The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

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AMERICAN HISTORY

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Part 2: ID Example
ID: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The great railroad strike of 1877 happens to be one of the most impactful events in the
American history. This can be said because this event unleashed a new wave of labor unrest in
the United States that ultimately resulted in labor and employer power conflict. The gradual
appearance of industrialization and its aftermaths started affecting the lives of the workers. The
companies became bigger in size and more workload had been forced onto the workers without
considering the wage they deserved to get. The beginning of these unrests started when in 1877;
the rail lines slashed the wages of the workers followed by the 1873 financial bubble of the
railroad bursting.1
This event has been chosen for the ID because this particular event has become the root
of the later industrial revolution which puts American history of worker struggles on a different
height. The event and its aftermath were so terrible that it saw death of more than 100
Americans.2 On the positive side, this event encouraged many workers to take a stand against the
discrimination they continued to face just for being the powerless section of the society.
Part 3: Historical Connection
Fact 1: The Homestead Act- This Act was necessary for the new settlers for acquiring
lands in America. However, married women had not been given any independent rights of
acquiring lands under this Act.3
Fact 2: Women’s fashion took a new form in the late 19th century. Women started following the
more comfortable clothing and started avoiding tight corsets and covered hemlines.4
Connection:
1. Joseph Locke, Ben Wright, The American Yewp: A Massively Collaborative Open US
History Textbook, Vol.2. (United States: Stanford University Press, 2019), 15.
2. Joseph Locke, Ben Wright, The American Yewp: A Massively Collaborative Open US
History Textbook, Vol.2 (United States: Stanford University Press, 2019), 16.
3. Joseph Locke, Ben Wright, The American Yewp: A Massively Collaborative Open US
History Textbook, Vol.2 (United States: Stanford University Press, 2019), 45.
4. Joseph Locke, Ben Wright, The American Yewp: A Massively Collaborative Open US
History Textbook, Vol.2 (United States: Stanford University Press, 2019), 87.