Topic: Government and Labor
Learning Objective: You will be able to determine how the
government changed the lives of workers in the late 1890s.
Do Now:
- Define Strike and Union
- Handout:
Circle any People, Underline
any Dates, Box anything that is a violation of the workers’ rights.
Be sure to fill in at least
five columns in the Questions/ Main
Ideas/ Key Words/ Thoughts section.
The Haymarket
Riot (1886):
After a large number of strikes,
1,500 strikes by 1886, with little result. Many strikes began to turn violent.
Perhaps the most notorious (shameful) of these confrontations (fights) was the
Haymarket Riot. In the Chicago area, workers that were upset with the way they
were being treated called for all workingmen to “Appear in full force,” at
Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 3, 1886 to protest the killing of fellow
strikers. When an unknown person threw a bomb, violence quickly erupted.
The Homested Strike
(1892):
After maintaining (keeping)
peace for a number of years following the Haymarket Riot of Chicago Industrial
unrest (fighting) broke out again in 1892. The conflict began after Carnegie’s
Homestead steel cut the wages (money earned per hour). This causes the workers
to go on strike. The plant responded by hiring 300 detectives to be private
security for the plant. The detectives were there to maintain the security of
the building, this created a destruction between those striking, the workers and those paid
to protect the building, the detectives. This resulted in 16 deaths and with
that the violence soon spread to other factories. This was only resolved with
the help of state military officials.
The Pullman
Strike (1894):
After a couple years of peace once
more the owner of the Pullman Sleeping-Car Factory, George Pullman, decided to
cut wages in addition to refusing to lower prices in his stores in his company
town. In a company town, factory workers lived and worked in a town that was
owned and operated by the heads of the companies. In this instance (example) the
strikers were backed by the head of the American Railway Union (ARU), Eugene V.
Debs, who had a substantial (large) amount of union experience. Debs was
calling for a boycott of all trains by Pullman employees as well as other
railway workers. This led to the train companies to asking for government aid
by the United States Government. With the aid of the Government many ARU
officials as well as strikers were jailed. The United States Government sided
with businesses against the American people and labor unions.
Direct Instruction:
The
Haymarket Riot (1886):
“Appear in full force,” at Chicago’s Haymarket
Square on May 3, 1886 to protest the killing of fellow strikers. When an
unknown person threw a bomb, violence quickly erupted.
Government Decision:
The
Homested Strike (1892):
•Workers
went on strike, violence soon spread to other factories. This was only resolved
with the help of state military officials.
The
Pullman Strike (1894):
•Wages
were cut and striking began, which led to a boycott on across the railroads.
The train companies asked for aid from the United States Government. With the
aid of the Government many strikers were jailed.
Clip Analysis:
Simpsons Striking
Questions:
1.What are the people in the video doing?
2.What are they trying to accomplish?
3.How are they trying to accomplish this?
4.Who is depicted (shown) as the villain in
this scene?
Activity:
In
your groups:
•Create
picket signs for the cause of your choosing.
•Sign
must include:
oWhat industry you work for.
oWhy you’re striking.
•Along
with your picket sign create a slogan which sums up your feelings.
Summary:
Answer
the following question with complete sentences in a full paragraph. How did
business and the government respond to labor activism in the late 1800s?
