The Knights of Labor

   
                               The Knights of Labor was one of the biggest and most important labor organizations in the United States. A very important leaver was Terence V. Powderly, who was Irish politician and was head of the Knights of Labor in the late 1880s. The purpose of the Knights of Labor was in order to unite skilled and unskilled workers in order to fight for rights, and economic, and social reforms. One of the beliefs of Terence V. Powderly was that he did not want Chinese immigrants to come into the country because they took away the jobs from the Native Americans. He became acquainted with the ideology of the Greenbacks because they believed that the producers were the workers. The Knights of Labor were mainly known for doing strikes, however, Terence disliked strikes because he believed that strikes would drive the workers away and would result in simply in workers organizing and not actually making a change.

                          In 1869, the Knights of Labor adopted the Declaration of Principles, which delineated every change they wanted in the law in order for workers to have more rights.   In 1885, the union achieved the first successful national union in the United States with great influence and a large membership. One of the problems with the Knights of Labor, was that they were too disorganized to try to against the corporations that they were trying to get rights from. The reason as to why they were not able to do anything was because the leader, Terence V. Powderly, forbade them to use strike against the corporations which was one of the greatest tools they every had. In two occasions, Terence ended two major strikes for trying to get an eight hour day, in which they could have won against the Texas and Pacific Railroad and against Chicago Meatpacking House Industry. Terence was afraid of loosing the support of the Catholic Church because he did not want them to think they were trying to cause a "social revolution", which was when they started to loose a lot of their influence.

                    In the year 1886, there was a major riot, the Haymarket Massacre, in which there was a bombing against Haymarket Square. The bombing was blamed on workers and two of them were from the Knights of Labors. This riot first began as a peaceful rally in order to support that workers get eights hours a day, but a few civilians threw bombs at the police and then the massacre started. This bombs cause a lot of the memberships to be returned because of the rumors that linked the Knights of Labor with the massacre. This caused the end of the Knights of Labor because they wanted to cause a change but with the refusal of the leader they were not making any changes.

The Strikes

    



                             George C. Pullman was an engineer and industrialist who first started his career in Chicago. One of the techniques which resulted in him being extremely successful was when he went to work with his father moving houses when the Erie Canal started to flood, was shifting houses onto newly built foundations. In Chicago he wanted to built the first sewer system, but because the streets were so muddy they were not able to hold the pipes properly. As a result, he came up with the idea to put the sewer system on top of the city and then covering, this system became extremely successful. He was also responsible for being one of the engineers to want to construct bigger buildings and formed the Ely. Smith & Pullman partnership who constructed the first hotel named Tremont House. When the sleeper cars were built he created the Palace Car Company.

                          In 1864, George C. Pullman finished his first sleeper car, which was an idea taken from packet boats that traveled in the Erie Canal. One of the reasons why the sleeper car was successful was because he arranged that President Abraham Lincoln's body would be transported from Washington D.C to Springfield inside a sleeper car. People started to order more and more sleeper cars, they eventually became only affordable to the "middle class" because they cost five more times than normal railway car. He wanted to keep expanding his business to those who were rich and invented sleeper cars that had great food and expensive furniture. Those who worked in the who worked in the sleeper cars were mainly African Americans or former slaves; however, the job was considered prestigious because it paid well. The only reason as to why George C. Pullman hired African Americans was because he thought that they had the right amount of servitude in order to serve the white men in his "Palace Cars".

                 In 1880, George C. Pullman bought four-thousands acres of land in Chicago, for eight hundred million dollars. The reason why he bought the land was in order to create a model community in order to attract skill workers and create a healthy environment that would be available to every working class. In 1884 the town was completed and it had over one thousands homes with water and gas. In 1894, the Pullman Strike begun, since most of the factory workers were required to live in the company town. Not only were the workers required to live their, but also hop, attend school, and were paid only in company money. The workers felt like prisoners living in the town because everything they wanted to do needed to be approved by George C. Pullman. In 1893, there was an economic downfall and George C. Pullman was forced to reduce wages of his workers by twenty five percent. This resulted in the downfall of the company town because often the prices of the shops stayed the same or even rose. The only way for the workers to gain the justice they deserved was by going on a strike until George C. Pullman met their demands. This attempt was destroyed by President Grover Cleveland who ordered federal troops to eliminate the strike, and while doing so many workers were killed in the violent attempts.

Reconstruction and Race Problems Historians

Kenneth M. Stampp: Radical Reconstruction:

The historian, Kenneth M. Stamp, argued that the only way that African Americans would obtain their rights is by getting assistance in the Homestead Acts. He also believed that the only way for African Americans to obtain equality is for them to have a land to work for themselves. A life changing agency was the Freedman's Bureau which aided freed slaves to obtain everything they needed to start a new life. This Bureau provided food, shelter, and medical care for those who were previous slaves and help establish themselves from the difficult transition of being a slave to becoming a civilian. President Andrew Johnson decided to veto the bill, however, Congress did not allow him to. After this scandal, the bill was exteded this helped the freed slaves because the agency had the right to verify work contracts and have courts for African Americans. 

Guion Griffis Johnson: Southern Paternalism Toward Negroes After Emancipation:

During this transition of slaves adating to civilian life many people had different ideas as to how this came to be. Guion Griffis Johnson, explained that this way of thinking could be defined in five different way of thinking. One way was called modified equalitarianism, which was to give freed slaves the right education in order to be able to advocate in politics and order important work positions. Another form of thinking was benevolent paternalism, white men claimed that they knew what the freed slaves needed and believed that they owed and great debt to the freed slaves for working on their lands for so long. Separate but equal, believed that freed slaves deserved education but it could not be the same as the whites. Those who were separate and permanently unequal claimed the African Americans were their own race and would never achieve high ranking positions. The last way of thinking was, permanently unequal under parental supervision believed that freed slaves were intellectually blind and could not advance in education, the whites said that they would be able to protect them as long as they continued to be slaves. 

C. Vann Woodward: Capitulation to Racism:

The historian, C. Vann Woodward, published a book in which he explains the Jim Crows laws in the South. He claims that these laws were not there to create hatred but that the hatred was already established in the South. One way that hatred was not thrown fully out into the South was because of the Northern Liberalism who were always talking about rights in ways such as the press, and in government. The Northerners started to say that the laws were the ones who created racism. Capitulation to Racism was the right to vote for freed slaves, and the reason as to why freed slaves did not vote was because of the fear that the whites caused in freed men. The historian believed that racism was caused by the progress of the South and accepting the freed slaves.