In Chicago the city as well as the state government had enacted eight-hour-day laws, without providing mechanisms for enforcement or penalties for violating them. The issue ended up being decided on the streets. In May 1867 skilled workers turned to walkouts, demonstrations, marches, and moral suasion to induce employers to obey the law. Employers largely refused: in a nationalizing economy, they could not grant an eight-hour day and still compete with manufacturers outside Chicago who did not do so.
