Haymarket+Riot+of+1886

=__Haymarket Riot of 1886__ =

__Conflicts in Chicago:__
The city of Chicago during the late nineteenth century was the home to many social problems dealing with labor. Chicago was an international manufacturing and mercantile hotspot. Chicago had become the destination for many immigrants who were looking for work to help jumpstart their new lives in America. The city was overflowing with eager workers who were willing to do anything for a little bit of cash. The city was also filled with ruthless and greedy employers who were only concerned with making large profits. These employers would mistreat, overwork, and underpay their employees. Therefore, there became an ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor. This division caused many of the lower class to feel resentment towards their wealthy employers. Finally, the Panic of 1873 created widespread unemployment, and gave the employers an opportunity to further mistreat their workers. This growing resentment toward the employers led to the formation of many labor unions and anarchist parties in Chicago.

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__Anarchists:__

 * Anarchists are individuals who do not believe in organized government and oftentimes promote disorder and violence to revolt against any established rule. **

By 1886 there were around 2,800 anarchists in Chicago who were organized into twenty-six groups. They supported seven daily newspapers, and had many parades, dances, meetings, etc. to promote and celebrate their beliefs. Anarchists also led one of the three largest labor federations in the city.The labor federations worked to help workers get better working conditions, fair wages, and respectful treatment.

One of the city’s leading anarchists was Albert Parsons. After fighting for the Union during the Civil War, Parson became a Radical Republican. Soon after the war he moved to Chicago and became a socialist. In Chicago, Parsons became a member of the Socialist Labor Party. He also became a founder of the International Working Men's Association, which supported racial and sexual equality. Parson later became editor of the radical journal, ‘Alarm.’ During many of the 1877 strikes, he gave numerous speeches to thousands of overworked and underpaid workers, encouraging them to take a stand against exploitation. He then supported the workers’ militia; which goal was to protect the people from police assaults. He was an influential person during many of the strikes and revolts, and he worked hard to gain equality and fair treatment to all human beings.

__The Riot:__
 On May 4, 1886 thousands of anarchists, who were fed up with mistreatment from their employees, gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest overly long work days. The crowd shouted their slogan, "Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will." After some time a group of policemen came to break up the riot. Suddenly, a bomb was thrown at the approaching police forces. The explosion was disastrous. The frightened, flustered, and angered police soon opened fire on the crowd. Eleven people were killed that night, including seven police officers. More than 70 individuals were injured.

The ‘Chicago Herald’ described the scene saying, //“Over a score of officers were stretched upon the ground. Blood gushed from a hundred wounds, and the air was filled with the agonizing cries of the dying and injured. Those who escaped the deadly missiles which flew from the boom wavered for a moment. They dashed over the mangled bodies of their comrades with drawn revolvers, the glittering barrels of which were belching fire every instant. Bullets sped into the howling Anarchists in murderous storms, strewing the street with dead and dying.”//



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__Anarchist Trials:__
===Captain Michael Schaack of the Fifth Precinct was the main officer in the investigation following the bombing. When the investigation started, Marshall Field, George Pullman, and Cyrus McCormick Jr. were all of the main suspects for their previous troubling behaviors. But on May 5th the first round of arrest occurred and August Spies, Michael Schwab, and Adolph Fischer were in custody. No specific charge was given to the men, only that of police homicide. === ===On June 21st in the Cook County Criminal Court, the trial was held. Judge Joseph Gary needed to find unbiased juries who would view the came solely from the evidence, but it proved to be a challenge. The States attorney Julius Grinnell began his opening argument on July 15th stating that Spies was the initial thrower of the bomb due to a witness claiming that he overheard Spies speaking about it that day at the Haymarket and claimed that Schnabel lite the bomb. The witnesses’ statement was quickly dismissed after the witness, Harry Gilmer, was no longer trusted under oath. ===

= The Results- = ==The eight men on trial, including Schnaubelt, could not be proved of the terrorism by prosecutors. Grinnell tried to argue the eight were accused of murder. The defense attorney agreed to a pushed freedom of speech, but did not consent to it being murder, rather a capital offense. Though the defense didn’t approve of anarchists, he did however incline to the need for a better society. == ==On August 19th the court decided that the eight defendants were guilty of murder. Oscar Neebe was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor and the other seven were sentenced to death: == ==//“each of the other defendants, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon and two o'clock in the afternoon of the third day of December next, in the manner provided by the statute of this State, be hung by the neck until he is dead." //== ==<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style','serif'; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Many did believe that the anarchists were quilty, yet they had a number of vocal supporters. More drama was added to the strike as Spies, Parsons, Engel, and Fischer breathed their last on the gallows of the Cook County. ==

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= Effects of the Revolt: = = The trial tested the legal system in America, twisting and turning every little law and showed the willingness for justice. However, the case revealed authorizes fear of a weakness in social order and demonstrated the need for a stronger, more confident one. After the bombing incident at the Haymarket, things changed for Americans. The eight hour work day never really became a reality until the Adamson Act was passed in 1916 that established the eight hour work day. However, the strike became known as a rallying symbol around the world and the American people viewed the strike as an advanced in their economic and social conditions. In 1999, a hundred and thirteen years after the bombing at the Haymarket square, anarchists disrupted the World Trade Organizations in Seattle destroying much property. Pro-labor and Pro-police rallies continued aft the bomb along with patterns for repression of alleged rebellious acts at times of cultural crisis. Up until the 1960s, officers, politicians, and businessman would gather in the monument in the Haymarket. Anarchist became heroes for the laborers; not just for their actions, but for the questions they raised about American society in the industrial age. What was equality? What should become of crime and punishment? What was American’s nationality or free speech? All these questions were unraveled after the Haymarket case and were very controversial. =

=Public Views:=
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">These events touched off a wave of civic upheaval as Americans discussed the Haymarket bomb in light of the period's rapidly changing economic and social conditions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%; margin: 5pt 0in;">The incident received considerable nationwide publicity
 * ===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Busniss/ Government View:__ ===
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">led to a celebrated trial of eight avowed anarchists, the execution or death in prison of five of them, and Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld's bold pardon of the remaining three.
 * ===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Changes?__ ===
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">damaged the image of the growing labor movement, which was branded as a breeding ground for political dissidents rather than an organization of workers trying to secure better conditions for themselves and their families

=Resources:= =<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Primary:__ =
 * Account of the Haymarket Riot: "Digitization Projects Philologic Results." Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project. http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/navigate.pl?lincoln.4521 (accessed May 15, 2011).
 * Haymarket Accound: "Digitization Projects Philologic Results." Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project. http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/navigate.pl?lincoln.4527 (accessed May 15, 2011).
 * //'Account of the Haymarket Riot' in the '////Chicago// //Herald,// //05 May 1886////'// . Chicago: Chicago Herald Co., 1886. Permission: Northern Illinois University [|//http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herald05051886.html//] (Accessed May 15, 2011)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Secondary:__
> http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/252759?terms=Haymarket+strike+1886
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The Dramas of Haymarket. Accessed May 14, 2011. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 140%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> []
 * Green, James R.. //Death in the Haymarket: a story of Chicago, the first labor movement, and the bombing that divided gilded age America//. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.
 * ABC-Clio: //The Haymarket Strike.//
 * "Digital History." Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=227 (accessed May 15, 2011).
 * The Haymarket Bomb in Historical Context." Illinois Historical Digitization Projects: Northern Illinois University Libraries. http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/haymarket/index.html (accessed May 15, 2011).

__ Pictography: __

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 * http://robertgraham.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/chicago-anarchists.jpg