Compare And Contrast The Farmer And Industrial Workers Response To Industrialization

Farmers and Industrial Workers Response to Industrialization

In a time when the United States was ending Reconstruction after the Civil War, the country was beginning to move west due to the Monroe Doctrine, which promoted expanding settlement across the country. As more Americans began travelling out west, the transcontinental railroad was established to connect the country together and make it easier to spread west. Although many Americans and immigrants began to move west, there was still a largely growing population in the urban cities, as around 3.5 million immigrants came to the United States. The increasing immigration into the United States was caused by the Second Industrial Revolution. This new age brought electricity and mechanical

The first national labor union was the Knights of Labor (KOL) established in 1869. The Knights allowed all skilled and unskilled workers, including women and African Americans, to join the union while only excluding those deemed “unproductive” to society. While it was popular, the KOL worked to gain a national eight hour workday with higher wages and better working conditions, and all without the use of strikes or boycotts because the group did not want to hurt the economy.The Knights of Labor was a significant response to industrialization because the formation of the union showed that industrial workers were willing to fight for more rights. After the KOL lost popularity, another national organization formed called the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL shared several ideas with the KOL, but this group refused to allow women and African-Americans to join while supporting all union and non-union workers. During the time the AFL was at its largest, the group used boycotts and strikes, unlike the KOL, to make a stand against the unfair conditions of large corporations. The American Federation of Labor was also an important response to industrialization because the formation of more unions allowed for more communication between industrial workers as the fight continued against unfair work conditions. Since many industrial workers joined unions, workers could easily gather together to organize strikes and boycotts. Industrial workers realized that companies could not make a profit when no one was working, and that by protesting, workers would eventually achieve better conditions in the workplace; however, companies found a way around these strikes and boycotts by hiring scabs and not allowing workers to join unions. In some cases strikes became violent, as one of the largest protesting events during the Gilded Age was the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago in