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The labor movement had gained momentum and become increasingly influential in national politics when, on May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. On June 26, Eugene V. Debs, leader of the American Railroad Union, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. After the boycott crippled rail transportation nationwide, the federal government sent troops to Chicago to break the strike, which led to a series of riots that caused the deaths of more than a dozen workers. By making Labor Day a legal holiday, Congress hoped to regain the support of American workers.
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