19th Century American Labor Essay

After the civil war, up until the early 1900s, the need for a larger workforce grew as industrialization expanded. Samuel Slater brought the industrial revolution from England, and even since then, there were people trying to get better working conditions. Due to the growth in population by immigrants and expansion of industrialization, the working conditions became worse and worse, causing workers to suffer. Many people fought to solve this problem and changed many American’s lives for the better.

Cartoonists were protesting everywhere, screaming out, standing on top of soapboxes. They gave shouts of, "DISNEY UNFAIR!" . Cartoonists held up placards that included phrases such as "ONE GENIUS AGAINST 1,200 GUINEA PIGS", and a picture of Pluto the dog with the phrase, "I'D RATHER BE A DOG THAN A SCAB!". Strikers and non-strikers alike exchanged harsh words, "Fink", "Scab", "Commie", and the like. Gunshots were fired. A non-striker poured a circle of gasoline around the agitators and made a threat to drop a lit cigarette onto it.8 The other events that took place over the course of the nine week long strike were absolutely brutal. Walt became convinced that communists had invaded his studio and reported the dissidents to the House Un-American

Political cartoons could be defined as illustrations or cartoon strips that contain a social and/or political message in them. Political cartoons are often based on the current events around when they were written.

As the exploitation of the government came to light, Congress was forced to save face and demonstrate a neutrality towards businesses. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1877 quenched the thirst for change because it regulated railroads and the pools being formed. It called for carriers to decline from offering “undue…preferences” to any particular person, company, firm, etc. Favoritism would be eliminated, but so would opportunity to advance competitively as exemplified in the act of legislature of 1888. Apprentices that had been indentured had a right to properly learning the skill of their practiced trade. However, as technological advances took control of factories, laborers lost relevance to production. They no longer needed to be mindful of operating machines considering the machine itself did most of the services. A balance between employers and laborers was virtuously necessary, but concluded in a stalemate. (Doc 4, Doc 5)

Labor unions have been instrumental in the lives of workers throughout American history, and have led to important advances in the American workforce. Throughout history there have been patterns of exploitation of immigrant workers by businesses in order to increase profits; the Mexican migrant workers of southern California are the most recent historical group to fall into this pattern of exploitation mostly from their lack of organization. Cesar E. Chavez was a great organizer and leader of the United Farm Workers labor union. Robert Kennedy referred to him as “one of the heroic figures of our time.”

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The words chosen by the writer suggests that they do not agree with the actions of the labor unions. Other times, the newspapers would associate them with violence. During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Charles M. Dollar Along with seeing labor movements as radical, many labor movements were labeled socialist by the media. In the cartoon in Document C, the labor movement is shown to be influenced by socialist controls. Considering the generally negative connotation that came with communism in the United States, when newspapers like Harper’s Weekly labeled organized labor as socialist, many people developed a negative attitude towards organized labor. The disapproval of organized labor was not exclusive to the American public but also the federal government. During the late 20th century, the Supreme Court became increasingly conservative on the issue of organized labor. In the Supreme Court case In re Debs, the court ruled that federal government controlled interstate commerce and was obligated to keep the railroads from obstructions and in that specific case, strikes or protests. The fact that a good portion of the American public and the federal government saw organized labor as a detriment; it was no surprise that organized labor

In the 21st century, our whole economy is depended upon technology. However, from the end of the Civil War and into the early 1900s, the economy was industrializing. However, industrialization created a larger need for larger workforce. The working conditions changed, but it often caused hardships for workers. As a result, the government, groups and individuals attempt to solve many problems such as low wages, child labor, and unsafe working conditions through the passing of laws and workers’ union.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

I understood the meaning behind this political cartoon because it displayed Jackson above a globe map, telling Lincoln “Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever!!” which got my attention that Andrew was trying to help Lincoln make the union better. In the political cartoon, Lincoln replied to Andrew by saying “A few more stiches Andy

It was thought by the general public that the laborers were attempting to destroy the very hand that was feeding them, and with it the economy, as depicted in one of Nast’s famous political cartoons.

The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a

In the 1800s almost everything was created in a factories. You need people to work in there so it created more jobs for people to work at. A lot of the times it was kids working in there because they are small and can get in the small parts of the machines so it made the adults jobs easier but put a lot of kids in danger of the machines. The conditions in the factories were always bad. If it was in the summer the workers would get very hot and in the winter they would mostly freeze and it would be hard for them to work. They would have to work very long periods at a time and would have to work 12 hours or more a day. This would make the workers very tired and not have almost any free time and live some workers to work at night for most of their

The phrase ‘Rise Of Smokestack America’ is often used in reference to the industrial revolution during which America’s industrial growth led to the growth of factories and modern cities, the development of social classes due to division of labor and race. During this period, the American labor force transformed tremendously as the nation evolved from a largely agricultural society into a relatively modern society.

Since the beginnings of industrialization in the United States, a struggle between the rights of individuals working in industry and manufacturing and the desire of the ownership of these endeavors to maximize profits has raged. As various eras in history passed, labor movements in the United States met with varying degrees of success. The fortunes of labor movements in the United States has ebbed and flowed along with other key factors in American society. In times when human rights and the rights of the individual were national priorities, the labor movement prospered, in times where businesses and profitability were the priority, the labor movement faltered.