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Period: to
Change in Workers Rights throughout time
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Erie Canal
"Begun in 1817, the 364-mile man-made waterway flowed between Albany on the Hudson River and Buffalo on Lake Erie. The canal connected the eastern seaboard and the Old Northwest. The great success of the Erie Canal set off a canal frenzy that, along with the development of the steamboat, created a new and complete national water transportation network by 1840." -
Lowell, Massachussetts
During the Industrial Revolution the town of Lowell was a big part of Factory working and changed alot of the rights of workers and of women. "Lowell Girls", young women would generally found to be hired over anyone else in these areas, giving them more working liberty. However, this brought advantages to the employer not only the employee. "The Boston Associates preferred female labor because they paid the young girls less than men. -
Wage Labor
Wage labor was the cause of many worker strikes. In 1824 a strike happened in which the people showed that they felt exploited. Textile and other factory workers protested the bad conditions and wages of the factory life. -
The Gold Rush
As the Chinese government collapsed with the new conditions of living, many Chinese fled to America, especially California to the gold rush. "The Chinese were paid lower wages than white workers, and they suffered other forms of economic and civil discrimination which were based in part on racism and in part on fear of the Chinese as economic competitors. Yet the demand for labor in the American West during the later 19th and early 20th centuries was generally high, so they contracted some." -
Literacy
By this date, nine out of ten adult white Americans could read and write. Women especially changed to a larger amount of literacy. "Affordable books and color prints from the new printing presses disseminated new fashions and ideas connecting urban and rural, East and West." This affected the people a lot. -
Negative Effects
Work days were usually around 10-12 hours long with work on Saturdays as well. There were normally little breaks, making it overall exhausting. One or one-fifty dollars a day was what was paid (amount to support a person but not family), and women and children were paid much less. The factories also had really unsafe working conditions with little safety regulations. -
Non-Whites
In the American West, the industries were generally segregated. Whites could only usually have leading roles in the jobs and Indians, Blacks, Asians, and Mexicans were seen as a threat to economic security. "In the Pacific Northwest of the 1880s—the very decade when railroads increased the pace of industrialization in the region—these patterns of labor organization and conflict played out against Chinese communities." -
Terence Powderly
"Leader of the Knights of Labor. In the 1880s, Powderly (1849-1924), became the most influential labor leader in the United STates when he organized the Knights of Labor as an industrial union with open membership and created a 'job conscious' approach to trade union problems. (Special Collections, University of Washington, Social Issues Files Dc/i.)" -
Bigger factories had lower pay
The picture shows a textile mill in massachusetts that weaved cotton and printed color on to things. Pay at factories like this one was at about $9.00 a week. It was like plantation work all over again. -
Coal Mines
Coal mining was especially dangerous to the workers during the industrial revolution. Many people were injured, and hundreds died each year due to accidents.
