Name: ______Date:______

8-4 Document Worksheet

Document 1
The increase of factories in the 1800schanged the way Americans worked. Beforethe 1820s, textile, or cloth, makers spunthread in factories. Then they employedpeople working at home to make clothingfrom the thread. This was known as thecottage industry system in whichmanufacturers provided the materials forgoods to be manufactured at home. By the1830s, factories had replaced the cottageindustry system. The thread as well as the
clothes were made in the factories.
In the early 19th century, artisans madegoods that a family could not make foritself. These included such items asfurniture and tools. The artisans usuallyworked in shops attached to their homes.The most experienced artisans were calledmasters. They were assisted byjourneymen. These were skilled workersemployed by the masters. Apprenticeswere young workers learning the craft.
This way of producing goods alsochanged with the growth of factories. Newmachines allowed unskilled factoryworkers to make goods that skilledartisans once made.
Document 2:
In the mills of Lowell, Massachusetts,most factory workers were young,unmarried women. Factory owners hiredmostly young women because they couldpay them less than men. These womenwere known as “mill girls.” They lived inboarding houses owned by the factory.
At first, the women felt lucky to havethese jobs. Factory work paid better thanother jobs for women—teaching, sewing,and being a servant. But throughout theearly 1800s, working conditions in thetextile mills steadily grew worse. Theworkday was more than 12 hours long.Factories were hot, noisy, and dirty. Many
workers became ill.
In addition, managers forced workers toincrease their pace. Between 1836 and1850, Lowell owners tripled the number ofspindles and looms. However, they hiredonly 50 percent more workers to operatethem. Factory rules tightened too. Aftergulping a noon meal, workers had to rushback to their stations to avoid fines for
lateness.
In 1834, the mill owners cut wages forworkers. In response, 800 “mill girls”went on strike. A strike is a work
stoppage in order to force an employer torespond to demands. The workersdemanded to be paid their old salaries. Thewomen eventually lost their strike andwere forced to return to work.Two years later, the “mill girls” struckagain—over what amounted to anotherpay cut. Twice as many womenparticipated as had two years earlier. Likethe previous strike, however, the companyprevailed.
The Lowell workers did not give uptheir fight for better working conditionsafter these setbacks. In the years thatfollowed the strikes, the women worked toimprove their situation through legislation.
Document 3:
There were dozens of strikes for shorterhours or higher pay in the 1830s and1840s. Employers won most of them. Onereason was that owners could hirestrikebreakers, or replacement workers.
Many of these strikebreakers wereEuropean immigrants. Immigration fromEurope to the United States increasedbetween 1830 and 1860. Irish immigrantshad come to escape the Great PotatoFamine. In the 1840s, a disease killedmost of the potato crop in Ireland. About1 million Irish people starved. More than1 million came to America. The Irishfaced prejudice in the United Statesbecause they were poor and RomanCatholic. Because they were poor, theIrish were willing to work for low wages.As a result, employers used the Irish whentheir regular workers went on strike.
To increase their power, workers joinedtrade unions, or unions specific to eachtrade. These unions eventually joinedtogether to form the National Trades’Union in 1834. This union represented avariety of trades.
Factory owners opposed the unionmovement. They had help early on from thecourts—which declared strikes illegal. In1842, however, the Massachusetts SupremeCourt supported the right of workers tostrike in Commonwealth v. Hunt.
By 1860, barely 5,000 workers weremembers of what would now be calledlabor unions. By this time, however, morethan 20,000 workers participated in strikesfor improved working conditions andwages.

Document 1 Question(s):

  1. What was the cottage industry system?
  1. How did factories change the way artisan goods were produced?

Document 2 Question(s):

  1. What wereworking conditions like in the Lowell mills?
  1. What is a strike?

Document 3 Question(s):

  1. Why did large numbers of Irish immigrants come to the United States? How were they treated?
  1. What are trade unions? What did they try to accomplish?

Writing Assignment:

Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following question in the form of a short essay (of at least one paragraph) using the question answers, documents, claims and evidence from above:

  • Inquiry Question: What is the main idea, issue or theme that ties these documents together? What evidence can you offer to support this idea, issue or theme?(What is one thing that all the documents have in common? How do you know this?)