Great Upheaval (1877)

Great Upheaval (1877)
Name	Great Upheaval (1877)
Date	1877
Place	United States
Causes	Railroad strikes, wage cuts, industrial unrest
Result	Federal intervention, labor organization changes

Great Upheaval (1877) was a nationwide series of labor disturbances centered on railroad strikes and urban unrest in the United States during 1877 that drew responses from state militias and the federal government. Sparked by wage reductions and economic dislocation following the Panic of 1873, the events involved railroad workers, urban laborers, business leaders, political figures, judicial authorities, and military units across multiple states. The disturbances influenced later labor organizations, legal doctrines, electoral politics, and historiography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Background and Causes

The unrest emerged amid aftershocks of the Panic of 1873 that affected commerce along the New York Stock Exchange, depressed commodity prices on the Chicago Board of Trade, and strained capital flows through the Bank of England and Second French Empire financial connections. Railroad corporations such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Erie Railroad implemented successive wage cuts affecting employees represented informally and by groups like the Knights of Labor and craft unions influenced by figures such as Terence V. Powderly and earlier activists aligned with Eugene V. Debs's milieu. Industrial employers, including owners associated with the Pullman Palace Car Company, textile factories in Fall River, Massachusetts, and ironworks near Pittsburgh, confronted declining freight revenues and competition with lines such as the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. Political debates in legislatures of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and New York (state) over tariff policy, currency backed by the Coinage Act of 1873 and the contested legacy of the Specie Resumption Act added fiscal strain. Urban centers tied to shipping on the Erie Canal and ports like Baltimore faced distress among municipal workers and dockhands organized around localized associations and mutual aid societies.

Major Events and Strikes

The initial stoppages began with employees of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Martinsburg, West Virginia and spread along trunk lines to hubs such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City. Workers engaged in work stoppages, blockades of freight yards, and public demonstrations, confronting agents of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and other railroad officials. In Pittsburgh and Baltimore crowds damaged rolling stock, burned depots, and clashed with local police and militia units like the Maryland National Guard and the Pennsylvania National Guard. Strikes intersected with broader urban riots involving artisans, factory hands, and longshoremen near the Port of New York and the Hudson River waterfront, drawing journalists from newspapers such as the New York Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer who covered confrontations with sheriffs and municipal police forces. Tentative coordination occurred through local labor leaders, immigrant mutual aid groups from Germany, Ireland, and Italy, and political reformers in municipal administrations influenced by figures from the Tammany Hall milieu and reformers linked to Reform Party movements.

Government and Military Response

Municipal authorities invoked statutes to call out state militia units including the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, the Ohio National Guard, and contributions from governors like those of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Railroads petitioned Presidents and federal officials connected to the Rutherford B. Hayes administration for assistance; Hayes and advisors in the Executive Office debated invoking federal troops under the Insurrection Act and relevant constitutional interpretations associated with precedents from the Whiskey Rebellion and the Nullification Crisis. The deployment of federal troops, including units tied to military installations like Fort McHenry and Fort Leavenworth, provoked litigation in courts such as the Supreme Court of the United States and commentary from legal figures at institutions like Harvard Law School and the Yale Law School. Actions by law enforcement, sheriffs, and federal marshals intersected with orders from municipal magistrates and circuit judges administering injunctions often enforced against strikers under doctrines later associated with judicial responses to labor disputes, involving attorneys and financiers linked to firms operating on Wall Street.

Economic and Social Impact

The short-term economic disruptions included halted freight on major arteries linking the Great Lakes to Atlantic ports, losses for grain merchants on the Chicago Board of Trade, and interrupted coal shipments from fields in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that affected ironworks and foundries in Cleveland and Youngstown. Business elites such as railroad presidents, bankers associated with houses operating in Philadelphia and New York City, and industrial capitalists recalibrated labor hiring practices and security arrangements, hiring private agencies and collaborating with municipal police forces. Social consequences touched immigrant communities, African American laborers in cities like Baltimore and St. Louis, and veteran networks from the Union Army who served in militias; public debates in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures considered labor rights, law-and-order measures, and charity required by fraternal organizations including the Freemasons and ethnic benefit societies. Insurance underwriters and mercantile exchanges adjusted risk assessments, and labor radicalism fed into emerging political campaigns involving parties such as the Greenback Party and local fusion tickets.

Regional Variations

In the Mid-Atlantic, the epicenter around Martinsburg and Baltimore involved direct clashes with state militia and federal troops leading to property destruction in rail yards and depots managed by corporations like the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In the Midwest, nodes including Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis focused on freight blockage and strikes impacted by ethnic labor politics among German-American and Irish-American communities tied to craft unions and local political machines distinct from Tammany Hall. Appalachian and Southern responses in West Virginia and sections of Virginia reflected tensions over coal employment and veteran status among former Confederate States and Union adherents, while New England incidents leveraged textile centers such as Fall River and Lawrence, Massachusetts with local millowners and bank directors influencing law enforcement. Western terminus cities on transcontinental routes, including Omaha and Denver, experienced secondary disruptions in meatpacking and mining supply chains linked to rail tariffs and freight priorities.

Legacy and Historical Interpretations

Historians have situated the events within narratives advanced by scholars at institutions like Columbia University, University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins University, debating models advanced by labor historians influenced by work on the Progressive Era and studies referencing the Gilded Age. Interpretations range from viewing the disturbances as proto-industrial class conflict that propelled organizations like the American Federation of Labor to later prominence, to framing them as episodic responses to fiscal policy connected to the Panic of 1873 and monetary debates involving advocates of bimetallism and hard money proponents. The episode influenced later legal doctrines concerning injunctions against strikes, labor policing policies, and political realignments visible in elections contested by candidates associated with Republican Party and Democratic Party platforms, as well as third-party movements such as the People's Party. Commemorations and archival collections at repositories like the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and university special collections preserve contemporary accounts, while museums in cities such as Martinsburg, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh interpret the events for public audiences.

Category:Labor history of the United States Category:19th century in the United States