The period that followed Civil War and Reconstruction was known as the Gilded Age. It was called this by Mark Twain because the serious problems occurring during that time were masked by a thin layer of gold. The Second Industrial Revolution changed the way Americans lived their lives. The revolution brought the use of more machines, which were kept in factories. Conditions during this period were terrible. The jobs were dangerous, low paying, and the hours lasted far too long. Labor unions such as the American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor started the call for better working conditions. Although the labor unions were able to improve some of the aspects of working life, such as hours, wages, and safety, their success was hindered by the interference of the government, who sided with the big businesses. …show more content…
Labor Unions formed to help their members fight for the job descriptions they wanted and felt they deserved. They wanted no more of these terrible conditions. Some of the labor unions’ main goals were to raise wages, decrease the hours worked, and improve the safety of the work environment. The Historical Statistics of the United States (Doc A) shows how the labor unions were successful. These stats show how with more and more years, average working hours decreases and the average wages increase. This is mainly because of the work that the labor unions did. Before these unions, the hours and wages were not in favor of the workers, but as the unions developed, the numbers got closer to what the workers wanted. The purpose of this chart is to simply show the trends that were occurring with the wages and hours as time went on. The logger of these states was trying to inform the citizens of the U.S., any viewers of this chart, of the differences that had occurred. The workers were thrilled with the lowering wages and the changes that had occurred. The