author
1877 Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July
A sweeping official record of the 1877 railroad upheaval in Pennsylvania, this committee report captures one of the most dramatic labor crises of the 19th century. Compiled for the state legislature, it preserves testimony, evidence, and the government’s effort to understand how the violence unfolded.
1 Audiobook
Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877 Read in the Senate and House of Representatives May 23, 1878
by 1877 Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July
About the author
Created by a special committee of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, this work is not the voice of a single author but of a legislative body appointed to investigate the railroad riots of July 1877. The report was read in the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives on May 23, 1878, and was published as an extensive official account of the unrest.
The committee gathered testimony and documentary evidence about the strikes and violence that erupted during the wider railroad crisis of 1877, including events in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Because of that, the book serves both as a government inquiry and as a rich primary source for readers interested in labor history, industrial conflict, and public order in post–Civil War America.
Today, the report is valuable less as a personal statement than as a detailed historical record. Its scale and documentary style make it especially useful for listeners who want to hear how lawmakers of the time tried to explain a turning point in the history of American labor.