Social History for Every Classroom

Search

Social History for Every Classroom

menuAmerican Social History Project  ·    Center for Media and Learning

Waiting for the Reduction of the Army

A massive labor strike in 1877 shook the very foundations of American politics and society. Starting with a spontaneous railroad strike in West Virginia, the “Great Uprising” spread rapidly across the country. In many cities, entire working populations went out on strike. When state and federal troops fired on workers in several cities, the official violence galvanized workers across the country and those who sympathized with them. As this 1878 cartoon from the New York Daily Graphic indicates, in the aftermath of the strike, the press increasingly grouped together Indians, trade unionists, immigrants, and tramps as symbols of disorder and opposition to the nation’s progress.

Source | Philip G. Cusachs, "Waiting for the Reduction of the Army," New York Daily Graphic, June 14, 1878.
Creator | Philip G. Cusachs
Item Type | Cartoon
Cite This document | Philip G. Cusachs, “Waiting for the Reduction of the Army,” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 19, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1931.

Print and Share