American Catholic History Classroom: The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor: Document 19

Document 19: Letter from James Gibbons to Terence Powderly
September 21, 1887

Not long after the memorial was issued, the Knights began a steep decline from which they would not recover. By the summer of 1887 the membership had dropped by 200,000, from its height of over 700,000 a year earlier, a decline precipitated by the loss of a strike against Jay Gould's railroad in the spring of 1886. In the circumstances, the Knights leadership hoped a letter from James Gibbons might, if read aloud, rally the leadership at the next General Assembly meeting in Minneapolis.

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Questions

Here is the letter Gibbons sent to Powderly in response to the request. Read the letter and consider the following questions:

How would you describe the tone of Gibbons' letter to Powderly?
What do you think Gibbons' means when he expresses hope that "a calm conservative spirit will control" Knights' proceedings?
What is Gibbons' view of strikes?
What is Gibbons' view of "the laboring classes"?
Do you think the letter qualify as an endorsement of the Knights? Explain.

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URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/Knights/kol_doc19.html

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MODIFIED: March-16-2007

Document 19: Letter from James Gibbons to Terence PowderlySeptember 21, 1887

Questions

Document 19: Letter from James Gibbons to Terence Powderly
September 21, 1887