Birth of Albert Parsons, Haymarket martyr - 1848

Some 5,000 female cotton workers in and around Pittsburgh, Pa. strike for a 10-hour day. The next day, male trade unionists become the first male auxiliary when they gather to protect the women from police attacks. The strike ultimately failed - 1845

First anthracite coal strike in U.S. - 1842

President Martin Van Buren issues a broadly-applicable executive order granting the 10 hour day to all government employees engaged in manual labor - 1840

First women’s anti-slavery conference, Philadelphia - 1838

Nation's first general strike for 10 hour day; Philadelphia - 1835

Children, employed in the silk mills in Paterson, N.J., went on strike for 11-hour day and 6-day week. A compromise settlement resulted in a 69-hour work work week - 1835

The Ladies Shoe Binders Society formed in New York - 1835

Delegates from several East Coast cities meet in convention to form the National Trades' Union, uniting craft unions to oppose "the most unequal and unjustifiable distribution of the wealth of society in the hands of a few individuals." The union faded after a few years - 1834

One of the first American labor newspapers, The Man, is published in New York City. It cost one cent and, according to The History of American Journalism, “died an early death.” Another labor paper, N.Y. Daily Sentinel, had been launched four years earlier - 1834

Responding to unrest among Irish laborers building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Pres. Andrew Jackson orders first use of American troops to suppress a labor dispute - 1834

Slave revolt led by Nat Turner begins in Southampton County, Va. - 1831