Instructions
By 1877, during a great depression, white American workers found themselves in desperate straits. They still faced competition from unfree black labor. Their labor unions were weak and mostly lacked the ability to cope with national competition. Immigrants, unemployed workers, and unskilled workers crowded the cities, while the cost of settling on the land remained prohibitive for them.

How do you explain the fact that the workers’ movements of the previous fifty years had had so little positive result for the status of working people in American society?
What were the strengths and resources of these workers’ movements that would enable labor to confront industrial capitalism in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and begin to impose new rules on industrial development?

In your answer, be sure to present evidence from the readings in the course and cite the sources of that evidence using correct citation formatting. Include a Work Cited section in correct format.