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How Did The Knights Of Labor Contribute To The Civil War

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A period of tremendous growth and economic prosperity swept across the United States following the North’s victory in the Civil War. The industrial boom helped propel America to become a leading industrial/economic powerhouse. However, industrialization had a dark side: capitalism’s emergence with America’s dramatic expansion led to a poverty-stricken working-class fighting for better wages and working conditions. Unions emerged in the United States, with the Knights of Labor becoming the largest during this time, with goals including increasing wages to $1.25 per day, an eight-hour workday, and overall better working conditions. The Knights rose to power as, unlike local unions, they called to have a diverse organization of individuals regardless …show more content…

The Knights’ commitment to this would be upheld as they would allow women, immigrants, Mexican Americans, and African Americans to join their group. These groups who were once rejected from local unions joined the Knights, because the organization proved to create a sense of solidarity and support within the group, advocating for a better workplace for everyone. The Knights’ demands included wages increased to $1.25, an eight-hour work day, and better overall working conditions. These were goals that the common person could get behind—another driving factor to why the Knights grew large. As discussed, before their formation, labor unions were local groups and confined to individual trades. Additionally, those unions did not allow colored people and whites to be in the same union. Small, local unions could not harness power to be victorious against the capitalist giants they were fighting against. The Knights posed to be a powerful group, as they were able to win against capitalists, which further grew their popularity. The unprecedented inclusion of underrepresented individuals within the Knights proved to be a driving force for their success in becoming the largest union in the United States in the

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The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive.

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The KoL advocated for cooperatives, members having an input in the factories. Membership to the KoL was not restricted to unskilled or skilled workers, people who did manual labor or had special craft skills, and it was not restricted by race or gender. The Knights of Labor worked to gain a national eight hour work day, keep out Asian workers, and end child labor and labor of convicts. Members of the union wanted all workers to benefit from these changes and opposed strikes, ending labor and ending production in a factory until a compromise is made, and opposed boycotts, not buying or using products from certain companies. Along with forming unions, workers were also able to pass the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.

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My respected gentlemen and women, our beloved country is facing a conspicuous issue. While we meet here, fellow Americans, including our youth, are battling brutal conditions in the workplace- long hours, strenuous tasks, and the lack a living wage. However, I do believe I have the answer to America’s labor problem and the unequal distribution of wealth. The solution lies not with the Knights of Labor, who sought to organize all of the workers in a industry together. This generalized type of union will never be able to be successful.

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