An object has kinetic energy when itâs in motion. The amount of kinetic energy an object has depends on its mass and speed. Potential energy, on the other hand, is a stored energy when an object is at rest. It describes how much work the object could do if set into motion. Itâs an energy we can generally control. When an object is set into motion, its potential energy transforms into kinetic energy.
The Knights of Labor, the first national industrial union in the United States, was founded in Philadelphia on December 9, 1869, by Uriah Stephens (1821-82) and eight other Philadelphia garment cutters.
He had only marginal control over the union membership, however, and a successful strike by the Knights against Jay Gouldâs southwestern railroad system in 1884 brought a flood of new members. By the beginning of 1886, there were 700,000 Knights of Labor. But when the workers struck the Gould system again in the spring of 1886, they were badly beaten. Meanwhile, other members of the Knights participatedâagain, over Powderlyâs objectionsâin the general strike that began in Chicago on May 1, 1886.