APUSH DBQ1 Labor Unions
Vincent Vo
Period 6
Buers
APUSH DBQ 1: Labor Unions
Three decades following the Civil War, America was a conflicted time of both poverty and prosperity. While there were indeed a number of powerful men, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, the majority of the population consisted of the working class. Entire families worked for exhaustingly long hours in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. Eventually, people of the working class started to advertise reforms and form unions. The movement towards organized labor during the last decades of the 19th century certainly had some success; however, it was mostly unsuccessful in improving the position of workers primarily due to the initial failure of strikes, the inherent superiority of the managers over the workers, and the lack of governmental support towards the labor unions.
In the mid-1800s, the National Labor Union was formed to unify workers in fighting for higher wages, lowered work hours, and various other social causes. However, this sets the stage for many failing unions to come. One of the first major strikes in this period would include the Great Railroad Strike. In the late 1800s, railroad workers from across the country participated in an enormous strike that resulted not only in mass violence, but also very few reforms. An editorial in The New York Times stated: "[T]he strike is apparently hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and spiteful demonstration of resentment by men too ignorant or too reckless to understand their own interests…" (Document B). This editorial, which was clearly in favor of labor reforms, was acknowledging that this method of reform was unsuccessful for the laborers at this time. A failure of this magnitude so early on in the movement should have been enough cease its continuation; however, year after year, strikes were breaking and little was being done in the workers’ favor. Another major strike would be the Homestead Strike and Lockout. In the late 1800s,
Period 6
Buers
APUSH DBQ 1: Labor Unions
Three decades following the Civil War, America was a conflicted time of both poverty and prosperity. While there were indeed a number of powerful men, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, the majority of the population consisted of the working class. Entire families worked for exhaustingly long hours in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. Eventually, people of the working class started to advertise reforms and form unions. The movement towards organized labor during the last decades of the 19th century certainly had some success; however, it was mostly unsuccessful in improving the position of workers primarily due to the initial failure of strikes, the inherent superiority of the managers over the workers, and the lack of governmental support towards the labor unions.
In the mid-1800s, the National Labor Union was formed to unify workers in fighting for higher wages, lowered work hours, and various other social causes. However, this sets the stage for many failing unions to come. One of the first major strikes in this period would include the Great Railroad Strike. In the late 1800s, railroad workers from across the country participated in an enormous strike that resulted not only in mass violence, but also very few reforms. An editorial in The New York Times stated: "[T]he strike is apparently hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and spiteful demonstration of resentment by men too ignorant or too reckless to understand their own interests…" (Document B). This editorial, which was clearly in favor of labor reforms, was acknowledging that this method of reform was unsuccessful for the laborers at this time. A failure of this magnitude so early on in the movement should have been enough cease its continuation; however, year after year, strikes were breaking and little was being done in the workers’ favor. Another major strike would be the Homestead Strike and Lockout. In the late 1800s,