Farmers lost ground and there was depressions and recessions. Industrialization helped expand the middle class by creating jobs for accountants and salespersons. Wages for jobs were determined by laws. Women were restricted from working certain jobs.
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There was industrial warfare. The first attempt to organize all workers in states was that of the National Labor Union in 1866. It supported higher wages and 8-hour workday, convict labor, equal pay for women, and a progressive income tax. King of Labor (1869) was the second nation labor union. It couldn't control local units that decided to strike because the Knights were loosely organized. It supported abolition of child labor and trust and monopolies. It also favored settling arguments by compromise. Striking workers battled police at the Haymarket bombing by attempting to gather about the 8-hour work day. Police tried to break it up and a bomb was thrown, 7 officers were killed.
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