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Events Of 1877

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In the year of 1877 the times were changing, there were a lot of events that shaped the nation and its future. There were conflicts all across the nation but more specifically in the northeast and the middle of the country. These events foreshadowed what the nation would have to face in the future. There were larger goals and messages to these events; not just people fighting private companies and the federal government, but also fighting the injustices set by the people in power. The First event is the Molly Maguires, they were a group of 11 Irish immigrants that were convicted of the murder of 34 people (Digital History, n.d.). They were hanged for terrorism and murder in the Pennsylvania mining district. The Chicago Tribune called the Maguries …show more content…

They tore apart train engines and announced that “no more trains would leave Martinsburg until the 10 % cut was cancelled” (The great railroad strike, 2006). The Pennsylvania Railroad was cutting wages and had poor working conditions. In the middle of a Depression railway companies were cutting wage so thin that a brakemen working twelve hours would make $1.75 a day (2006). The workers went on strike and not railroad, but all workers going through this at the time. The strikes spread throughout Pennsylvania and the railroad, coal, and iron companies had to get the federal government to help with the workers. The spokesman for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company said “The men have no organization” (2006). The working people learned that they were not united or powerful enough to fight against the private railroad, coal, and iron companies to make any real change in the work place, especially when the federal government helps the …show more content…

The Homestead Act of 1862 helped Benjamin because with it, Americans could claim up to “160 acres of public land” (Homestead Act, 2009). His goal was to help free slaves from the south, so they could become truly free by owning land. Most African Americans who arrived to Kansas did not have the funds to start a farm and get the supplies needed to run it. Benjamin saw that the land was too hard for an individual to farm successfully, so he bought land and created the Dunlap Colony (Kansas Historical Society, 2015). Free slaves could come and develop an economic ground to start, support, and be free from the southern

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