The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

A Milestone Documents E-text
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The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
https://doi.org/10.3735/9781961844551.book-part-006

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Abstract

During the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, America saw a vastly changing nation, where corporations overran the labor force and government intervention ruled in favor of the rich and wealthy. The working class struggled to stay afloat, barely able to fight for better working conditions and wages. In the railroad industry, workingmen faced difficulty in their attempts to organize, for one station could easily cover the traffic of another, given the rise of the transcontinental railroad. It was during this time of tension that the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 erupted in Martinsburg, West Virginia, signaling the beginning of one of the greatest strikes in American history.

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