Answer

“Coxey’s Army” encamped in Gaithersburg in 1894. Why were the men marching?

ANSWER:

B: More jobs

In 1894, the 500-man-strong “Coxey's Army,” named for its leader, Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey, encamped at Gaithersburg en route to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Coxey and his followers looked to the government to create jobs building roads, bridges, dams and other public works improvements following the Panic of 1893, the worst depression in the U.S. up to that time. Hundreds of thousands of people lost jobs and unemployment reached 18.4 percent. Coxey’s efforts failed to move Congress to action, but the march was the first significant protest march on Washington.