52 Texas House Democrats fled to Illinois to break quorum and prevent a vote on unprecedented mid-cycle redistricting that would create 5 new safe Republican congressional seats, echoing 2003 and 2021 walkouts but this time leaving state to avoid federal law enforcement. At least 51 Democratic …
Texas House DemocratsTexas LegislatureIllinois Governor JB PritzkerGene WuJosh Rush Nisenson+1 moreredistrictingdemocratic-resistancequorum-breakinterstate-politicsconstitutional-crisis+1 more
New York, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, and New Jersey announce coordinated mid-cycle redistricting efforts to counter Republican gerrymandering, effectively ending the constitutional norm of decennial redistricting tied to census.
A historic nationwide protest against presidential overreach, the ‘No Kings’ demonstrations involved over 5 million Americans in more than 2,100 cities and towns, marking the largest coordinated resistance action since the Women’s March of 2017. Protesters challenged Trump’s …
Civil Society OrganizationsProtest movementsAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)MoveOnAmerican Federation of Teachers+1 moreprotestscivil-resistanceconstitutional-crisispopular-oppositiontrump-administration+1 more
On March 3, 1972, workers at General Motors’ Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant authorized a 22-day strike after GM’s Assembly Division (GMAD)—which workers called “Get Mean And Destroy”—implemented brutal speedups that reduced task time to 35-second bursts with only 5-second …
United Auto Workers Local 1112General Motors Assembly DivisionGeneral Motors CorporationSenator Ted Kennedylabor-organizingdemocratic-resistancecorporate-exploitation
On September 8, 1965, Filipino American grape workers in the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee walked out on strike against Delano-area table and wine grape growers, protesting years of poverty wages and brutal working conditions, and asked Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers …
United Farm WorkersCesar ChavezAgricultural Workers Organizing CommitteeDelano Grape Growerslabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
In September 1962, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to organize California’s agricultural workers, who had been systematically excluded from New Deal labor protections and faced conditions resembling debt peonage. Farmworkers endured poverty …
Cesar ChavezDolores HuertaNational Farm Workers AssociationAgricultural Workers Organizing Committeelabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
The AFL-CIO achieves a major victory in its confrontation with the National Right-to-Work Committee’s coordinated efforts to extend right-to-work laws to six additional states through ballot initiatives. Union organizing and voter mobilization efforts result in the defeat of right-to-work …
AFL-CIONational Right to Work CommitteeCalifornia votersOhio votersWashington state voters+3 moreright-to-worklabor-organizingdemocratic-resistancestate-legislationballot-initiatives
The Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly passes a right-to-work bill in March 1957 over the objections of Democrats, labor leaders, and workers, making Indiana one of the first northern industrial states to adopt such legislation. Time Magazine reports in its March 11, 1957 issue that …
Indiana General AssemblyRepublican PartyDemocratic PartyIndiana labor unionsNational Right to Work Committeeright-to-worklabor-suppressionstate-legislationunion-bustingdemocratic-resistance
The Congress of Industrial Organizations launches Operation Dixie in spring 1946, the most ambitious post-World War II campaign to unionize industry in the Southern United States, particularly targeting the textile industry across 12 Southern states. A permanent Southern Organizing Committee is …
Congress of Industrial OrganizationsVan BittnerGeorge BaldanziUnited Auto WorkersUnited Electrical Workers+4 morelabor-organizingoperation-dixieciocorporate-violenceracial-politics+2 more
On November 9, 1935, John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers met with leaders of eight unions—including Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union—to formally establish the Committee for Industrial Organization within the …
John L. LewisUnited Mine Workers of AmericaSidney HillmanDavid DubinskyPhilip Murraylabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
From June 27 through July 8, 1905, two hundred socialists, anarchists, Marxists, and radical trade unionists convened at Brand’s Hall in Chicago to found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), launching the most significant challenge to corporate capitalism and conservative trade unionism …
William "Big Bill" HaywoodEugene V. DebsMother JonesLucy ParsonsDaniel De Leon+1 morelabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
On February 4, 1887, President Grover Cleveland approved the Interstate Commerce Act, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad industry conduct. This landmark legislation made railroads the first industry subject to federal regulation in American history, responding to …
U.S. CongressInterstate Commerce CommissionGranger MovementRailroad IndustryFarmers Allianceregulatory-frameworkdemocratic-resistanceinstitutional-accountabilitycorporate-regulation
In March 1877, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Munn v. Illinois (94 U.S. 113), affirming in a 7-2 decision that states possess constitutional authority to regulate private industries when such regulation serves the public good. Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote for the majority that because grain …
U.S. Supreme CourtMorrison WaiteNational GrangeIllinois LegislatureMunn & Scottregulatory-frameworksupreme-courtgranger-movementdemocratic-resistancepublic-interest
President Thomas Jefferson signs the Embargo Act, prohibiting all American ships from leaving port in an attempt at economic coercion against Britain and France, who are seizing U.S. merchant vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. Jefferson chooses commercial warfare over military confrontation after …
President Thomas JeffersonU.S. CongressNew England merchantsFederalist Partyeconomic-warfarefederal-overreachregional-conflictdemocratic-resistancepolicy-failure
President George Washington issues a proclamation declaring western Pennsylvania whiskey protests to be treasonous acts that amount to “levying war against the United States,” establishing the precedent for federal military suppression of domestic economic dissent. The crisis stems from …
George WashingtonAlexander HamiltonWestern Pennsylvania farmersU.S. Militiafederal-powertaxationmilitary-forceclass-conflictdemocratic-resistance