Labor Unions DBQ
Derek Bouvier
A.P. U.S. History
Mr. Schultz
Labor Unions DBQ
February 9, 2015
Labor Unions In the early 19th century industry was beginning to foster with the help of a post-civil war boost in production. During this time though there was an equally stark drop in the quality of working conditions and wages. During this time also a flood of immigrants caused a surplus of laborers and thus a drop in wages. All of the while the richest men in American history began their reign over industry. This eventually causing the formation of Labor unions, which did not leave a lasting or good impact on the American public during the late 19th century. The main reasons for this occurring, being involved with identity, technology work and exchange, and politics and power. One of the main reasons why labor unions did not gain acceptance was because of the many different types of people within the Unions. To start with the acceptance of labor unions wasn’t helped by the popularity of books by Horatio Alger Jr. which talked about poor honest children growing up to be rich people. This narrative, which sold over 17 million copies during the start of the labor movement, went against the ideology of the labor unions, and instead endorsed the capitalistic view of many industrialists (Doc C). This though was not the greatest factor working against the labor unions though, instead the inability of the labor unions to keep out extremist ideologies and unite to try to reach their goals was a bigger problem. This is seen in a cartoon which depicts four men with stirring sticks labeled with the labor union, anarchists, socialists, and the Knights of Labor. These four men were fighting over who gets to stir the labor interest broth. This cartoon thus showing that so many different sects and ideologies caused the common interests of the labor unions to not be effectively portrayed to the American public (Doc D). Furthermore, political ideologies weren’t the only dividing
A.P. U.S. History
Mr. Schultz
Labor Unions DBQ
February 9, 2015
Labor Unions In the early 19th century industry was beginning to foster with the help of a post-civil war boost in production. During this time though there was an equally stark drop in the quality of working conditions and wages. During this time also a flood of immigrants caused a surplus of laborers and thus a drop in wages. All of the while the richest men in American history began their reign over industry. This eventually causing the formation of Labor unions, which did not leave a lasting or good impact on the American public during the late 19th century. The main reasons for this occurring, being involved with identity, technology work and exchange, and politics and power. One of the main reasons why labor unions did not gain acceptance was because of the many different types of people within the Unions. To start with the acceptance of labor unions wasn’t helped by the popularity of books by Horatio Alger Jr. which talked about poor honest children growing up to be rich people. This narrative, which sold over 17 million copies during the start of the labor movement, went against the ideology of the labor unions, and instead endorsed the capitalistic view of many industrialists (Doc C). This though was not the greatest factor working against the labor unions though, instead the inability of the labor unions to keep out extremist ideologies and unite to try to reach their goals was a bigger problem. This is seen in a cartoon which depicts four men with stirring sticks labeled with the labor union, anarchists, socialists, and the Knights of Labor. These four men were fighting over who gets to stir the labor interest broth. This cartoon thus showing that so many different sects and ideologies caused the common interests of the labor unions to not be effectively portrayed to the American public (Doc D). Furthermore, political ideologies weren’t the only dividing