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When did the U.S. labor movement begin?

The U.S. labor movement began in the early 1800s when skilled workers formed local organizations in hopes of securing more equitable wages. These efforts eventually turned into a powerful economic and political force. By the onset of the Civil War (1861–65) the first national unions had been founded by skilled workers such as carpenters and blacksmiths. Many of these early unions struggled to gain widespread support and finally fell apart, but they inspired several successful national unions such as the United Mine Workers (1890) and the American Railway Union (1893). At the end of the nineteenth century many companies tried to crush the unions by hiring armed guards to forcibly break strikes (work stoppages). They also used their legal power to invoke the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), which basically declared strikes illegal because they interfered with interstate commerce...

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