Jacob S. Coxey's Life During The Great Depression

In the beginning of the 1890s, the United States went through a crisis time period, one reason being what some say was the first Great Depression. This Depression era was one of the most crucial economic disasters the United States had ever seen. It resulted in loss of jobs and uprising of armys. One of the well-known uprisings was Coxey’s Army. This army was started by a man named Jacob S. Coxey. He gathered a group of unemployed men and women; they marched for the government to create jobs so the citizens could live and provide for themselves and their families. Due to the lack of jobs during this Great Depression, a group of unemployed marched on the government in an effort to create jobs.

Jacob S. Coxey was a very popular political

Two years later he married Henrietta Jones. They had four children together. His son, which was conceived during his second marriage, Legal Tender Coxey was the one that was more well known because he was out in public more with him. In 1881, he established the Coxey Silica Sand Company in Massillon, Ohio. His company quickly faced difficult financial time. “It was also a period when long-time unemployment became widespread and many Americans came to the realization the in an industrialized society the threat to economic security represented by unemployment could strike anyone-even those able and willing to work” ( socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu ). Even though he was not affected by this economic crisis, he understood what it meant to be poor and not having money. In the government's failure to assist the United States populace, Coxey formed a protest march. Coxey’s Army was a group

According to the article Panic of 1893, “hundreds of businesses had overextended themselves, borrowing money to expand their operations. When the financial crisis struck, banks and other investment firms began calling in loans, causing hundreds of business bankruptcies. Over fifteen thousand businesses closed down during this time. The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States and a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States. This led to many people, who were unemployed, to speak out towards the government about jobs. A well-known army that was formed during this time was Coxey’s Army.” (ohiohistorycentral.org) The way people lived off of their business and other things came to an end. This made some residents in the United States feel like they were at their wits