<span>The church's authority weakened because it had moved away from Rome. In addition, this led to the church having a much larger French influence as the center of the institution was now based in France. Rival popes continued to eat away at the influence of the church because it showed that there was infighting taking place.</span>
<span>The Homestead strike pitted one of the most powerful new corporations, Carnegie Steel Company, against the nation’s strongest trade union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. An 1889 strike had won the steelworkers a favorable three-year contract; but by 1892 Andrew Carnegie was determined to break the union. His plant manager, Henry Clay Frick, stepped up production demands, and when the union refused to accept the new conditions, Frick began locking the workers out of the plant.</span>
