The Strike of 1877

The strike of 1877 was an event where a new industry that was supposed to bring great prosperity to our country turned into an a tragedy in American History. Along with many wages being cut, riots and protests broke out all over the country which caused physical harm or even death to many. The railway systems of the United States were supposed to help being people together all over the country; instead it divided people among social class and caused great fights between Americans all over. Although the Great Strike of 1877 had mostly to do with railroad monopolies and unfair wages, it brought out the worst in people with riots turning up all over the country.

The country was already in an economic depression at the time the strike occured. The Jay Cooke and Company banking firm had failed miserably. This was one of the nations leading investment bankers, so their failure greatly affected the country. We now refer to this time as the Panic of 1873 and this was the beginning of the striking all around the country.

With the end of the Civil War the country experienced a great growth. The government was giving out many land grants to businesses, especially railroads, to meet the increasing needs of the country. The industry that took the greatest shot was the railroad company forcing them to do major cutbacks twice with railroad workers salary. Jay Cooke's company was a large investor in the railroad, so when the economy collapsed so did their financial standings of the company. The government was solely

providing money for the railroad projects and cutbacks to the workers were made. Cutbacks caused the strikes to begin and caused social classes to clash with one another.

After reading the prologue, I discovered that the Great Strike of 1877 played a huge role on America's prosperity. Our country had just come out of a war and Americans still had that fighting spirit. Fighting for their rights was not anything new to them and bigger wages was an important cause. The war being over was supposed to symbolized prosperity to many and this sudden drop in many American's pay was almost going backwards to them.

The strike itself most certainly put tension between the social classes in the United States. Social classes had always existed, but the stress between them was never evident. The higher classes had control of many of the railroad companies all across the country. They were losing money during the time of economic depression and were trying to find anyway to make ends meet, even if it meant taking it from the hardworking American's pay. Not one, but two pay cuts were made which caused the working class community to fight back.

The Great Strike was a tragedy in American history, but it did teach us some lessons. Workers formed unions to protect themselves, their jobs, and their wages. Business owners learned to not over employ and under pay their staff. Government

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