The Causes Of The Great Railroad Strike Of 1877

The main reason Chinese immigrants came to America after Civil War was for work. As a

During this time the Chinese Exclusion Act was in place, forbidding the entrance of Chinese immigrants into the United States.

As the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, it was realized by the laborers of the railroad that their nation's economic growth and prosperity was not being equally shared among the people. Coupled with years of wage cuts (35% over 3 years), and workforce reductions, that then required remaining workers to work 15-18 hour days, the workers fought back.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 manifested into the first of a series of labor strikes in the United States and the first general strike of the nation. Working on the railroads, labor workers already had poor working conditions and low wages. However, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) had made its second wage cut in the past eight months; both cuts by ten percent. In response to this, labor workers refused to allow any freight trains to roll in and out of the station until the restoration of their original wages. The railroad strikers included individuals from railroad workers to other labor sympathizers alike. The Great Strike of 1877 succeeded for the labor economy because of the large number of labor supporters, the overpowering of the militia, and the power of initiative from the people.

The Canadian Pacific Railway required a great amount of effort to construct. As a solution to this, the Canadian government brought Chinese men to work for them in British Columbia

The law that frustrated Saum Song Bo was the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, prohibiting immigrations of Chinese to the United States.

Crises, such as the great railroad strike of 1877, Homestead strike of 1892, Pullman strike of 1894, and the depression of 1893-1894, were results from the rise of industrial capitalism. By 1900, America produced one-third of the world’s goods. Due to this, cities became polluted and overcrowded, and became breeding grounds for diseases like typhoid and cholera. The working situations were not much better, with unskilled industrial laboring class, child labor, low wages, locked fire doors, and allowance of toxic fumes in the factories; many people were disgusted by the way America’s economy grew, while its people were left in poor health.

Harper’s Weekly, an American magazine, published in New York City from January 3, 1857 until May 13, 1916. Harper’s Weekly contained many topics of interest for its readers including national and international news, informative essays, short stories of fiction and even humorous anecdotes. “Among the recurring features were the political cartoons of Thomas Nast, who was recruited in 1862 and worked with the Weekly for more than 20 years. Nast was a feared caricaturist, and is often called the father of American political cartooning. He was the first to use an elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party” (Halloran). A very famous innovation of Harper's Weekly was the use of many illustrations that helped to highlight the featured articles. These illustrations were a significant part of Harper Weekly’s content and they helped to increase its readership. It also became known for using some of the most famous illustrators of the time including; Winslow Homer, Granville Perkins, Livingston Hopkins and Civil War illustrators Alfred and William Waud. “By 1860 the circulation of the Weekly had reached 200,000. . . Harper's Weekly was the most widely read journal in the United States throughout the period of the Civil War. So as not to upset its wide readership in the South, Harper’s took a moderate editorial position on the issue of slavery. Publications that supported abolition referred to it as Harper’s Weakly” (RareNewspapers). When the Great Strike of 1877 came about, the

The two major Railroad Strikes were the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and Railroad Shop workers Strike of 1922. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, was due to workers not being happy about the pay cuts that were being made by their employer so often. Northern Railroads began cutting salaries and wages. Because of various railroads cutting wages by 10% back to back, workers were not willing to continue working under those conditions. Not only were the wages of the workers being cut, the amount work of work given to the employees increased and the employer did not hire additional workers. This then caused railroad employees to respond by taking control of the rail yard switches, and blocking movement of trains. Throughout various cities such as Baltimore, Pittsburg, St. Louise, and Chicago, Violent acts began to occur. Many people died throughout the cities. The strike cause the country’s commerce to become paralyzed and pushed governors in different states to utilize militia members to reopen rail traffic. This action also helped set the stage for violence that would occur later in the 1880s and 1890s.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was tailored to cripple the immigration of Chinese into the United States, because they were deemed inassimilable and seen as uncivilized, unclean and filthy, creating an anti-Chinese fervor (Zia). This era promoted resentment towards Chinese which further escalated, with the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 that extended to other Asian groups. Nonetheless, this did not prevent Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. Chinese found loopholes in the law that allowed them to bring their family members as ‘paper sons’. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco destroyed municipal records, which catalyzed immigration from China by allowing Chinese-men to claim US citizenship and bring their family from China

After the increased suppression of international slave trade during the mid nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants were frowned upon in America due to the fact that they were depicted as a threat to the U.S economy. As a result, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed and banished a vast majority of Chinese people in America. Based on the documents provided, it can be concluded that the Chinese Exclusion Act, despite being morally incorrect, was an inefficient ordinance that caused an abundance of controversy in America. Based on document A, during this time frame, there was a great amount of racist feelings towards the Chinese. This is shown in a play called “The Chinese Must Go” by Henry Grimm, which depicts the Chinese in a negative

Amongst the Asian immigrants who were the first exposed to the hatred of nativist white folks, was the Chinese immigrants who came here in the 1800s for gold and other opportunities that China could not give them. Before coming nobody ever heard stories of how much hate white Americans had for the Asians, so there was no way of knowing. Amongst all things newspapers were one of the top contributors on the fight against immigration and put out some really hurtful editorials. Thomas Magee who was aligned with the Knights of Labor an organization against immigrant labor, writes in one of his articles “MEN FROM CHINA come here to do LAUNDRY WORK...Every one doing this work takes BREAD from the mouths of OUR WOMEN.”1 A very provocative statement

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, was the first significant law that restricted immigration into the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed in by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882. This new law was only supposed to be in effect for ten years but instead was renewed every ten years until 1943 (WWII).

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was America’s first nationwide strike. The strike was a result of a 10 percent pay deduction by four of the largest railroads. “Nearly 100,000 workers were idled and approximately two-thirds of the railroad mileage across the Unites States was shut down with over 14 states and ten railroads involved” (AP Study Notes: Rise of Unions). President Hayes eventually sent troops to coral the strikers but they were so unorganized that they eventually stopped and went back to work.

Unemployment was rising rapidly and had reached over 2 million men by the summer of 1921- people were losing their jobs in shipyards, cotton mills and coalmines across Britain. This was quite an important factor which helped to lead to the General Strike. If post-war England had been how it was anticipated to be then it is extremely improbable people would have been inclined to strike, in this way the General Strike may have been prevented. However since they were dissatisfied with the conditions they were working in they went on strike with the miners with the conception it would prevent their working conditions from being lowered.