EQ: How did conditions change for workers once the factory
system developed?
THE ANTEBELLUM PERIODNORTHERN WORKERS
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.