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The American Miners' Association is considered one of the first Organizations for coal miner's. In 1861,the industrial economy was in a server deep depression nationwide. Coal miner's decided to go on strike in a determined protest against wage cuts and declining earnings. It began in the city of St. Louis, Missouri and began to expand in many other areas in the United States.This organization was able to express and form other mining Organizations across the United States raising awareness.

Organization History

The American Miner’s union really wanted to express themselves on how the recession wage cuts was affecting their lives. The first strike was formed on January 21, 1861 most mines decided to remain not active after a few days. The miner’s not only expressed their opinions to the county, but they also informed the public about what was going on. Within two weeks the possibility of an appeal to insure honest weights was mentioned through the state senator . This strike was very unique and unusual because it gathered an extreme amount of publicity specifically represented and covered in the Belleville News Democrat. Since this organization was now being recognized the “America” was incorporated into the name of the association. So now the Miner’s Association transformed it name to the American Miner’s Association.

Historical problems

When this organization started, America was in an economic and industrial depression it caused major problems in the everyday lives of Americans such as no jobs, low wages, and insecure living conditions. The miner’s working wages were significantly decreased as St. Clair county coal operators revealed a reduction of one-quarter cent a bushel in the mining rate, bringing it to two and one-quarter cents.This was an significant financial impact for these miner’s as they were told that they were now going to be getting money striped and taken out of there hard earned pay checks. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end as more conflict continued to trouble these miner’s. Within a couple weeks later after the first wage reduction, an additional wage reduction on one-quarter cent was announced, this time resulting in a strike that extended over the entire field.They wanted to be paid a fair honest amount that they deserved so they proposed a list of demands requesting changed. The first demand was that The strikers stressed the point that they were not striking for an advance, but against a reduction.. The second demand was that they wanted honest weight measure’s because there has been claims of fraud in weight measures. Miner’s got paid based on the amount of how much they produced. They felt like they were started to be cheated out of their money because workers were being told that they produced less than what they actually did.

Historical Achievements

On February 11 the miner’s bill was a success. It was passed by the senate and sent to the house on the sixteenth, where it was quickly passed and approved by the governor on the twentieth. The miner’s will now be paid based on the correct amount on the scale. When the bill was passed they also made it clear that they will now be paid at the two-and-one-half-cent rate. the most successful components of the American Miner’s Association was its leadership and how supportive they interacted within each-other, and the community. St. Clair which was the community was the strike began had a major contributing factor helping the organization become successful. Having the communities support along with each-others support really was allowed them to spread out and express their ideas more to different audiences. It had the population of 14,000 in 1840, 38,000 in 1860 and passed the 40,000 mark by the middle of the Civil War.

President and Members

From the starting point of this organization in 1861 there is an extreme amount of membership growth in the association. The first president of the Association was Thomas Lloyd who was born on April 1, 1824 in Staffordshire, England. He then moved to St. Clair County which was his home for the rest of his life. Lloyd served three terms as county inspector of mines in St. Clair County. Andrew Roy, a longtime friend of his describes him as an energetic worker and forceful speaker. He was always involved in politics as he did represent himself as a republican as he was later appointed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics by a republican governor.

Daniel Weaver, one of the key leaders in this movement was born in Stafford, England, February 29, 1824. He lived in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in the Anthracite reign and in Youngstown, Ohio. Shortly years later he decided to move to St. Clair, Illinois with his wife and two kids to. He worked in the mine’s but his serious case of asthma forced him to retire from the job.His intelligence and willingness to express his opinions towards the Miner’s Association really impacted it as members believed and supported his ideas. The Association cherished his actions so much that even after his connection was gone with the organization, they still maintained his concepts.

Martin Boyle, an African American man was also a part of the strike had the lecturer position in which he would visit different places and organize lodges under the constitution of the Miner’s Association. The only other officer in this committee known besides Lloyd and Weaver was Ralph Green who had the treasurer position.

Decline of Organization

Around 1865, is when you begin to see the decline of the association. It all started with the district in Pennsylvania. They decided to lockout for about five months duration culminating in the forcible eviction of more than a thousand miners and their families, a total of 4,000 men, women, and children.This really affected many miners because they were being forced to relocate. Followed by this event in the month of September they also decided to suspend the publication of the weekly miner. This was very significant because they were no longer able to publically express themselves and display information to the public. Secondly, followed by this change more is changes is happening. In 1873 wages increased again causing a major reduction in the mining rate. With all of these negative affects it slowly started to wipe away the Association and it slowly began to disappear. Even though the Association was gone, it was still heavenly influenced.