The so-called Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was one of the most significant events of the year. The strike began in Martinsburg, W. Va., when railway workers, who made $1.75 an hour, stopped working in protest of 10 percent wage cuts. Railroad company owners and public officials tried to violently repress the strike, but the National Guard, which was largely sympathetic to the strikers, did a poor job of putting it down. The strike spread to Baltimore, Pennsylvania, and beyond. In total, 100,000 workers struck, 100 people died and many industries, in addition to the railroads, ground to a halt. Eventually, though, the workers lost momentum and the strikes were controlled.
Reconstruction was a controversial governmental program imposed on the South at the end of the Civil War. It was designed to utilize federal power to protect the newfound rights of blacks in the former Confederacy. Reconstruction ended in 1877, when the last federal troops withdrew from New Orleans. Reconstruction facilitated the involvement of freed slaves in the democratic process and helped protect them from the creeping dangers of the Ku Klux Klan and other racially motivated violence. The abandonment of Reconstruction in 1877 led to an unfortunate rolling back of many of the hard-won social, political, legal and economic gains of southern blacks.
President Rutherford B. Hayes began his presidency in 1877 despite losing the popular vote. He assumed the presidency only after northern Republicans in Congress struck a deal with southern Democrats to end Reconstruction and give the Democrats at least one Cabinet position. Hayes' presidency was marked by fiscal conservatism and pro-business policies. He stated his intention to protect freed blacks in the southern states but did not follow through in enforcing his promise. Hayes only served a single term.
The 1870s, including 1877, was an era of significant technological advancement. Railroad improvements continued to link the country coast to coast in an efficient transportation grid. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and made the first audio recording in 1877. Advancements in the industrial sciences also took place during this time, in chemical production, communications and assembly line technologies.