Wounded Knee: The Pullman Strike Of 1894

The laborers demanded a 20%, greater protection and rights, and have the work day reduced to nine hours instead of ten. The stubbornness of the corporation would ultimately be their own defeat. The strike was becoming a substantial burden on the United States due to the diminishing amount of coal being produced. Due to this, Roosevelt decided to intervene. It is true that Roosevelt threatened the mine owners when no negotiation was met, but this would be the first time a president sided with a union over corporations. This is quite a revolutionary action for unions, because Roosevelt heard the people’s voice and answered. The owners agreed, and the workers got the terms the union had been fighting for. Roosevelt is known to be overly expressive, so he also convinced Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and the Meat Inspection Act. Congress was cautious in passing these acts due to the amount of influence the meat industry had, but Roosevelt was the man that convinced Congress. These acts protect

Even in booming communities such as the city of Pullman that George Pullman started back in 1880, even encountered violence and riots. Due to an economic depression in 1893, over half of the workers of this company had to be fired, while the rest had their pay checks majorly cut. This made them very angry since they were now unable to pay rent in Pullman or support their lifestyles. This caused an official strike in the year 1894, where workers were led by Eugene Debs, the creator of the failed Industrial Workers of the World union. Pullman resisted from negotiations, motivating the laborers to start boycotting train cars as part of the American Federation of Labor. Unfortunately, strikes began turning violent again as army troops were required

After joining the American Railway Union, the strikes on railroad workers became national news. “During the first week of showdown, nearly 100,000 railway workers refused to handle Pullman cars The General Manager’s Association

He would be associated with this union for the next 18 years. By 1875 he had built a reputation as an outstanding citizen and was named the secretary of the Vigo County BLF, this would be his entry into the field of labor organization. During this time he was closely associated with the railroad workers and saw their consistent oppression by their capitalist employers. Despite this he was dedicated to maintaining a union comprised of sober outstanding laborers who could best serve their employers. By 1879 he was elected grand secretary of the BLF and editor of the magazine. In this role he gained crucial experience in labor organizing on a larger scale and elevated his status as a effective leader in the labor movement. During this time he saw consistent wage cuts forced on these upstanding citizens and workers which began to galvanize the idea within him that the corporations were not interested in the quality of labor of their employees. Instead they were interested in only creating a profit for themselves at any cost and reducing the value of a man to his work.

     Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, in New York City a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. One of the worst tragedies in American history it was know as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was a disaster that took the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. A fire that broke out in a cramped sweatshop that trapped many inside and killed 146 people.

The extremely violent nature of the Pullman Strike led by ARU caused the public to protest strikes, especially against the newcomers who were working in the railway industries (Winston). After the successful Great Northern Railway strike, the ARU participate in the Pullman Strike, demanding the rollback of the recently reduced wages (Winston). During the Pullman Strike, the mobs burned and looted railroad cars (Winston). The strikers were mostly composed of foreign workers since railway industries provided harsh working conditions, so only new immigrants accepted the jobs (Winston). Furthermore, the Pullman Palace Car Company hired primarily black strikebreakers, attempting to initiate racism of the strikers (Winston). Most notably, local presses associated the strikers as anarchists and communists who came from foreign countries, while highlighting the racist behaviors of the strikers (Winston). Consequently, American citizens started to associate labor movements as the actions of foreign communists and anarchists to overthrow their country (Winston). Also, the association which came from the Pullman strike indirectly contributed to the cause of the Red Scare (Winston). The public believed that the violent actions were attempts of Communists to overthrow America to establish a communist state (Winston). Since Eugene Debs led the American Railway

Further evidence of the government’s support for the employers was illustrated by Cleveland’s use of Pinkerton agents to suppress the Pullman strike. The Pullman strike illustrates the often hostile approach of governments in the early part of the period, as the Federal government occasionally was active in their support for the employers, to the detriment of the workers, whose strike for higher wages failed as a result of the government.

The book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was written by Dee Brown. Dee Brown wrote a handful of books and the central theme around those books were tales of Native Americans and civil war stories. He spent a long time studying different tribes all around the United States. He has brought out the voice of the Native Americans which was muffled and silenced by the army and government. This book brought much awareness to a cause many had forgotten about, and to the shock of many when they realized he was not a Native American. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee tells the stories of many Native American tribes and their hardships when facing the government, army, and settlers. While reading this book, I came to quite a shock. I learned the point of view that was hidden in history books, the loss instead of the win, and the sadness felt throughout the book that made it unpleasant to read. I believe this book has brought to light the mistreatment of Native Americans in the past, the main hardships including countless false treaties, harsh treatments from the settlers, and the unjust massacres. I found this book to be quite a difficult read but incredibly worth it. It is written in such a manner that you feel immersed, you feel the all the emotions and imagine how everything came to be. It is figurative, but also incredibly factual. In the beginning of almost every chapter, before the actual start, there is small paragraph with the year and the events in that following year, a quote, or

It took many years for the commissions and unions to get the changes implemented. Today, regardless of OSHA enforcement, there are still workplaces with locked or blocked emergency exits. Due to the lesson that was learned in the Triangle fire, we now have organizations like OSHA, NFPA, state and local municipals that make code and enforce standards. Their goal is to ensure the safety of lives and property by enforcing the codes and standards of all workplaces

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.

George Pullman was the developer of the Pullman Palace Car, creating his own factory town of Pullman, Chicago. With the massive success of the railroads, Pullman made a fortune producing his luxury sleeping cars. He is well known for suppressing his striking workers in Pullman. When a depression struck the country, he slashed wages the wages of his workers while keeping the wages of his associates and the price of living the same. This created uproar and led to a strike amongst his workers, eventually backed by Eugene Debs’ American Railway Union. The strike was violently put down, showing that labor unions had little power to negotiate.

Wounded Knee was a terrible event in US history. It showed how the US government didn't understand the Native Americans and treated them badly and unfairly.

The Pullman Strike was an effect to the Pullman Palace Car Company hit a depression and cut workers’ wages 25-40 percent while keeping the rent and housing prices the same. Many of the workers joined the American Railroad Union. Debs, socialists that followed Karl Marx’s classless society, backed up the workers which resulted in them being jailed. The strike is an example of a secondary labor boycott. The workers cut off the town from food and goods. President Cleveland ordered troops to break up the strike. The federal courts issued an injunction

Taft knew his techniques would be different from Roosevelt. Unlike Roosevelt Taft did not believe in stretching his presidential powers. In foreign affairs Taft pursued an active role in Latin America. Taft thought of the idea of a World court to deal with issues all over the world. Domestic issues included Taft shunning many progressive republicans by defending the Payne-Aldrich act which continued high tariff taxes. A trade agreement with Canada was pushed through congress with Taft’s help, but unfortunately the Canadians rejected it.

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the 10-floor Asch Building, a block east of Manhattan's Washington Square. This is where 500 mostly young immigrant girls were producing shirts for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes, it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders weren't tall enough. Exits were locked, and the narrow fire escapes were inadequate. Panicked, many jumped from the windows to their deaths. People on the street watched in horror. The flames were under control in less than a half hour, but 146 people perished, 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in the city's history.