That’s how it often is with the first pioneers in social justice movements. Both of their strikes were crushed. And the only victory they won in their 10-hour workday campaign was pretty hollow. In 1847, New Hampshire became the first state to pass a 10-hour workday law—but it wasn’t enforceable.
What were the results of the Lowell strike?
It is hardly necessary to say that so far as results were concerned this strike did no good. The dissatisfaction of the operatives subsided, or burned itself out, and though the authorities did not accede to their demands, the majority returned to their work, and the corporation went on cutting down the wages.
Why did the Lowell System fail?
The association helped pass laws the limited working hours but the mills simply ignored the new laws. What is this? The Lowell system continued to fail when Irish immigrants, who started to flock to Massachusetts in 1846 to escape the famine in Ireland, sought work in the mills.
Did the Lowell System fail?
With unskilled labor available and willing to work for low wages, the system was no longer needed. By the 1850s the Lowell System was a failed experiment. New England farm girls were replaced by immigrant women who were willing to work for longer hours and lower wages.
Why did the Lowell factory workers go out on strike?
The initial effort of the investors and managers to recruit female textile workers brought generous wages for the time (three to five dollars per week), but with the economic depression of the early 1830s, the Board of Directors proposed a reduction in wages. This, in turn, led to organized “turn-outs” or strikes.
Did the Lowell textile mill strike increase wages?
Harriet Hanson Robinson began work in Lowell at the age of ten, later becoming an author and advocate of women’s suffrage. In 1834 and 1836, the mill owners reduced wages, increased the pace of work, and raised the rent for the boardinghouses.
Why were the Lowell mills important?
It introduced a new system of integrated manufacturing to the United States and established new patterns of employment and urban development that were soon replicated around New England and elsewhere.
What was the Lowell mill strike?
In 1834, when their bosses decided to cut their wages, the mill girls had enough: They organized and fought back. The mill girls “turned out”—in other words, went on strike—to protest.
Is the Lowell system still used today?
In the decades following Lowell’s death, industrial towns with mills that used the Lowell system were established throughout New England. Although the factory system became a permanent part of production in the United States, Lowell’s version of it eventually lost favor.
What was the immediate cause of the Lowell strike of 1834?
Because of fierce competition for existing jobs, labor lost bargaining power.
What was a unique feature of the Lowell system?
What was a unique feature of the Lowell system? Young farm girls were employed as factory workers and lodged in company boardinghouses.
What was life like for a Lowell girl?
Difficult Factory Conditions
These women worked in very sub-par conditions, upwards of 70 hours a week in grueling environments. The air was very hot in these rooms that were full of machines that generated heat, the air quality was poor, and the windows were often closed.
What was life like for mill workers in the Lowell system?
What was life like for mill workers in the Lowell System? Workers, mostly young women, worked hard for 12 to 14 hours per day,lived in boardinghouses, and were encouraged to use their free time to take classes and form clubs.
How many mills were in Lowell?
thirty-two textile mills
Lowell Mills and the “Mill Girls”
Just thirty years later, the renamed city of Lowell was home to thirty-two textile mills and a population that had grown to 33,000. Lowell had become a model textile manufacturing center in just three decades with a workforce that was roughly three-quarters female.
How did the Lowell factory system change after the Panic of 1837?
How did the Lowell factory system change after the Panic of 1837? Factory owners increased the pace of work, cut wages, and began to hire immigrants to replace the farm girls.