The knights of labor began as a secret society of tailor in Philadelphia in 1869. The organization grew slowly during the hard years of the 1870s, but workers militancy rose toward the end of the decade, especially after the great railroad strike of 1877, and the Knights' membership rose with it. Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly took office in 1879,and under his leadership the knight flourished; by 1886 the group had 700,000 members. Powderly dispensed with the earlier rules of secrecy and committed the organization to seeking the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work, and political reforms including the graduated in come tax.
