Workers organize: unions, strikes and new labor laws

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Child labor and the law (cards A to C). Card A: "What 'gainful worker' meant, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Census counted 'gainful workers' by asking each person aged 10 or over about an occupation in which he or she earned money or helped produce goods for sale. The count left out children doing only household chores or odd jobs at home. Answers varied from person to person, so the figures from one census to the next do not always compare exactly. Historical Statistics takes its 1870 to 1930 counts from a later Census report, Comparative Occupation Statistics, and calls them a generally reliable measure of long-term trends. Card B: Table "Workers aged 10 to 15, 1880 to 1930", columns Year | Workers aged 10 to 15 (thousands): 1880 | 1,118; 1890 | 1,504; 1900 | 1,750; 1910 | 1,622; 1920 | 1,417; 1930 | 667. Data: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States (1975), series D 75-84. These are gainful workers, a count of occupations. Card C: "Four steps in federal child labor law, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Keating-Owen Act, signed on September 1, 1916, barred the shipping between states of goods from mines and quarries that used children under 16, and of goods from mills, canneries, workshops and factories that used children under 14. It was to take effect one year later. On June 3, 1918, the Supreme Court struck it down in Hammer v. Dagenhart; four justices dissented. The Fair Labor Standards Act, signed on June 25, 1938, set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a 44-hour week for covered workers and banned oppressive child labor, but its wage and hour rules did not apply to farm employees, and it covered industries that employed about one-fifth of the labor force. On February 3, 1941, in United States v. Darby, the Court upheld the act and overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart.

2. 1.

   The count of workers aged 10 to 15 fell most between 1920 and 1930, when no federal child labor law was in force. What can Ari conclude?

   • Hammer v. Dagenhart caused the fall, since the Court ruled in 1918, just before.
   • Federal law had no effect on child labor at any time, since the biggest fall came without it.
   • The 1938 act caused the fall, since it banned oppressive child labor.
   • Other causes must have mattered, since the biggest fall came with no federal law in force.

3. Use this

   Two counts of working children in 1920 (cards A to C). Card A: "What 'gainful worker' meant, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Census counted 'gainful workers' by asking each person aged 10 or over about an occupation in which he or she earned money or helped produce goods for sale. The count left out children doing only household chores or odd jobs at home. Answers varied from person to person, so the figures from one census to the next do not always compare exactly. Historical Statistics takes its 1870 to 1930 counts from a later Census report, Comparative Occupation Statistics, and calls them a generally reliable measure of long-term trends. Card B: Table "Workers aged 10 to 15, 1880 to 1930", columns Year | Workers aged 10 to 15 (thousands): 1880 | 1,118; 1890 | 1,504; 1900 | 1,750; 1910 | 1,622; 1920 | 1,417; 1930 | 667. Data: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States (1975), series D 75-84. These are gainful workers, a count of occupations. Card C: "Working children in 1920, in brief". Who made it: the Children's Bureau, writing from Census figures. When: 1922. Where: Washington. For whom: readers of its report. Why: to answer ten questions about child labor. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Fourteenth Census counted 1,060,858 children aged 10 to 15 at gainful work in 1920, out of 12,502,582 children of that age, or about one in twelve. Of those workers, 647,309, or 61 percent, worked in agriculture, and 88 percent of the farm workers were laborers on the home farm. The census did not report children under 10, though they also worked in farm and other jobs. Table "Workers aged 10 to 15, 1880 to 1930", columns Year | Workers aged 10 to 15 (thousands): 1880 | 1,118; 1890 | 1,504; 1900 | 1,750; 1910 | 1,622; 1920 | 1,417; 1930 | 667. Data: US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States (1975), series D 75-84. These are gainful workers, a count of occupations.

4. 2.

   The Children's Bureau counts 1,060,858 children aged 10 to 15 at work in 1920; the table says 1,417 thousand. What is true, Bo asks?

   • The Bureau's count must be right because it is older than the series that the table uses.
   • The two counts differ by about 356,000, so neither is exact and the sources count differently.
   • They agree, since 1,060,858 rounds to about 1,061 thousand, close to the table's 1,417.
   • The table is wrong, since the Bureau's count comes straight from the census report itself, not a series.

5. Use this

   The Pullman strike and after. Card A: "The Pullman strike of 1894, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Workers at the Pullman Company near Chicago struck on May 11, 1894. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, then refused to handle Pullman cars, which slowed railroad traffic across the country. The government won an injunction against the boycott. It said the boycott threatened trade between the states and the delivery of the mail, and it cited the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Federal marshals and troops were sent to the Chicago area. Debs and other union leaders were charged with contempt of court, and Debs was jailed in 1895. On July 12 the AFL voted not to back a general strike, because it believed the strike was already lost. The injunction affirmed a broad federal power over trade between the states, which made national strikes very hard to carry out. Card B: "After the Pullman boycott, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The American Railway Union's boycott of Pullman cars ended in mid-July 1894, and the union was defeated. In late July President Cleveland named a commission to study what had happened. Debs and other union leaders were charged with contempt of court for ignoring the injunction. Debs was jailed in 1895. George Pullman was widely criticized for refusing to let an outside party settle the dispute, but the company's town stayed under his control until his death in 1897.

6. 3.

   A student says: "The AFL's refusal on July 12 caused the Pullman strike to fail." What do the cards let Jun say?

   • The claim is wrong, since the boycott had already ended by July 12 and the vote could not matter.
   • The claim is right, since the boycott ended soon after the AFL's vote and the union lost.
   • The claim is right, since Debs was jailed in 1895 for the AFL's refusal to back the strike.
   • Card A says the AFL acted because it thought the strike lost, so the refusal may have followed.
7. 4.

   Card A says the injunction "made national strikes very hard to carry out." What would let Kira test that?

   • More quotations from the court that issued the injunction, since its own words show its effect.
   • Counts of national strikes before and after 1894, since the card states the effect without data.
   • Debs's jail term, since a longer term shows the injunction was strong.
   • The Pullman Company's profits in 1894, since profits show who won.

8. Use this

   Two strikes, 1892 and 1894. Card A: "Homestead, 1892, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: By June 24, 1892, Carnegie Steel and its workers' union, the Amalgamated Association, could not agree on a new contract. Workers at the Homestead mill in Pennsylvania struck on July 1. The union ended the strike on November 20. Workers returned on the company's terms, and some were blacklisted, which kept them out of steel work. Card B: "The Pullman strike of 1894, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Workers at the Pullman Company near Chicago struck on May 11, 1894. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, then refused to handle Pullman cars, which slowed railroad traffic across the country. The government won an injunction against the boycott. It said the boycott threatened trade between the states and the delivery of the mail, and it cited the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Federal marshals and troops were sent to the Chicago area. Debs and other union leaders were charged with contempt of court, and Debs was jailed in 1895. On July 12 the AFL voted not to back a general strike, because it believed the strike was already lost. The injunction affirmed a broad federal power over trade between the states, which made national strikes very hard to carry out.

9. 5.

   Homestead and Pullman both ended in a union defeat. What do the cards show about how, and what do they leave open, Luz asks?

   • Homestead ended on company terms with blacklisting; Pullman by court order, troops and jail.
   • Pullman's workers were blacklisted and Homestead's leaders jailed, as the two cards say.
   • Both ended by court order, since each strike was stopped by an injunction from a federal court.
   • Both ended because the AFL withdrew support, as card B says for Homestead and for Pullman.

10. Use this

    Hammer v. Dagenhart (cards A to D). Card A: "The Court's opinion in Hammer v. Dagenhart". Who made it: Justice William R. Day, writing the opinion of the Supreme Court. When: June 3, 1918. Where: Washington. For whom: the parties, other courts and the public. Why: to explain why the Court struck down the law. Excerpt (Hammer v. Dagenhart, opinion of the Court; United States Reports vol. 247, 1918, pp. 273-274): "The grant of power to Congress over the subject of interstate commerce was to enable it to regulate such commerce, and not to give it authority to control the States in their exercise of the police power over local trade and manufacture. The grant of authority over a purely federal matter was not intended to destroy the local power always existing and carefully reserved to the States in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution." Card B: "Justice Holmes dissents in Hammer v. Dagenhart". Who made it: Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, dissenting from the Court's decision. When: June 3, 1918. Where: Washington. For whom: the parties, other courts and the public. Why: to explain why he disagreed with the Court. Excerpt (Hammer v. Dagenhart, dissenting opinion; United States Reports vol. 247, 1918, p. 281): "The act does not meddle with anything belonging to the States. They may regulate their internal affairs and their domestic commerce as they like. But when they seek to send their products across the state line they are no longer within their rights. … Under the Constitution such commerce belongs not to the States but to Congress to regulate." Card C: "Four steps in federal child labor law, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Keating-Owen Act, signed on September 1, 1916, barred the shipping between states of goods from mines and quarries that used children under 16, and of goods from mills, canneries, workshops and factories that used children under 14. It was to take effect one year later. On June 3, 1918, the Supreme Court struck it down in Hammer v. Dagenhart; four justices dissented. The Fair Labor Standards Act, signed on June 25, 1938, set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a 44-hour week for covered workers and banned oppressive child labor, but its wage and hour rules did not apply to farm employees, and it covered industries that employed about one-fifth of the labor force. On February 3, 1941, in United States v. Darby, the Court upheld the act and overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart. Card D: "A made-up law". Who made it: us, for this sheet. When: written today. Where: a made-up country. For whom: students. Why: to give an example. Made-up law, not from any source: Congress bars the shipping across state lines of goods made in any factory where workers get no lunch break.

11. 6.

    Day and Holmes agree states may regulate local manufacture. What is the real disagreement, Milo asks?

    • Whether children may work in factories, which Holmes allows and Day would forbid.
    • Whether the Tenth Amendment exists, which Holmes questions in his dissent from the Court.
    • Whether the act regulates goods crossing state lines or reaches into local manufacture.
    • Whether Congress has any power over interstate commerce, which Day denies in his opinion.
12. 7.

    Card C says that in 1941 Darby upheld the FLSA and overruled Hammer, 23 years after 1918. What can Pia say about Holmes's dissent?

    • The Court later reached the result Holmes wanted, though no card says it used his reasoning.
    • The Court adopted Holmes's exact reasoning in Darby, since it overruled Hammer in 1941.
    • Holmes's dissent was wrong in 1918, since the Court later changed course on the question at hand.
    • Holmes wrote the Darby opinion, since the Court later adopted his view of the question.

13. Use this

    Keating-Owen (cards A to C). Card A: "The first federal child labor law". Who made it: Congress, in the Keating-Owen Act. When: September 1, 1916. Where: Washington. For whom: producers, manufacturers, dealers and the courts. Why: to stop the shipping of goods made by young children. Excerpt (Act of September 1, 1916, section 1; United States Statutes at Large vol. 39, 1916, 39 Stat. 675): "That no producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce any article or commodity [product] the product of any mine or quarry, situated in the United States, in which within thirty days prior to the time of the removal of such product therefrom children under the age of sixteen years have been employed or permitted to work, or any article or commodity the product of any mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment, situated in the United States, in which within thirty days prior to the removal of such product therefrom children under the age of fourteen years have been employed or permitted to work…" Card B: "Four steps in federal child labor law, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The Keating-Owen Act, signed on September 1, 1916, barred the shipping between states of goods from mines and quarries that used children under 16, and of goods from mills, canneries, workshops and factories that used children under 14. It was to take effect one year later. On June 3, 1918, the Supreme Court struck it down in Hammer v. Dagenhart; four justices dissented. The Fair Labor Standards Act, signed on June 25, 1938, set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a 44-hour week for covered workers and banned oppressive child labor, but its wage and hour rules did not apply to farm employees, and it covered industries that employed about one-fifth of the labor force. On February 3, 1941, in United States v. Darby, the Court upheld the act and overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart. Card C: A student's note, made up and not from any source: "The Keating-Owen Act banned all child labor in 1916 and stayed in force until 1938."

14. 8.

    Which revision of the student's note on card C fits cards A and B, Ren asks?

    • "It barred shipping goods from workplaces using young children; it was struck down in 1918."
    • "It banned work by children under 16 across the country, and it lasted until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938."
    • "It barred shipping of goods from farms using children, and took effect in 1916 itself."
    • "It was upheld in 1918 and then replaced by the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938."

15. Use this

    The Triangle fire (cards A to C). Card A: "The Triangle fire and what followed, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, on the upper floors of a ten-story building in New York City, took the lives of 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women and girls. Unions, the National Women's Trade Union League and a citizens' committee pressed for action. On June 30, 1911, the state set up a Factory Investigating Commission. In four years it held hearings across the state and drafted bills on fire safety, factory doors, wages, hours and child labor. Thirty-six of those bills became law. Card B: "Who pushed for reform after the Triangle fire, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Reform groups had worked on factory conditions before 1911. The National Women's Trade Union League, founded in 1903, sent out a questionnaire to factory workers after the fire and collected hundreds of replies. It helped form a citizens' committee of twenty-five people, which called a mass meeting attended by thousands. The meeting asked the state to create a fire prevention bureau and to seek new labor laws. The state commission then heard 222 witnesses, and 36 of its bills became law. Card C: A student's note, made up and not from any source: "The Triangle fire led to 36 new laws by itself, with no other pressure."

16. 9.

    Which revision of the student's note on card C fits cards A and B, Tala asks?

    • "Groups pressed for action after the fire, and a commission's bills produced 36 laws."
    • "The state passed 36 laws in 1911, the year of the fire, without a commission."
    • "The League drafted 36 bills and the state commission passed them into law in 1911."
    • "The fire caused 36 laws at once, and the commission just recorded them for the state."

17. Use this

    Railroad workers and the porters (cards A and B). Card A: "Railroad brotherhoods and the Pullman porters, in brief". Who made it: historians and textbooks writing today. When: today. Where: the United States. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: From the 1860s and 1870s, railroad workers formed brotherhoods, and many of them barred non-white workers. African Americans were mostly kept in service jobs such as porter. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters began in New York City in 1925 under A. Philip Randolph, who led it for four decades. In 1937 it won a contract from the Pullman Company, the first major labor agreement between a Black union and a corporation. Card B: A student's note, made up and not from any source: "Railroad unions welcomed Black workers, and the 1937 Pullman contract ended discrimination on the railroads."

18. 10.

    Which revision of the student's note on card B fits the facts on card A, Zee asks?

    • "Railroad brotherhoods welcomed Black workers, so the porters formed a union in 1925 for other reasons."
    • "Randolph led the porters from 1925 to 1937, when the brotherhoods admitted them."
    • "Many brotherhoods barred non-white workers; Black porters formed their own union and won a Pullman contract."
    • "The porters' 1937 contract ended the exclusion of Black workers from the brotherhoods."