The Industrial Revolution in the 19th

Century

“The man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents

more a day.” – Samuel Gompers

Industrial RevolutionSamuel Slater • Introduced textile millstextile mills to

the NE in 1790• Semiskilled and unskilled

workers were the primary workforce, including women

Eli Whitney• Developed idea of

interchangeable parts, increasing efficiency and cutting cost

Lowell Textile Mills

Lowell Textile Mill (1822) • Milltown where young, single

women were the majority of the workforce

• Lived in dorms, and worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week.

• Gave women a sense of independence

• Eventually replaced by immigrants

Labor Unions• The Factory Girls AssociationFactory Girls Association

grouped together in the 1830s to protect their interests (shorter work days, wages, and working conditions).

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Commonwealth v. HuntCommonwealth v. Hunt (1842)

• Labor unions were originally considered illegal and seen as groups conspiring against industry

• This case ruled that unions were legal and had the right to organize a strike as long as their actions were not violent or illegal.

Knights of LaborThe Knights of LaborThe Knights of Labor (1869)• Included skilled and unskilled

workers, blacks, and women • Aims of the Knights of Labor:

– An 8-hour work day– End of child labor– End convict contract labor

system– Equal pay for equal work– A graduated income tax

• Supported strikes, but lost it’s influence when strikes became violent (Haymarket Haymarket Square RiotSquare Riot). Unions began to be associated with radicalism and anarchism.

Great Railroad Strike

The Great Railroad The Great Railroad Strike of 1877Strike of 1877

• Due to Panic of 1873, railroad companies began to cut wages & work-weeks

• In response, workers went on strike and blockaded rail lines and destroyed trains and tracks in cities around the country

• Violence erupted between strikers and state militia

• President Rutherford B Hayes sent federal troops to stop the strike

Haymarket Square Riot

Haymarket Square Haymarket Square Riot Riot (1886)(1886)

• Thousands of people in Chicago protested for an 8-hour workday

• A bomb exploded and gun fire erupted killing 11 (7 police officers)

• Eight men, with foreign sounding names, were arrested

• Despite no evidence men were sentenced to death - 4 hung, one committed suicide

• Knights of Labor became associated with radicalism and disbanded

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of The American Federation of LaborLabor (1886)

• Founded by Samuel Gompers• Excluded unskilled workers,

blacks and women. They believed that skilled workersskilled workers could not be easily replaced, and therefore could more easily bargain

• Aims included:– 8-hour workday– Higher wages– Better working conditions– Right of workers to organize– Labor legislation

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Sherman Antitrust ActSherman Antitrust Act (1890)

• Economic power was in the hands of large corporations

• Federal government prohibited trusts (monopolies) based on their ability to control interstate commerce

• Many unions were charged with breaking the anti-trust acts for having strikes that “restricted interstate trade” (railroad strikes)

Homestead Strike

Homestead StrikeHomestead Strike (1892)• Henry Clay Frick, a manager for

Carnegie Steel, proposed a wage cut

• When negotiations broke down Frick shut down the mill, installed three-miles of fencing, and hired 300 Pinkerton Detectives

• Armed confrontations erupted between workers and the Pinkerton Detectives

• National Guard took control of the plant

• Plant later re-opened as a non-union plant w/African American and eastern European workers; union leaders blacklisted

Pullman Strike

Pullman StrikePullman Strike (1894)• George Pullman laid off workers,

cut wages, and failed to reduce rent in the company town

• American Railway Union led a nation-wide strike

• Violence erupted after Grover Cleveland dispatched troops to stop the strike– Labor leader, Eugene V. Debs

arrested and later founded the Socialist party

• AFL rejected Debs’ call for a general strike to protest federal government’s support of management