History 2302 Industrial America

Esmeralda Garcia

History 2302

Theme 1: Industrial America

Andrew Carnegie (A)

Andrew Carnegie was born an immigrant, a poor boy who worked in a cotton mill he was a man who created a great fortune as a steel baron and became one of the wealthiest men the world has ever known. The way a lot of these famous men and women back in the day created fortune was very influential to the world and back then the money that they made then was a lot, but these days the money they made back then is about a quarter of what the richest most powerful men and women make today. Being one of the most influential and wealthiest men in the world doesn’t always make you a great man.

Andrew Carnegie although very influential to some, to other people such as his workers he was a very unfair and a frugal man with his money. He wanted to make more product for less money and pay workers a lot less. Although the cheaper prices on steel was good for the economy, for Carnegie's workers, the cheaper prices on steel meant lower wages for them, and less job security. Carnegie was driven to achieve great efficiency, but this cost steel workers their unions as well as control over their own labor.

Henry Frick was an industrialist who became the head of Carnegie Steel Company and the United States Steel Corporation. In June 1892, he made a big decision that changed everything for workers. Frick cut wages, he evicted workers from their company houses, stopped any means of negotiating with union leaders, and even threatened to bring in the Pinkertons. The Pinkerton’s were a detective agency that worked with law enforcement to catch criminals around the country in the beginning, but soon became part of the labor union movement. When workers had enough they called a strike, Frick called in the Pinkertons.

When worker’s decided to unionize because Carnegie cut costs this is where the Pinkerton’s came in and made a mess of everything. According to: launionaflcio.org/what-is-a-union, A union is an organized group of workers who use their strength to have a voice in their workplace. By forming unions workers have a right to impact wages, work hours, benefits, workplace health and safety, job training and other work-related issues.

On July 6, 300 Pinkertons were crammed together and taken roughly about ten miles up the Monongahela River to Homestead. Workers of Andrew Carnegie were waiting for their arrival. The battle began in the early hours of the morning and after 12 tiring hours three Pinkertons and seven strikers were dead. The pinkerton’s were outnumbered raised a white flag four times and each time it was shot down by one of the three hundred sharpshooters who sided with the workers. Finally at 5 PM, workers finally decided to accept the Pinkertons' surrender. The Pinkerton’s were hated nationwide by laborers everywhere. Most labor disputes led to violent outbreaks and local authorities were often too poorly equipped to stop these violent strikes, this is where The Pinkerton Detective Agency came in and put a stop to labor actions anyway they had to.