Enoch Nyakondo

Mr. Reynolds

AP US History

4/22/2010

During the Gilded Age, many groups sought more political power and social status than

ever before. Women, farmers, and laborers were, to some degree, successful in making such

gains between 1875 and 1920.

Women probably did the most to try and gain power and political status. In 1844,

female textile workers organized the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association and demanded a

10 hour workday. It was one of the first permanent labor associations for working women, and

it also paved the way for later ones. In 1860, the American Equal Rights Association was

founded where they talked about political parties and ultimately deciding to move away from

the political party system. This led to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage

Association which tried to help woman suffrage at the local and state levels. It was the largest

and most important suffrage organization in the US. Hull House, although in Illinois, was

providing social and educational opportunities for working class people. It helped advocate

women’s suffrage and may have been the beginning of Social Welfare. These associations

helped women gain social status and some political power.

The farmers also tried to get some status and power. In 1876, the Farmers Alliance was

created to address the economic problems that farmers were facing. In the South, they wanted
the government to take care of transportation, thus getting rid of corporate monopolies and

making being a farmer a little less expensive. They also tried to make it easier for farmers to get

credit and they also wanted free coinage of large amounts of sliver, which led to the gold

standard.

Laborers also did what they had to do to gain social status and political power. They

started off in 1866 with the National Labor Union which got the government to pass an 8 hour

workday albeit only to government workers. The union finally dissolved in 1873. In 1867 the

Knights of Labor were founded and they had initial success with railroad strikes in the South,

but they started declining as the American Federation of Labor overtook it.

All three groups tried to gain social status and political power by establishing

associations. These associations, after gaining enough people, started to become effective at

bringing the issues they were facing to the government. Some were successful like Hull House,

and others failed and were short lived like the National Labor Union. But never the less, they all

had their successes and failures.