American History Between 1870 and 1920
The years between 1870 and 1920 had been the period of astonishing changes because of the political, social and military upheaval that occurred during the period. Typically, the United States had witnessed several changes that affected the American way of life during the period. For example, period of 1877 -1900 had witnessed the rise of the industrial revolution. The years between 1870 and 1920 were the period of momentous and dynamic changes in the American history because they set in motion the industrial and socio- economic development that shaped the country for several generations which include industrialization, labor strike, westward expansion, immigration, urbanization, and integration of millions of freed American Americans.
The objective of this paper is to explore the fundamental changes that occur between 1870 and 1920 and the impacts on the American life. The paper also explores different labor strikes and massacres that occurred during the era, and methods they affected the different American way of life.
Fundamental Changes between 1870 and 1920
The urbanization, growth of cities, and rise of industrial America represented the greatest changes that occurred to the United States between 1870 and 1920. For the first time in the American history, wage earners outnumber self --employed, and by 1880s, wages earners were the employees of larger corporations. In the same period, skilled workers were remarkably successful, however, relatively high wages demanded by the skilled workers made employers replace them with semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Moreover, many companies devised a mechanization tactic leading deskilling and low wages. The issues resulted led into many bitter strikes that American had ever witnessed. For example, the Pullman Strike of 1894 was the most severe labor conflict in the American history. Typically, the Pullman was the central event in the American labor crisis in the 1890s. Richard believed that the Pullman strike continued to be "one of the important watersheds in American history" (p 3)[footnoteRef:1]. [1: Richard Schneirov, "Labor and the New Liberalism in the Wake of the Pullman Strike," in Richard Schneirov, Shelton Stromquist, and Nick Salvatore, eds., The Pullman Strike and the Crisis of the 1890s (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999), 204-231.]
It is essential to realize that the 1890s crisis culminated within a quarter of a century due to the growing socio-political unrest and volatile socioeconomic development. Typically, the crisis triggered financial panic of 1893 leading to a full-blown depression that lasted for almost five years. In essence, the Pullman strike was characterized by the spectacular violence and bloodshed such as the 1886 Haymarket tragedy. In 1890s, the United States also witnessed another major strike between
"Homestead Steel workers against the Carnegie Corporation, the miners' strikes in the coal mining regions of the East and hard rock states in the West, a longshoremen's strike in New Orleans that united black and white workers, and numerous railroad strikes" ( 5).[footnoteRef:2] [2: Ibid Richard]
Thomas also contributed to the argument by pointing out that the era witnessed a fundamental change in the American history from economic transformation to the labor unrest and conflict[footnoteRef:3]. Thomas identified the Ludlow massacre of 1914 as one of the turning events in the American history where two children, eleven women, and five men were killed. The massacre of the innocent citizens made the Fuel and Iron Company to join in the strike. The outcome of the strike made the management of the company evict miners and their families from company-owned houses. By consequence, the company used the company guards, Colorado militiamen and thugs to carry out the massacre that resulted to the death of 18 striking miners as well as their families. Moreover, 11 children and four women were burnt to death holding each other's hand. The gravity of the massacre made the U.S. authority to intervene and the outcome of the investigation revealed that kerosene was intentionally poured in the tent to set people inside ablaze. Moreover, the guards dug a foxhole in the tent and randomly shot all people so that no one would escape. The nature of the killings of innocent people made Ludlow massacre to be one of the most watershed movement in the American labor relations. Thomas believed that Ludlow Massacre culminated the most violent struggle between labor men and corporate power in American history. The leader of the organized labor responded to the massacre by issuing a call to arms calling all the union members to acquire arms and ammunitions legally and be ready for a guerilla warfare. In response to this call, between 700 and 1000 strikers armed themselves and attacked mines killing or driving out guards and set the building ablaze. The massacre lasted for...
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