power and influence. During the period from 1840-1870, union membership worked on establishing rules governing all manner of work related activity, from minimum wage scales, safety and length of the workday to dues, strike benefit funds and union hiring procedures. The Civil War period and the decade following it were instrumental in the formation of national unions and the American Labor Union as we now know it. More than a dozen national unions were formed by the late 1870s, like the National Labor Union of Baltimore. During the last decades of the century, fighting broke out among unions and employers as well as infighting among unions themselves, “In 1877, the railroad strikes, which originated in Pittsburgh but spread throughout the country, produced riots, martial law, intervention of State and Federal troops, and some fatalities” (Usery et al. 6). Secret associations arose like the Molly Maguires who used terrorist methods against employers and scabs or strikebreakers. In addition, the Knights of Labor supported the formation of a national organizati
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