Railroad Workers Dbq

In 1877, there was a national railroad strike that effected the transportation throughout the Northeast. Railroads required a large amount of capital investments and relied on a large management system. Railroad companies had competed against each other. Rival companies built expensive lines which could have been parallel to their competitors. They fought for business by promoting a faster and cheaper service. Not only that, but laborers had to work 15-hour days with low wages and in extremely dangerous working conditions. The railroad workers were quite violent, attacking railroad yards, burning trains, and tearing up tracks. This time period was a shock for most Americans, but for the workers on strike, it was educative. The workers learned
that they needed to be organized, otherwise, they had no chance to get what they wanted from the industrialist.