HIST363
Assessment 7: Capital and Labor Relations, 1880–1920
One of the most important results of the process of global industrialization has been the
rise of new forms of organized labor. This assessment will help you identify and explain
key concepts, people, and events from the history of organized labor by examining a
very specific context: the struggle between organized labor and capitalists in the United
States around the turn of the twentieth century. This was one of the most contentious
periods in the battle between labor and capital, when people literally fought in the
streets and in factories about their right to work and under what conditions. It is
important to understand this tumultuous period, because it provides the context for
much of the relationship between labor and capital in the twentieth century.
Please use the following questions to help guide your reading of the University of
Houston’s Digital History readings, “Industrialization and the Working Class.” Try to
answer the questions as you read; this exercise will help you learn to take good notes
on a reading. After you’ve completed the reading and the following questions, compare
your notes to the Saylor Foundation’s “Answer Guide for Assessment 7: Capital and
Labor Relations, 1880–1920.”
1. What is the critical difference that Werner Sombart observed between the U.S.
working class and the working classes of Europe regarding electoral politics?
2. What were the sources of tension between workers and capitalists in the late
nineteenth century?
3. What were two major sources of controversy within the labor movement about what
their ultimate goals should be?
4. How were ethnic tensions obstacles workers had to overcome in order to unionize?
5. What were the causes of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and why was this event
significant?
6. How were unions and labor organizing in the Pennsylvania coalfields adversely
affected by fears about the Molly Maguires?
7. What was the first nationwide union in the United States, when did it form, and why
did it dissolve?
8. What were the major differences between the Knights of Labor and the American
Federation of Labor (AFL)?
9. What were protestors arguing for in Haymarket Square when a bomb went off,
leading to the deaths of 11 people?
10. Who was Samuel Gompers and what is he famous for?
Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/HIST363 Subunit 7.2.1 (after reading)
The Saylor Foundation
Saylor.org
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11. What happened at Homestead to cause a strike among steelworkers, how did the
strike end, and what were the consequences for organized labor in the steel industry?
12. What similarity did the end of the Pullman strike share with other major strikes, such
as the Great Strike of 1877 and the Homestead strike?
13. Who organized the first Labor Day parade, and when and where did it take place?
14. Who was “Big Bill” Haywood, how was he connected to the murder of Idaho
Governor Frank Steunenberg, and what happened to him?
15. Which two groups of people were strong supporters of the U.S. Socialist Party, and
in what city were socialists able to win major elected offices?
16. Who were Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, and Mother Jones?
Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/HIST363 Subunit 7.2.1 (after reading)
The Saylor Foundation
Saylor.org
Page 2 of 2