EQ: How did conditions change for workers once the factory system developed?

How was life for the northern factory worker? In a word, HARD, factory owners wanted

workers to produce longer at an average of 11.4 hours a day.

As leather straps broke under extreme use, workers lost fingers and broken bones.

Young children were especially at risk. With no air conditioning, workers

sweltered in the summer and froze in the winter.

How did the workers react?

Trade unions-organizations of skilled workers with the same trade-began to form to help the workers.

Unskilled workers began to organize as well and “strike” or refuse to work for better conditions and pay.

Massachusetts was the first state to allow workers to strike without losing their jobs.

What was it like for African-Americans?

Slavery had disappeared in the north by 1830, but workers there still faced prejudice and discrimination.

New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania had laws prohibiting AA’s from voting.

While a select few became successful, the majority of AA’s in the factory system were very poor.

Did women fare any better?

Women were kept out of labor unions and were always paid less than men.

Male workers often wanted women out of the workplace so more jobs would be available for men.

Most efforts for women to achieve equal treatment in the workplace failed but they paved the way for future success of later movements.

How did the cities change?

Northern cities experienced population booms with the number of factories and factory workers.

Immigration-the movement of people into a country, helped spark the growth as the Irish fled the “potato famine” in Ireland at a rate of 1.5 million between 1846 and 1860.

They were too poor to buy land so they mostly worked in factories.

What other countries followed?

Germany was the second largest to immigrate to America.

They were much more financially successful than the Irish.

They came in family groups and bought land and set up businesses.

They also brought their culture and set up musical societies.

How did natural born Americans react?

Just as AA’s were prejudiced against, immigrants soon felt the wrath of a jealous nation that felt too many immigrants were taking American jobs.

Nativists-people opposed to immigrants began targeting foreigners for taking lower wages and bringing crime to cities.