century and allowed for vast unemployment, low wages, and impoverishment. Soon, laborers also begin to express their dismay with the way that such businesses are run and the treatment of workers in the railroad industry. An instance of this being the Pullman Strike of 1894. In 1894, laborers went on a nationwide strike against the Pullman Company; they issued a statement regarding their strike in June (Document 6). Workers are repulsed by Pullman’s exertion of power over several institutions and how his greed affects his competitors, who must reduce their wages to keep up with his businesses. This incident inspires many to take
Ophem, Marieke Van. "The Iron Horse: the impact of the railroads on 19th century American society."
“Heathcote Recalled the Chairman of the Pullman Strike Committee Has More to Tell About." Bismarck Tribune, August 20, 1894, p. 1.
""Memorial of Asa Whitney." 1848." Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum, 2003. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a large portion of the shirtwaist industry. If a worker were to openly contest an employer’s rule, they would be promptly fired and replaced immediately. Also, strength in numbers did not always work. Managers often hired brutal strikebreakers to shut movements down. The local police and justice were often of no help to the workers, even when women were being beaten. At the time, the workers needs were not taken seriously and profit was placed ahead of human life. This was not just a struggle for workers’ rights; it was also a movement for the working class’ freedom.
The workers who had the wages cut lived in a model town that Pullman had built, but while they now had smaller wages the rent in their apartments stayed the same. Consequently, the workers could no longer afford to live in the town, so they began to strike. Workers convinced the American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, to strike with them by refusing to handle the Pullman Cars. In turn, thousands of Railroad workers over the span of 27 states supported the strike. This caused transportation from Chicago to the Pacific Coast to halt. The state governor of Illinois was sympathetic toward unions and refused to call the militia. However, when the Pullman Company appealed to the Federal Government President Grover Cleveland ordered 2000 troops to Chicago to either stop the strike sending workers back, or run the rails themselves. The reasoning for President Cleveland to send troops was due to Federal mail being interfered with. The Federal Courts also sided with the Pullman Company and filed an injunction that forbid union workers to continue striking. Eugene Debs defied the injunction and in turn was sent to prison, which caused the strike too soon collapse due to their lack of
Zinn, Howard. "The Great Railroad Strike, 1877." A People's History of the United States (2006). Article. 30 March 2014.
Seavoy, Ronald E. "Railroads." An Economic History of the United States: From 1607 to the Present. New York: Routledge, 2006. 188-200. Print.
1900, the second industrial revolution is at its peak. Andrew Carnegie has already created his steel empire, John D. Rockefeller’s has just retired from his job as owner and runner of the Standard Oil Company, Upton Saint Clair will publish The Jungle in 1906. The United States has successfully surpassed the rest of the world in industry, but at a price. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Homestead Massacre of 1892 represent the extreme dissatisfaction workers have with their employment, and the conversely brutal responses of companies. No state or federal laws existed to protect the workers; workers found it impossible to hold companies responsible for injuries or deaths. Resentment against blacks and immigrants is high, because they
The Transcontinental railroad could be defined as the most monumental change in America in the 19th century. The railroad played a significant role in westward expansion and on the growth and development of the American economy (Gillon p.653). However, the construction of the transcontinental railroad may not have occurred if not for the generous support of the federal government. The federal government provided land grants and financial subsidies to railroad companies to ensure the construction. The transcontinental railroad contributed to the formation of industry and the market economy in America and forever altered the American lifestyle.