In colonial America, most manufacturing was done by hand in the home. Some
was done in workshops attached to the home. As towns grew into cities, the
demand for manufactured goods increased. Some workshop owners began hiring
helpers to increase production. Relations between the employer and helper were
generally harmonious.
They worked side by side, had the same interests and similar political views.
The factory system that began around 1800 brought great changes. The employer no
longer worked beside his employees. He became an executive and a merchant who
rarely saw his workers. He was concerned less with their welfare than with the
cost of their labor. Many workers were angry about the changes brought by the
factory system. In the past, they had taken great pride in their handicraft
skills; now machines did practically all the work, and they were reduced to the
status of common laborers. In bad times they could lose their jobs. Then workers
who would accept lower wages might replace them.
To skilled craft workers, the Industrial Revolution meant degradation rather
than progress. The Industrial Revolution was dawning in the United States. At
Lowell, Massachusetts, the construction of many mills and factories began in the
early 1800’s. Factory owners were in desperate need of workers, and as most jobs
in these factories required neither great strength nor special skills. In turn
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. The only thing that hindered many from working was the belief 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 pay. Factory workers were able to persuade the women to work by building
decent houses for them to live and “adult supervision” to look after them.
They were encouraged to go to church, to read, to write and to attend
lectures. They saved part of their earnings to help their families at home or to
use when thy got married. Faced with growing competition, factory owners began
to decrease wages in order to lower the cost-and the price-of finished products.
They increased the number of machines that each girl had to operate. In
addition, they began to overcrowd the houses in which the girls lived.
