ational trade unions was a true index of the
condition of business. Four were organized in 1864 as compared to two
organized in 1863, none in 1862, and one in 1861. During 1865, which
marked the height of the intense business activity, six more national
unions were organized. In 1866 industry entered upon a period of
depression, which reached its lowest depth in 1867 and continued until
1869. Accordingly, not a single national union was organized in 1866 and
only one in 1867. In 1868 two new national labor unions were organized.
In 1869 two more unions were formed--a total of seven for the four
depressed years, compared with ten in the preceding two prosperous
years. In the summer of 1870 business became good and remained good for
approximately three years. Nine new national unions appeared in these
three years. These same years are marked also by a growth of the unions
previously organized. For instance, the machinists and blacksmiths, with
only 1500 members in 1870, had 18,000 in 1873. Other unions showed
similar gains.

An estimate of the total trade union membership at any one time (in view
of the total lack of reliable statistics) would be extremely hazardous.
The New York _Herald_ estimated it in August 1869, to be about 170,000.
A labor leader claimed at the same time that the total was as high as
600,000. Probably 300,000 would be a conservative estimate for the time
immediately preceding the panic of 1873.

Although the strength of labor was really the strength of the national
trade unions, especially during the depression of the later sixties, far
greater attention was attracted outside as well as inside the labor
movement by the National Labor Union, a loosely built federation of
national trade unions, city trades' assemblies, local trade unions, and
reform organizations of various descriptions, from philosophical
anarchists to socialists and woman suffragists. The National Labor Union
did not excel in practical activity, but it formed an accurate mirror of
the aspirations and ideals of the American mechanics of the time of the
Civil War and after. During its six years' existence it ran the gamut of
all important issues which agitated the labor movement of the time.

The National Labor Union came together in its first convention in 1866.
The most pressing problem of the day was unemployment due to the return
of the demobilized soldiers and the shutting down of war industries. The
convention centered on the