Great Strike of 1877

Great Strike of 1877
Name	Great Strike of 1877
Date	July–August 1877
Place	United States (notably Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, San Francisco)
Cause	Wage cuts by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and other railroads; response to Long Depression (1873–1879)
Methods	Strikes, riots, work stoppages, property damage
Result	Federal intervention; suppression of strikes; increased labor organization efforts
Parties	Railroad workers, striking laborers, state militias, federal troops

Great Strike of 1877 The Great Strike of 1877 was a nationwide series of railroad uprisings and labor disturbances that began with work stoppages on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and spread to major cities such as Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and San Francisco. The strike arose amid the Long Depression (1873–1879) and led to violent clashes involving striking workers, private security forces, state militias, and units of the United States Army, prompting debates in legislatures and courts and influencing later organizations like the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor.

Background and Causes

The origins trace to international and national economic shocks including the Panic of 1873, policies linked to the Coinage Act debates and the currency conflicts between Greenback Party advocates and Conservative Republicans. Railroads such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, New York Central Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad imposed wage reductions and layoffs in response to revenue declines driven by tariffs, freight rate competition, and disrupted credit from financiers like Jay Cooke. Laboring classes in urban centers and industrial towns—organized locally in craft unions associated with figures like Samuel Gompers and movements such as the Knights of Labor—faced declining real wages, prompting solidarity actions influenced by earlier disturbances like the Great Railroad Strike of 1873 and the Haymarket affair precursors.

Course of the Strike

The stoppage began in early July when employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad withheld labor after a wage cut, quickly affecting terminals in Baltimore and spreading along lines to Pittsburgh where crowds confronted freight yards and officials from companies like the Pennsylvania Railroad. In Baltimore and Martinsburg, West Virginia, striking crews overturned cars and blocked lines; in Pittsburgh mobs damaged facilities associated with industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and clashed near locations tied to the Carnegie Steel Company predecessor operations. In Chicago and Cincinnati actions intersected with stevedores and dockworkers tied to the Illinois Central Railroad and the New York Central Railroad, while on the Pacific Coast unions associated with maritime labor and crewmen in San Francisco staged sympathetic stoppages and riots involving firms like Central Pacific Railroad. Violence escalated with attacks on private property, sabotage of rolling stock, and widespread parades and demonstrations influenced by labor literature and oratory from speakers linked to the Workingmen's Party and local trade councils.

Government and Military Response

State executives such as governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and New York called out militias including units tied historically to state militias involved in earlier events like the 1844 Philadelphia riots. The United States Army under leaders connected to post‑Civil War military structures—including officers with service in the United States Colored Troops and veterans of engagements like the Battle of Appomattox Court House—was deployed to key junctions after requests under the Insurrection Act framework and presidential authority. Federal troops from bases such as Fort McHenry and units commanded by officers who had served under generals like Ulysses S. Grant moved to escort rolling stock and protect telegraph lines, while local police forces and private guards hired by railroad magnates confronted strikers, producing deadly encounters and subsequent court trials in municipal and state courts.

Labor and Public Reactions

Labor organizers and ethnic communities in neighborhoods connected to immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Italy mobilized mutual aid societies and temperance groups to support families affected by work stoppages; newspapers ranging from the New York Tribune to the Chicago Tribune and partisan organs of the Democratic Party and Republican Party framed events variably as insurrection or justified protest. Public meetings in civic spaces and halls associated with labor clubs and fraternal orders including the Freemasons witnessed debates about arbitration, while reformers connected to Horace Greeley‑style journalism and municipal leaders proposed commissions echoing earlier reform efforts like those after the Erie Railroad riots. Intellectuals and activists such as proponents of the Labor Reform Party used the crisis to press for legislative remedies including eight‑hour day advocacy and support for greenback currency measures.

Economic and Social Impact

The immediate economic effects included halted freight movement on major arteries like the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and diminished industrial output in centers anchored by firms such as the Carnegie Steel Company predecessors and shipping lines tied to the Erie Canal freight routes. Insurance losses, property damage claims, and disruptions to commodity flows—affecting sectors linked to grain shipments through terminals in Chicago—prompted corporate reorganizations and accelerated consolidation trends that benefited financiers associated with houses similar to J. P. Morgan & Co. and others consolidating rail lines. Socially, the disturbances hardened class divisions in urban wards, influenced municipal policing policies, prompted philanthropic associations and labor bureaus to expand relief efforts, and affected immigration debates in congressional committees and state legislatures.

Legacy and Historical Significance

The strike reshaped labor politics and contributed to the growth of national labor organizations such as the Knights of Labor and later the American Federation of Labor, influenced jurisprudence on injunctions and the use of federal power reminiscent of precedents involving the Insurrection Act, and informed later episodes including the Pullman Strike and the development of labor law. Commemorations and historical studies in archives at institutions like the Library of Congress and university collections in cities like Pittsburgh and Baltimore treat the events as a turning point in industrial relations, prompting scholarship linking the uprising to the trajectories of figures and entities including Samuel Gompers, Eugene V. Debs precursors, railroad barons, and municipal reformers.

Category:Labor disputes in the United States Category:1877 in the United States