Pullman Strike Thesis

139 Words1 Page

The Pullman Strike occurred began on May 11, 1894 as a result of how George Pullman President of Pullman Palace Car Company treated his workers. When economic depression hit in 1893 Pullman degreased his workers’ wages by 25 percent; however, he did not lower the price of rent in his town where many workers lived. Consequently the workers could not pay their rent, some faced starvation, and many fell into debt to the company. At first around 3,000 Pullman workers went on a “wildcat” strike, requesting support from American Railway Union (ARU). Before long 50,000 men stopped working and joined the strike. Asked to intercede Federal Troops went to Chicago, and after much violence the strike ceased. Holding a significant role in U.S history the

Show More
Related

  • The Main Cause Of The 1919 Steel Strike (AA)

    363 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1919 steel strike was an attempt to organize the United States steel industry after World War One. The strike lasted about five months, and was unsuccessful. It began on September 21, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920. It was started by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, or the AA. The AA had formed in 1876. It was a union of iron and steel workers which was very committed to creating unionism, but advancements in technology had decreased the amount of skilled workers in the industries.

    Read More

  • 2000 Ap World History Dbq

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Robber Barons Dbq

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Great Railroad Strike of 1877: APUSH DBQ Research Paper

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    By the summer of 1877, at least three million Americans - an estimated 25 percent of the nation's workforce -were searching for employment. That May, the Pennsylvania Railroad had imposed its second 10 percent wage cut in two years.A few weeks later, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad b and o announced ten percent pay cuts for workers making more than a dollar a day-including comparable cuts for officials-and at about the same time announced payment of a 10 percent dividend. For b and o workers, this was too much-it was the second 10 percent wage cut in a year.On July 16, frustrated workers and sympathizers blocked the movement of b and o trains in Baltimore, Maryland, and one hundred miles west, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Word of the strike action spread quickly. Workers in Philadelphia, Reading, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Columbia, Harrisburg, Altoona, Johnstown, Derry, Washington, Erie, and Pittsburgh halted all commercial train traffic. Strike organizers in Pittsburgh struggled to maintain

    Read More

  • Apush Dbq

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Industrial unions dominated the landscape of the late nineteen century U.S. labor movement.” They gathered all level workers together without discrimination of gender, race, or nationality. They declared the eight-hour workday for the first time when normal work time should be 12. Low wage of workers caused the “Great Strike of 1877”, which began with railroad workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After the “Great Strike”, industrial union started to

    Read More

  • Neal Shusterman Essay

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neal Shusterman is a famous author,playwright, and scriptwriter. He is known for his great novels that relate to older children and teens around the world. His works include intriguing themes and adventures that keeps readers interest in his creations. Shusterman has been a sensational artist whose books have shaped his life. He is a dedicated writer with talent that surprised his peers and authorities over the years.

    Read More

  • Labor Unions In The 1800's

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    The unions resorted to many forms of tactics such as boycotts, picketing, and the less prominent “closed shop”. The most prevalent of these methods, however, was the formation of riots. During the late 19th century riots included: the Haymarket Square Riots (1886), the Homestead Lockout, and the Pullman Car Company strike. The Haymarket Square Riots of 1886 took place at the McCormick plant in Chicago, Illinois in response to the worker’s need for an eight hour workday. The first two days were innate, but the third day was where the the situation actually instigated the cause. The owner of the plant, McCormick, attempted to bring strikebreakers (scabs), and a battle had begun between the scabs and the strikers. The riot, wistfully, ended the lives of four men when the police began to attempt to impede and halter the situation. These four deaths initiated a chain reaction resulting in the calling for the revenge of the four men by German radical Johann Most. Despite Johann’s reaction, 200 more Chicago policemen ordered the remaining strikers to leave the area. In the crowd, in the moment, a homemade bomb was hurled leading in the death of one policeman; acting as a predecessor of events, this event lead to a shooting between the policemen and the strikers concluding with the death of four workers and seven more policemen; entirely approximately one hundred people were injured. The Haymarket Riots caused public opinion to turn against labor. The Homestead Lockout took place in Homestead, Pennsylvania at Andrew Carnegie’s steel plant and was instigated by Henry Clay Frick’s wage cut. In this riot workers walked out of the company and then Frick ordered company doors to be locked and trapped the workers inside. Employees rebelled and caused about 200 Pinkerton detectives to come up the river to protect company property and created a battle.

    Read More

  • Textile Strike Case Study

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were too many people and there was not enough organization and events in the strike for it to be effective. The strikers plan was weak and they did not have a real style of leadership. It was also hard for the laborers to gain support from the public. Since the great depression, lots of people were scared of what would happen if the mills failed. Some people did not see the dangerous working conditions and could not understand why the union was on strike (Wave, 2012). Most importantly, the strikers could not gain support from the newly elected democratic president. President Roosevelt’s new administration did not benefit the workers and certainly left the middle and lower class in a bind. Since the president’s administration did not support laborers, neither could the state

    Read More

  • The Gilded Age: Unions and the Labor Movement

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pullman Palace Car Company made luxury railroad cars. The people who lived in the town of Pullman payed rent by deductions from their wages. The owner of the town and company George Pullman had workers’ wages get cut in addition to workers getting leadoff. Many people who worked for the company whose wages got cut had trouble affording the standard living costs in Pullman and were given “starvation wages.” The organization of the pissed off workers followed. The workers would go on a nationwide strike organized by the American Railway Union and was led by a man named Eugene debs. Eugene and his union was so powerful because they possessed the ability to paralyze the production of the railroad industry. George Pullman tried to hire people to break up the strike but ends up being unsuccessful. Federal troops were sent in and the court rules that workers must return back to work and the strike is ended.

    Read More

  • The Triangle Fire Essay

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    A year before the incident in which the fire happened, the workers went on a strike asking for shorter hours, better pay, and safer working conditions. They became leaders in what became the largest women's strike in American history. Some

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Cotton Mather And John Woolman

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cotton Mather and John Woolman were two men who had very passionate ideas for the slaves. “Negro Christianized” written by Cotton Mather was an appeal to the slave owners to convert their slaves to Christianity. He primarily focuses on the idea that slaveholders should treat the slaves with dignity and respect along with converting them to Christianity. In John Woolman’s work “Some Considerations On Keeping of Negroes,” he talks about how slavery was detrimental to the slaves and the slave holder. He illustrated through his own conduct the principles of compassion and good will that formed the central message of his itinerant ministry. Which one is more compelling one might ask, to me I think that John Woolman’s work was more compelling because he received the revelation that we must start with our children first in order to abolish slavery. Mather idea of slavery was genuine, but he lacked the overall revelation of how the slaves should’ve been treated.

    Read More

  • U.S. Labor History

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...s became even more desperate at the time of the great depression that ultimately led to the great railway strike, in which many workers lost their lives at the hand of the Pennsylvania militia. This act proved to be a major turning point in the evolution of the labor movement in the United States.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of The Pullman Porters In American Black History

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    I think that the significance of the Pullman Porters in American labor history is their long struggle to be recognized as a union and to for the first time collectively bargain with their employer. George Pullman was known for being strongly aggressive against employees who wanted to unionize. Employees were fired and in occasions thrown out of cars miles away from their homes as punishment for being caught wanting to form a union. Despite all these dangers The Pullman Porters were brave enough to stand for their rights. They formed The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925 led by A. Philip Randolph (Museum pamphlet). Thanks to

    Read More

  • 1970 Essay

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    1970 U.S. Postal Strike made history as one of the ten (10) historical strike in the nation. The strike affected over 210,000, people beginning in the New York City area, that generated all over the United States. This strike happens during Nixon administration where the U.S. postal specialists were not permitted to take part in aggregate dealing. The worker was tied of the long-drawn-out disappointment with wages, working conditions. Disappointed with the disadvantages and administration drove the postal laborers in New York City to strike. Higher wage was demanded by the union, and better work conditions. This strike is also label as the shortest strike in history in which it only lasted for eight days and the worker was not fired because of the president of the united states Richard Nixon.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Newsboy Revolution

    294 Words  | 1 Pages

    The strike was a youth led campaign, triggered by the want of change in the way two major heads of the newspaper industry Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers compensated their child labor force.

    Read More

More about Pullman Strike Thesis

Open Document