By the late 19th century, industrialization had transformed America in many ways, and most
obviously in the Northeast. One of the hallmarks of this time and place was the struggle between
labor and capital, or workers and employers. Working people fought for decades to establish
and maintain labor unions, but were rarely successful for more than a few years at a time.
Keeping in mind that America’s working classes had many different perspectives, what were
some of organized labor’s major goals and accomplishments, and why was it so difficult for
labor unions to win or even survive?
You should plan to write a cohesive, formal essay, at least 1300 words in length and up to about
1600 words, in which you develop an argument and advance it through making points and using
evidence to back them up.
The formatting is the usual – double-spaced, standard margins, normal sized font (11 or 12 point,
depending on which you choose) and so on.
Do not use outside sources for this assignment. You should only be referencing the textbook and
set of documents on Sakai, and whatever we may cover in class. You do not need to use all of the
documents, but you should use some of them, along with the textbook. The best papers tend to
blend together a variety of different types of sources, making for a stronger case.
You can just use parenthetical citations (Author, page number) after something you wish to cite.
All essays should have citations. Those with none or very few will likely earn a failing grade.
Since you will all be using the same sources, there is no need for a works cited page.