8.12.6

Discuss child labor, working conditions, and laissez-faire policies toward big business, and examine the labor movement, including its leaders (e.g., Samuel Gompers), its demand for collective bargaining, and its strikes and protests over labor conditions.
            During the industrial revolution, cheap labor was desperately needed to work the large machines inside industrial plants. Even the large amounts of immigrants, who badly needed somewhere to work, could not truly satisfy America’s belief that more and more machinery was needed. Many employers turned to children as a cheap source of labor. Children from very young ages (as young as 6) found employment in major factories. Working conditions were terrible: many machines were unsafe, pay was minimal, hours were long, and the slightest lapse in concentration could lead to a severed hand, finger, foot, or worse. However, it was doubtful that conditions would improve, due to the Laissez-faire ideas of the day. A Laissez-faire approach to business means that the government stays completely out of anything that the business world does. Without government interference, there was no way to pass any laws to improve conditions. Some however, decided to take matters into their own hands. One noteworthy case was the Molly Maguire’s. The M.M.’s were Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania who decided that improving working conditions could not be achieved through peaceful means.  In a lightning quick movement, they killed several supervisors and other men loyal to the mine owners. However, not all of the protests over labor conditions were so swift and violent. Samuel Gompers became a member of, and eventually lead, the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL was a labor union designed to protect the common workers rights and privileges while working. Gompers often used a tactic called “Collective Bargaining” where numerous employees group together and stand unified against their employer. Labor unions began to use strikes as a tactic to force owners to give them what they wanted.


More Information:

   1.    The American Past (Part II: A survey of American history since 1865)


Recommended Books:

   1.    The American Journey
          by Appleby, Joyce. Brinkley, Alan. McPherson, James. National Geographic Society.