Labor in America
The Industrial Revolution was dawning in the United States. At Lowell, Massachusetts, the construction of a big cotton mill began in 1821. It was the first of several that would be built there in the next 10 years. The machinery to spin and weave cotton into cloth would be driven by water power. All that the factory owners needed was a dependable supply of labor to tend the machines. As most jobs in cotton factories required neither great strength nor special skills, the owners thought women could do the work as well as or better than men. In addition, they were more compliant. The New England region was home to many young, single farm girls who might be recruited. But would stern New England farmers allow their daughters to work in factories? The great majority of them would not. They believed that sooner or later factory workers would be exploited and would sink into hopeless poverty. Economic "laws" would force them to work harder and harder for less and less How, then, were the factory owners able to recruit farm girls as laborers? They did it by building decent houses in which the girls could live. These houses were supervised
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Knights Labor, LOWELL EXPERIMENT, Anti-trust Act, AFL-CIO LABOR, Progressives AFL, Knights AFL, Debs IWW, GROWTH FACTORY, Lowell Massachusetts, LAWS Employers, knights labor, labor unions, congress passed, craft unions, union membership, wagner act, factory system, passed laws, farm girls, factory owners, american federation labor, federation labor afl, union represent workers, westport ct greenwood, ct greenwood press,
Approximate Word count = 4789
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page double spaced)
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