How Did Industrial Workers Respond To Industrialization In The Gilded Age?

In a time when American industrialism was rising, and a shift from isolationism to imperialism occurred within American society. It is in this context that industrialization would grow to impact farmers and industrial workers. Two significant ways that farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age by attempting to unionize and forming political parties to further their interests. One significant way that farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age was attempting to unionize. Industrial workers attempted to unionize as a response to pay cuts and dangerous working conditions. In order to maximize profits many industrial companies such as Carnegie Steel, lowered wages for
In response to these protests, Frick hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, so that the strike could be ended. The Pinkerton Detective Agency was a large military group that rivalled the military of the United States in size. Conflict ensued between the union members and the Pinkerton agents. The conflict took the lives of nine strikers and seven Pinkerton agents, with many more being injured.(Demarest) The United States government often supported businesses against unionization. This is made extraordinarily apparent with the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 which was created to crack down on monopolies. Though the enforcement of the act was loose, and rarely targeted the businesses, because of the large amount of influence the businesses had. Without monopolies on the production of goods, congress often targeted unions using the Sherman Antitrust Act.The justification brought by congress was that unions had a monopoly on labor, so the United States government would often side
Industrialization connected the east to the west through the use of railroad development, drastically improving infrastructure and reducing travel time. Railroad tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt were able to control fare prices on their trains. This greatly impacted farmers in the west that relied on the railroads to transport their crop to the densely populated east. In an attempt to help western farmers, President Abraham Lincoln created the Department of Agriculture, so the farmers would be more knowledgeable about earning a profit from agriculture. The Granger movement was created by the Department of Agriculture, and soon became a tool for farmers to join together in order to make be able to make larger purchases. The Granger movement would be replaced by the Farmer’s Association. The Farmer’s association was focused on national politics to benefit farmers.The group would be divided between the south and the west, and also by race. The Farmer’s Association pushed for legislation that would limit the power that railroad companies had, and some would even push for complete nationalization of the railroads, and the use of silver as a currency. The Farmers would eventually begin to push for a graduated income tax, so the rich would have to pay more in taxes then the poor. This graduated income tax would