How Could Americans Resist Industrial Revolution? (Essay Sample)

Industrial Revolution in America
Name
Institution
Industrial Revolution in America
The traditional American labor force was characterized by Artisan Republic (Brezina, 2005). According to Brezina (2005), Artisan Republic involved craftsmen that worked under the directions of their masters within their respective fields of trade. Brezina (2005) states that craftsmen formed the greatest sector of the Americans population in the America’s seaports. Essentially, craftsmen used their largest population to influence the economic and political life of the emerging municipalities. Artisans were heavily populated in cities and towns, especially the major American seaports. These artisans worked in a wide range of trades including shoemaking, textile-making, carpentry, baking, and tailoring among many other trades. Additionally, the artisans included the gold smiths and silver smiths. However, silver and gold smiths were less as compared to building crafts. Worth to mention, the artisans embraced apprentice system and egalitarianism. As with egalitarianism, the American artisans endorsed a work force where all workers are equal (Brezina, 2005).
The dreams of the American artisans was shattered when the industrial revolution started taking effect in America. The Industrial revolution emanated from Great Britain in the year 1750 (Brezina, 2005). Conlin (2010) argue that the white immigrants from Europe were among the first people that brought industrial revolution in America. The industrial revolution demanded the American workers and employers to adopt a new method of working based on wage labor. The American workers had to abandon their agricultural society and craftsmanship to embrace a more ridged and structured type of labor force (Brezina, 2005). According to Brezina (2005), the American industrial revolution introduced factory-based work force that encouraged unskilled labor, routinized labor processes, depersonalization of work, division of labor, deference and hierarchy in workplace, and ethnic and gendered divisions. Hence, the traditional pattern of running business processes in America was disrupted and threatened. The artisans were keen enough to identify the adverse impact of industrial revolution on Artisan Republic. Therefore, the American workers started resisting the changes brought by the industrial revolution. This paper aims to discuss how American workers sought to maintain their traditional pattern of work. Besides, the paper would narrate how successful the American works were in their attempts to restore their original pattern of work.
But, how could Americans resist industrial revolution? The artisans were led by fear to resist industrial revolution that promised mechanization in workplaces (Frank, 2009). The artisans possessed specialized skills relevant to their respective field of trade. Frank (2009) states that most artisans had to train hard and for a long time to acquire the necessary skills pertinent to their trade of interest. The shoemakers, for example, had to dedicate their attention and time towards practicing on making shoes. Fascinatingly, even the other trades involved immerse effort to practice and become fully competent. Among the things that American artisans fought for include the control of workshop and industrial democracy (Frank, 2009). Frank (2009) argues that the Americans feared that the industrial revolution could compromise on the industrial democracy and the way artisans controlled the workshops. Furthermore, the Americans wanted to restore kinship and fraternity in the workplaces. The craftsmen strived to maintain a pattern of work that allowed the family members to take over the craftsmanship from the owner. Conversely, the industrial revolution did not endorse the transfer of craftsmanship to the family members (Frank, 2009).
Firstly, the Americans relied on unionization and organizations. As with unionization, the Americans formed various unions to resist changes brought by the industrial revolution (Conlin, 2010). According to Conlin (2010), the industrial revolution initiated mechanization in Lynn shoe making firm that denied the shoe artisans their authority and industrial independence. As a result, the American artisans become enraged with the industrial revolution and in the year 1860 a group of shoemakers held a strike that gathered more than 10000 people that matched in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts (Conlin, 2010).
The shoemakers converged in Central Square led by marshal, Willard Oliver. According to Conlin (2010), Lynn was a shoe making factory in north east of Boston that had pioneered in the adoption of industrial revolution. In particular, Lynn was among the prominent factories in America that initiated the utilization of sewing machines to make shoes in the factory. Unfortunately, the use of sewing machines replaced shoemaker artisans (Conlin, 2010). Conlin (2010) narrates that the shoemaker artisans in Lynn started organizing the resistance union in the 1830s, and started composing a militant newspaper called the Awl. In the year 1844, the Awl newspaper wrote that the mechanization in the factories had divided the society into two groups that involved the non-producing and producing classes. The Awl also stated that the division of the society into classes had led to unequal distribution of values between the two classes that introduced the society to a distinction of capital and labor (Conlin, 2010).
According to Conlin (2010), in the year 1857, the economic crisis halted the shoe business in Lynn. As a result, the Lynn’s workers lost their jobs. The workers in Lynn were already angered with the machine-stitching that replaced some shoemakers. The mechanization at Lynn contributed to reduction of wage rates, while the prices rose up. In the year 1859, men workers in Lynn earned $3 a week, while women workers earned $1 a week. The payment structure introduced by the industrial revolution demonstrates that Lynn shoemaking factory did not pay its workers equally. Conlin (2010) argues that Lynn shoemaking factory paid the women workers little wages as compared to the men workers.
In early 1860, the shoemaker artisans held a mass meeting of the formed Mechanics Association to demand higher wages (Conlin, 2010). Eventually, the manufacturers at Lynn shoemaking factory refused to meet the committee of shoemaker artisans to resolve the problems regarding low wages. The workers were enraged with the shoes manufacturer and planned a strike that took effect the following day. In the following morning, more than 3000 shoemaker artisans met at Lyceum Hall in Lynn’s premises to create a committee of hundred workers that was supposed to guard the workers against violence, to post the names of scabs, and to prevent the manufacturer from sending the shoes elsewhere for finishing (Conlin, 2010). According to Conlin (2010), shoemakers throughout New England had joined the strike within one week. The shoemakers in various towns including Natick, Haverhill, Newburyport, and Marblehead among other Massachusetts towns took part in the strike. The strike was referred as the Revolution at the North (Conlin, 2010).
Additionally, women were also on the front line in the battle against industrial revolution. In the year 1836, the women workers planned a strike in Lowell Mill to respond to the factory’s bosses that had promised to cut wages of workers (Conlin, 2010). The women strikers aimed to protest against cutting down of wages. Lowell Mill was a textile factory that employed thousands of young women workers. Another thing th...