The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor: Chronology

• 1663
  • Maryland indentured servants strike
• 1676
  • Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion of servants and slaves occurs in Virginia
• 1724
  • Carpenters Company of Philadelphia chartered to assist carpenters' instruction and well-being
• 1739
  • Stono Rebellion of slaves occurs in South Carolina
• 1765
  • Artisans and laborers in Sons of Liberty protest oppressive British taxes
    --First society of working women organized as an auxiliary of the Sons of Liberty and called Daughters of Liberty
• 1768

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  • New York journeymen tailors protest wage reductions in the earliest recorded strike
• 1770
  • British troops kill five dockworkers in Boston Massacre
• 1775
  • United Company of Philadelphia for Promoting American Manufacturing employs 400 women under one roof, pointing toward industrialization
• 1776
  • Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is published. It promotes laissez-faire economics and individualism, yet opposes monopolies and mercantilism
• 1778
  • New York City journeymen printers unite and gain an increase in wages, disbanding soon after
• 1785
  • New York City shoemakers strike for three weeks
• 1790
  • First textile mill established by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• 1791

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  • Philadelphia carpenters strike for a 10 hour day and overtime pay; they are unsuccessful
• 1792
  • Philadelphia shoemakers form the first local craft union for collective bargaining, disbanding in a year
• 1793
  • Cotton gin invented, making cotton production easier and extending the life of slavery in the U.S.
• 1797
  • Philadelphia carpenters go on strike
• 1800
  • Gabriel Prosser launches an unsuccessful slave rebellion in Virginia
• 1808
  • Federal law prohibits importation of slaves to the U.S.
• 1814
  • Power loom invented, making textile factories possible
• 1824
  • First reported strike by women workers as they join male weavers in protest of wage reduction and extension of workday in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• 1827
  • The first city-wide labor council forms in Philadelphia, the Mechanics Union of Trade Associations
• 1828
  • Workingmen's Party forms in Philadelphia; in 1829 the Workingmen's Party of New York is organized
• 1831
  • Publication of The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison marks the beginnings of the abolitionist movement
    --Nat Turner's slave rebellion occurs in Virginia
• 1834
  • Factory Girls' Association strikes over wage cuts and working conditions in Lowell, Massachusetts
• 1836
  • Convention of mechanics, farmers, and workingmen meet in Utica, New York to address issues affecting labor
• 1842
  • In Commonwealth vs. Hunt the Massachusetts supreme court rules that labor unions are not illegal conspiracies
    --Connecticut and Massachusetts pass laws prohibiting children to work more than 10 hours a day
• 1847
  • New Hampshire is the first state to make the 10 hour workday the legal one
• 1848

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  • Pennsylvania passes a law making 12 years old the minimum age for workers in commercial occupations
• 1860
  • Abraham Lincoln, in support of New England shoemakers, says "Thank God we have a system of labor where there can be a strike"
• 1863
  • Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in southern states occupied by Union forces during the Civil War
• 1865
  • Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution bans slavery in the U.S.
• 1866
  • National Labor Union established
• 1867
  • Knights of the Order of St. Crispin Founded
    --General strike of Chicago trade unions demanding an 8 hour workday occurs
• 1868
  • First 8 hour workday passed; it applies only to laborers, mechanics, and workmen employed by the government
    --First state labor bureau established in Massachusetts
• 1869

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  • Knights of Labor founded in Philadelphia by Uriah Stephens. Women and Blacks allowed membership
    --First Black National Labor Union founded in Washington DC
    --First National women's union, the Daughter's of St. Crispin, hold their convention in Lynn, Massachusetts
• 1870
  • First written contract between coal miners and coal mine operators is signed
• 1873
  • Economic panic followed by a depression causes most national unions to dissolve
• 1876
  • Several member of the radical labor organization, the Molly Maguires, are convicted for murders in Pennsylvania, 19 will be hanged
• 1877
  • National uprising of railroad workers cripples the nation
• 1882
  • First Labor Day Celebration takes place in New York City
• 1884
  • First all-female local of the Knights of Labor established
• 1885

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  • Successful strike by the Knights of Labor on Gould's southwestern rail system takes place
• 1885-86
  • Knights of Labor reach the height of their influence
• 1886
  • The American Federation of Labor is established in Columbus, Ohio. Samuel Gompers is the union's first president
    -- Violence erupts after an explosion during a rally supporting the 8 hour workday in Chicago's Haymarket Square
• 1887
  • Gibbons memorial defending the Knights of Labor goes to Rome
    --Seven are charged with bombing Haymarket Square in 1886. 5 are later executed
• 1892
  • Iron and steel workers are defeated in a lockout at Homestead, Pennsylvania
• 1900
  • International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded
• 1903
  • Department of Commerce and Labor founded

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