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The NLU was the first attempt at uniting both skilled and unskilled workers. Their goals included an 8 hour workday and equal rights for women and blacks.
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The Grangers were a rural group who formed to counter the power of corporate middlemen which exploited the ordinary people. They set up their own banks, companies, and formed independent parties.
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The Knights of Labor were the second national union open to women and African Americans as well as white men, whose goals ranged from abolishing child labor to abolishing monopolies and trusts.
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Greenbacks, in addition to petitioning for paper money, campaigned for regulating corporations and reduce working hours.
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The Farmers' Alliance arose in the depression during the 70s and took up many of the same issued which the Grangers and Greenbacks had taken up, and cooperated with the KoL seeking to unite the visions of rural and urban workers.
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When the workers of the railroads went on strike, President Hayes called in the army to put down the strike. It was the first time that was done.
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During a riot by the Knights of Labor against the McCormick Reaping Co., a bomb was thrown. KoL leaders were blamed and its popularity decreased greatly.
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The AFL was a union whose goals were much simple and less social than the KoL; they worked towards higher wages and improved working conditions.
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As a result of workers' discontent with monopolies and trusts, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act to put more regulations on commerce.
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A strike broke out in Pittsburgh at Andrew Carnegie's steel factory, and strikers clashed with the Pinkertons and PA National Guard. As a result, unions were wiped out in the steel industry.
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This strike was seen as an attempt by workers to disrupt trade and mail delivery. For the first time, a federal injunction was used to put down the strike.
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In this case, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of the government to use injunctions to put down strikes.