Knights of Labour

The Knights of Labor (KOL) a labor group consisting of tailors, focused on perfecting the goals of

The organization was distinctive for is time. There were other labor unions, but the Knights supported trade craftsmen, common laborers, and worked

The Knights of Labor (KOL) and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), both movements stressed that the existing wage and profit system needed to be reform. They both believed in “One big union.” The methods of achieving their goals were different, the KOL believed that employers and employees shared similar interests and that change should be peaceful and gradual; however, the IWW did not agree with that and believed in the use of any method that would result in a quick ‘destruction of capitalism’. The IWW's aim was to build an organization that would embrace all workers to fight for immediate demands as well as for a new industrial common wealth. The KOL’s main goal was long-range economic and social reforms.

The Knights of Labor was a standard labor union comprised of individual workers across the nation. They were inclusive in terms, employing both skilled workers in crafts industries as well as unskilled laborers such as coalminers. (Rayback, 1966, p. 168). They had limited political objectives such as the eight-hour workday and the prohibition of child and convict labor. Their broader objectives were social: to improve the image and social status of the working man.

In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.

Knights are one of the most mistaken figures of the medieval era due to fairytales and over exaggerated fiction novels. When medieval knights roamed the earth, it was known that they were only human and, like humans, had faults. These knights did not always live up to the standards designated by society. However, in The Canterbury Tales, the knight is revealed as a character that would now be considered a knight in shining armor, a perfect role model in how he acts and what he does. Modern day people see them as chivalrous figures instead of their actual role as mounted cavalry soldiers. As time passes, the idea of what a knight is changes from a simple cavalry soldier to a specific type of behavior.

Knights of the Crusade were honest men as well as men of many sins. They were bribed by the church in an inconspicuous manner to fight in a war they deemed blessed by God. The priest of the Catholic

The employers declared their opposition to these Boycotts by saying that were “un-american and anti-american”, and then they went turned to courts against the Unions. The most successful labor union, Knights of Labor was established in 1869 in Philadelphia. The Knights believed in a government determined by the people and production determined by the workers. Labor reform was one of the key objectives of the Knights of Labor. To the Gilded age labor reformers the debasement of politics and society rested in part on the capacity of the rich to corrupt governments in their own self interests. They Knights said that, “We declare an inevitable and irresistible conflict between the wage system of labor and republican system of government” (Rosenzweig,Pg 95-96). Knights of Labor extended their memberships to all of the working-class instead of just limiting to “skilled workers”. They broke the norm from other labor movements by including women, African Americans, Mexicans in their movements, who were previously shut out of the labor movement. While in some states, the Knights held combined assemblies where the Black and the White workers joined forces in demonstrations, some other places held separate assemblies and this garnered criticizm from some the skilled African American laborers(Rosenzweig, Pg 97). The knights excluded non producers such as lawyers, bankers, speculators, and

At first knights and soldiers in the armies were of little social status. “Many knights in fact possessed little more than peasants” (Spielvogel 244). War was looked as kind of a barbaric act in the beginning and many knights could be found fighting each other. While some of this was tolerated, as they were seen as “defenders of society”, the Catholic Church decided that there should be some ground rules. At the start of the eleventh century, the church urged knights to take an oath to protect churches, and to not harm noncombatants. These rules allowed for battles to follow a civil path and to be carried out in a noble way.

The organization was distinctive for is time. There were other labor unions, but the Knights supported trade craftsmen, common laborers, and worked

The Knights of Labor were founded with the goal of promoting an end to child labor, equal pay for women, and cooperation between employers and employees. They were important because they were all-inclusive: women, blacks, and employers were all allowed to join.

As the strength of business leaders and corporations grew, the unskilled laborers were finding themselves in unbearable working conditions. Many workers, including women and children, were working ten to twelve hour days, six days a week, at low wages. Prior to the Civil War, the labor movement was unorganized. However, there were small labor organizations known as Workingmen's Parties, which were the first attempts to organize disgruntled workers during the 1820's and 1830's. Skilled laborers in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago joined workingmen's parties in order to try to control municipal politics in order to protect their interests. Controlled by the middle and upper-class leaders, these groups believed that the workers had the power

The Templar Knights are often associated with the Mary Magdalene controversy. They are mentioned in The Da Vinci Code a number of times and are historically, a mystery. In The Da Vinci Code it says that the Templars found documents in the Temple of Solomon of Magdalene’s personal account of her relationship with Jesus, and the quest for the Holy Grail was to kneel at the bones of the sacred feminine. It further states that the Templars guarded the secret of the “sangreal” documents with the members of the Priory of Sion. These documents would have discussed Jesus’ child and his marriage and therefore the Templars were protecting the bloodline.

Ideas that have been taught in many societies since the first civilizations of Mesopotamia to the world now are duty, loyalty and bravery. No period relied on these ideas more than the Middle Ages time of Europe. The European societies were based on the nature of feudalism. Feudalism worked if everyone in the society did their duty and gave loyalty to everyone above the on the social latter. The knight was the backbone of the feudal society. He was the protector of the heavenly Lord, their lady and the earthly lord. The roles and duties of the knight are quotes as, “the most noble knight under Christ, And the loveliest lades that lived on earth ever, and he the comeliest king, that the court holds.” (P. 26) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight gives a perspective to view life from the courtly aspect of the European feudal

The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) originally began in the arrangements of the Southern Rights Clubs in the mid-1830s. KGC was a secret society in the United States with the original objective to annex a “golden circle” of territories in Mexico, northern South America, Central America, and Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean for enclosure in the United States as slave states. After branching off from the Southern Rights Clubs, KGC reorganized in Lexington, Kentucky, by five men, on July 4, 1854. Evidence advocates that Albert Pike (1809-1891) was the mastermind behind the KGC. Whereas Gen. George W. L. Bickley (1819-1876), was considered the societies chief organizer and leading promoter.