19. The City and Its Workers, 1870

Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Analyzing Historical Evidence: The Songs of the Knights of Labor

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 19.6

1. Singing songs was a useful way for the Knights of Labor to unite its members together because

it made the workers view the Knights like a religious organization.

singing did not require the workers be able to read.

everyone in the late nineteenth century knew how to sing.

songs aroused more powerful emotions than speeches.

Question 19.7

2. When the Knights of Labor sang that their organization would bring justice, what was the crime for which they wanted retribution?

The disproportionate power of wealthy people and politicians, relative to the working class

The environmental destruction caused by major American industrial corporations

The injuries suffered by children workers in the absence of protective child labor laws

The lack of retirement pensions provided for lifelong industrial workers

Question 19.8

3. How did the Knights of Labor envision the relationship between farmers and industrial workers, as illustrated by the Knights’ songs?

The Knights primarily represented industrial workers, but would welcome aid and support from farmers if it was offered.

Unionization and collectivization had been pioneered by farmers, so industrial workers viewed farmers as their mentors.

Industrial workers and farmers had opposing and irreconcilable interests when it came to economic policies and legal protections.

Industrial workers and farmers were allies with a common goal of empowering producers, and taking power away from non-producers.

Question 19.9

4. To describe the powerlessness of working men in the industrialized United States of the nineteenth century, the Knights of Labor compared workers to

slaves.

children.

the Chinese.

women.

Question 19.10

5. Why did some male members of the Knights of Labor argue that women should not be involved with the union?

Since women did not perform paid work in the late nineteenth century, women couldn’t understand the struggle working men were going through.

Politicians and big businessmen would not take the Knights seriously as an organization if there were too many women in their ranks.

The union was a fraternal organization, and it was inappropriate and unwomanly for women to participate in its masculine struggles for justice.