Not very far behind the Civil War was the movement to change the face of 'fairness' in the USA.

Mine workers clash with soldiers during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in Baltimore.

Large corporations could no longer have 'retained workers' to carry out labor intensive industries.

The Civil War was preceded by consciousness raising in the Antebellum Movement in the USA.  It was primarily viewed as a southern movement.  The Antebellum Movement spawned much sympathy for the poor and victimized.  It also carried forward a woman's movement which preserved equality of women and ownership of their own property rather than it becoming a possession of their spouse.

There were other religious movements that included such things as The Second Great Awakening.  All these consciousness raising movement brought a sense of fairness to the poor and eventually to labor.

The railroad strike lasted for 45 days and had to be broken up by local militias. It spanned many states and involved all the railroads that line the "Monopoly Game Map," including Reading, B&O and Pennsylvania.  

Citizens assisted striking rail workers and there was sincere unrest and mayhem over the fact the fiscally failing railroads cut the wages of workers for the second time in a short period of time.  Jay Cooke and Company was the major banking-investment firm at the time and the railroads required heavy investment to make it all happen.  The investment bank had failed and hence in retaliation of fiscal losses to investors the wages of workers were cut.

The losses of the railroad strike was significant.  Workers lost about $600,000 US and the railroads sustained losses into the millions.  

After the riots and strikes were suppressed, the sincere labor movement of organized unions began and collective bargaining began to take on a civilized face of 'organized labor' to insure the people of the country a good wage.