This Chronology offers a list of selected dates related to the Knights of Labor website.
1607
Upon founding Jamestown colony, English planters realize that they will need more laborers if the colony is going to thrive
1619
Slaves from Africa first introduced in the American colonies
1648
Boston shoemakers and coopers form guilds
1663
Maryland indentured servants strike
1676
Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion of servants and slaves occurs in Virginia
1724
Carpenters Company of Philadelphia chartered to assist carpenters' instruction and well-being
1739
Stono Rebellion of slaves occurs in South Carolina
1765
Artisans and laborers in Sons of Liberty protest oppressive British taxes
--First society of working women organized as an auxiliary of the Sons of Liberty and called Daughters of Liberty
1768
New York journeymen tailors protest wage reductions in the earliest recorded strike
1770
British troops kill five dockworkers in Boston Massacre
1775
United Company of Philadelphia for Promoting American Manufacturing employs 400 women under one roof, pointing toward industrialization
1776
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is published. It promotes laissez-faire economics and individualism, yet opposes monopolies and mercantilism
1778
New York City journeymen printers unite and gain an increase in wages, disbanding soon after
1785
New York City shoemakers strike for three weeks
1790
First textile mill established by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
1791
Philadelphia carpenters strike for a 10 hour day and overtime pay; they are unsuccessful
1792
Philadelphia shoemakers form the first local craft union for collective bargaining, disbanding in a year
1793
Cotton gin invented, making cotton production easier and extending the life of slavery in the U.S.
1797
Philadelphia carpenters go on strike
1800
Gabriel Prosser launches an unsuccessful slave rebellion in Virginia
1808
Federal law prohibits importation of slaves to the U.S.
1814
Power loom invented, making textile factories possible
1824
First reported strike by women workers as they join male weavers in protest of wage reduction and extension of workday in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
1827
The first city-wide labor council forms in Philadelphia, the Mechanics Union of Trade Associations
1828
Workingmen's Party forms in Philadelphia; in 1829 the Workingmen's Party of New York is organized
1831
Publication of The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison marks the beginnings of the abolitionist movement
--Nat Turner's slave rebellion occurs in Virginia
1834
Factory Girls' Association strikes over wage cuts and working conditions in Lowell, Massachusetts
1836
Convention of mechanics, farmers, and workingmen meet in Utica, New York to address issues affecting labor
1842
In Commonwealth vs. Hunt the Massachusetts supreme court rules that labor unions are not illegal conspiracies
--Connecticut and Massachusetts pass laws prohibiting children to work more than 10 hours a day
1847
New Hampshire is the first state to make the 10 hour workday the legal one
1848
Pennsylvania passes a law making 12 years old the minimum age for workers in commercial occupations
1860
Abraham Lincoln, in support of New England shoemakers, says "Thank God we have a system of labor where there can be a strike"
1863
Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in southern states occupied by Union forces during the Civil War
1865
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution bans slavery in the U.S.
1866
National Labor Union established
1867
Knights of the Order of St. Crispin Founded
--General strike of Chicago trade unions demanding an 8 hour workday occurs
1868
First 8 hour workday passed; it applies only to laborers, mechanics, and workmen employed by the government
--First state labor bureau established in Massachusetts
1869
Knights of Labor founded in Philadelphia by Uriah Stephens. Women and Blacks allowed membership
--First Black National Labor Union founded in Washington DC
--First National women's union, the Daughter's of St. Crispin, hold their convention in Lynn, Massachusetts
1870
First written contract between coal miners and coal mine operators is signed
1873
Economic panic followed by a depression causes most national unions to dissolve
1876
Several member of the radical labor organization, the Molly Maguires, are convicted for murders in Pennsylvania, 19 will be hanged
1877
National uprising of railroad workers cripples the nation
1882
First Labor Day Celebration takes place in New York City
1884
First all-female local of the Knights of Labor established
1885
Successful strike by the Knights of Labor on Gould's southwestern rail system takes place
1885-86
Knights of Labor reach the height of their influence
1886
The American Federation of Labor is established in Columbus, Ohio. Samuel Gompers is the union's first president
-- Violence erupts after an explosion during a rally supporting the 8 hour workday in Chicago's Haymarket Square
1887
Gibbons memorial defending the Knights of Labor goes to Rome
--Seven are charged with bombing Haymarket Square in 1886. 5 are later executed
1892
Iron and steel workers are defeated in a lockout at Homestead, Pennsylvania
1900
International Ladies Garment Workers Union founded
