The dictionary definition of fear is "a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger-. Fear does play an important role in how we act and what we do. Once the concept of fear is understood it is simple to recognize that it played many roles throughout American history. Fear took the shape of labor unions and strikes throughout the expansion of big business; immigration restrictions during the Red Scare; and in more than one case it served as a catalyst of violence for the United States. Whether it was social or individual, fear had an impact on the events that took place throughout time. .
This industrial revolution included the emergence of new technologies which expanded economic production. The development of mechanization instituted fear among America's laborers. Not only was mechanization displacing workers to factory positions and creating a "technological unemployment-, it was also subjecting laborers to harsh working conditions for comparatively less pay. In 1889 David A. Wells wrote a book called Recent Economic Changes in which he states that, .
"What was formerly known as domestic manufacture is now almost obsolete. In short, the people who work in the modern factory are, as a rule, taught to do one thing "perform one, and generally a simple, operation; and when there is no more of that kind of work to do, they are in a measure helpless."" .
Faced with these conditions and the growing size and complexity of business, the fear of job loss, personal health, and decreased wages led small groups of skilled workers to form labor organizations and/or participate in strikes to protect their jobs and their lives. The Pullman Strike of 1894 is an example of the railroad laborers' response to their cut wages and lost jobs due to the depression following the Panic of 1893. The railroad workers' fear was the driving force behind the organization of the Pullman Strike.