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The Labor Union Movement In The 1800's

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The labor Union movement played a big impact during the late 1800’s that we as American’s have benefitted from still to this day. The idea is basic: better working conditions, better compensation for the work being done. Up to this timeframe, farming was a primary source of subsistence as well as finance for many typical American households. However as the Country grew and industry began it’s reign on the American economy, many of these former farmers and their children took to working for a salary. Unfortunately, as seems to be a trend within history, the people that control the money tend to treat their employees with little regard until someone steps in to speak up for these workers. The National Grange of the Patron of Husbandry, founded in 1876. Their primary ideals center around the notion “to counter the new power of corporate middlemen through cooperation and mutual aid.” (A. 530) Pretty much these guys didn’t want corporate America to change the values that they grew up knowing. They didn’t want a middleman to deal with, either, whether it was with their money or their other business affairs. This organization played a crucial role in the formation of the Greenback-Labor party, and remained prominent throughout the latter 19th Century. …show more content…

530) This organization became “the most important union of the late nineteenth century” (A. 530) for many positive influences, but more importantly for taking the biggest blow to their movement from the violence in Haymarket Square, Chicago on May 4, 1886. Though the Knights originally protested during this time against the McCormick reaper works, they had already arranged an agreement and were not responsible for a bomb going off that killed four strikers. Unfortunately the Knights took a major step backward when the incident happened and never truly

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