Gilded Age Unions

Gilded Age Unions

by Mr. Beavers

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes a labor union?

• an organization meant to protect the owner of a factory/business

• an organization meant to protect the interests of factory workers (or any group of laborers)

Multiple Choice

Which event in labor union history included a near-nationwide strike on the B&O Railroad?

• Great Strike of 1877

• Haymarket Square Riot

• Homestead Strike

• Pullman Strike

Multiple Choice

Which event in labor union history included an attack on Chicago police and the ensuing riot that followed?

• Great Strike of 1877

• Haymarket Square Riot

• Homestead Strike

• Pullman Strike

Poll

Who do you blame for these violent labor disputes most?

• the workers

• law enforcement

• wealthy factory owners

• economic recession

Multiple Choice

Which event in labor history is connected to the economic downturn that resulted from the Panic of 1873?

• Great Strike of 1877

• Haymarket Square Riot

• Homestead Strike

• Pullman Strike

Multiple Choice

Did these violent labor events lead to widespread sympathy for the workers? Or a widespread distrust of labor unions?

• widespread distrust of labor unions

• widespread sympathy for labor unions

​Thanks for reviewing.

​Please now open your green textbook

​

to page 266

​

​Let's add a little more to your knowledge of these labor disputes.

Fill in the Blanks

Under the green "The Great Strike of 1877" heading, read through the first sentence. In what month did the Great Railroad Strike begin?

Fill in the Blanks

Under the green "The Great Strike of 1877" heading, read the last sentence of the page. In what month did the Great Railroad Strike end?

Multiple Choice

How many miles of track was closed due to the Great Strike of 1877?

• 50

• 500

• 5000

• 50,000

Multiple Choice

How did President Rutherford B. Hayes (from Ohio, his wife Lemonade Lucy grew up in Chillicothe) respond to the strike?

• he didn't concern himself with the strike, since he had just taken office

• he sent federal troops to restore the peace

Multiple Choice

Check out the top of 267. How many people were gathered in Chicago's Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886?

• 12,000

• 1200

Multiple Choice

Check out the top of 267. Did government investigators ever discover who threw the bomb into the police line?

• No

• Yes

Multiple Choice

Check out the top of 267. Of the eight workers who were convicted in the bombing, how many were hanged?

• Four

• All 8

​Watch this segment of US History Crash Course #23

​

Multiple Choice

According to that clip, what specific union suffered the most as a result of the fallout for unions after the Haymarket Affair?

• National Labor Union

• Knights of Labor

• American Federation of Labor

• Industrial Workers of the World

Multiple Choice

According to that clip, the Knights of Labor allowed:

• only skilled, white, native-born American workers

• unskilled workers, blacks, and women, as well as white men

​More John Green

​

Multiple Choice

According to that clip, the union that took up where the Knights of Labor left off was:

• American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Congress of Industrial Organizations

Multiple Choice

According to that clip, the leader of the AFL (pictured here) was:

• Samuel Gompers

• Big Bill Haywood

​Please go back to your textbook.

​Please turn

​

​to page

​

​263

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "National Labor Union."  This was the first widespread union.  

How many states did the NLU spread to?

• all 50, by 1869

• 13

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "National Labor Union." 

Originally wanting women and black Americans to join, the NLU found that many local unions did not want to admit African Americans.

What was created to help unionize black workers, then?

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

• Colored National Labor Union (CNLU)

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "National Labor Union." 

The NLU grew to 640,000 members.

What did the NLU's strength persuade Congress to do in 1868?

• 8-hour workday for federal government employees

• overtime pay for steel workers

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "National Labor Union." 

The NLU eventually formed its own political party.

What did that party (Labor Reform Party) do in 1872?

• established a minimum wage

• ran a candidate for president

​Keep reading...

​Check out the green heading called "Knights of Labor"

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "Knights of Labor." 

The motto of the Knights of Labor was:

• equal pay for equal work

• an injury to one is the concern of all

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "Knights of Labor." 

Finish the quote: "Membership in the KofL was open to all workers..."

• "...regardless of race, gender, or degree of skill."

• "...except women."

Multiple Choice

Read the section on 263 in green labeled "Knights of Labor." 

The KofL believed that women:

• should receive equal pay to men if they did the same work

• should never receive equal pay to men

​Head to the top of page 264

​look above the red heading for now

Multiple Choice

Read very top of 264.

The leader of the KofL that grew their numbers tremendously was:

• Samuel Gompers

• Terrence Powderly

​Turn to page 265.

​

Multiple Choice

At the very top of 265, a few lines below the bold "collective bargaining"...

Samuel Gompers was the president of the American Federation of Labor.  What was the major tactic used by the AFL to achieve their goals?

• strikes

• getting presidents elected who were sympathetic to the workers in the late 1800s

Multiple Choice

At the very top of 265, a few lines below the bold "collective bargaining"...

By 1915, the AFL won:

• shorter work weeks for unionized workers

• longer work weeks for unionized workers

Fill in the Blanks

Look at the bottom of page 265.  

There is a certain type of economic system that focuses on government control of businesses and business property and in theory desires equal distribution of wealth.

This system had a high appeal for workers in the Gilded Age.

What was this system called?

Multiple Choice

Turn to the top of 266.

the most radical union of the late 1800s/early 1900s was:

• Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)

• the American Railway Union

Multiple Choice

Turn back to 265 and look for the bold term "Eugene Debs"

He was the leader of the:

• Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)

• the American Railway Union

​Now turn to

​page 267.

​

​Go to the green heading called "Homestead Strike"

Multiple Choice

The Homestead steel factory was owned by:

• John D. Rockefeller

• Andrew Carnegie

Multiple Choice

According to the purple-ish box on 267, one reason for the the Homestead strike was:

• workers had too many choices for unions to join

• dangerous working conditions

Multiple Choice

The plant manager/company president of Homestead was named:

• Henry Clay Frick (what a sweet name!)

• Eugene V. Debs

Multiple Choice

The Homested Strike began when:

• Frick decided to cut wages

• Frick offered health insurance to employees

Multiple Choice

Frick hired scabs to work in the place of striking workers at Homestead.  Which seems like the better definition of "scab"?

• replacement workers, also called strikebreakers, who were often immigrants, who worked in the place of workers who were on strike

• police who would be hired to work in the place of striking workers

Multiple Choice

Frick hired which detective agency to protect (violently) the Homestead steel plant from striking workers?

(This group had been the original bodyguards of presidents like Abe Lincoln...obviously they failed there...)

• National Guard

• Pinkertons

Multiple Choice

Essentially a battle erupted between the Pinkertons and the striking workers. 

The National Guard arrived to put down the strikers' revolt.

What does the text say was the result of this strike for the workers?

• they won a 10% pay raise

• steel unions lost support for another 40 years after the strike

​Go to the green heading

​on page 267

​

​called "The Pullman Strike"

Multiple Choice

The Pullman Strike occurred during the aftermath of what economic disaster?

• Panic of 1873

• Panic of 1893

Multiple Choice

Which did the Pullman company NOT do?

(Pictured is what the Pullman company produced, sleeping palace cars, or luxury train cars for wealthy train riders)

• they did not offer paid vacations to employees

• they did not lay off more than half of their workers

• they did not cut wages of their employees

Multiple Choice

in 1894, when the depression began to lift, Pullman hired back many employees, but did not restore wages to their pre-Panic levels.  

Who called for a strike at that point?

• Andrew Carnegie

• Eugene V. Debs

• Big Bill Haywood

Multiple Choice

in 1894, when the depression began to lift, Pullman hired back many employees, but did not restore wages to their pre-Panic levels.  

Who called for a strike at that point?

• Andrew Carnegie

• Eugene V. Debs

• Big Bill Haywood

Turn to

​the top of

​

​the next page

​

​page 268

Multiple Choice

Did the strike turn violent?

• No, never

• Yes, once scabs (strikebreakers) were hired by Pullman

Multiple Choice

What did President Cleveland do, once railroad traffic halted because of the violent strike?

• he sent federal troops in to end the strike and stop the violence

• he sided with the workers

Multiple Choice

What happened to Eugene Debs at the end of the strike?

• he was thrown in jail

• he was elected to the Senate

​Now, consider

​all that you have learned

​

​thus far

​

about unions and strikes

Open Ended

Do you blame the companies for their treatment of the workers?

or

Do you blame the workers for being violent?