Jacob Coxey

Jacob Coxey (1854-1951), American social reformer. Jacob Sechler was born in Selingrove, Pennsylvania. He was a self-made businessman, whose concern for the unemployed during the economic depression following the panic of 1893 resulted in his proposing that Congress issue legal tender notes to be spent on public construction, thereby providing much-needed employment. The “living petition” of Coxey's idea was a group of about 100 unemployed persons, popularly called “Coxey's Army,” that he led from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., in 1894, to demand federal relief measures. His army had increased to about 500 by the time it reached the Capitol, but an attempted demonstration on May 1 led to the intervention of the Washington police in which some 50 spectators were injured. Coxey was arrested, fined, and sentenced to 20 days in jail for carrying banners and walking on the Capitol grounds. Coxey was mayor of Massillon from 1931 to 1933. He was an unsuccessful candidate for other public offices, including that of president of the United States.