Copyright by William Arnold Sullivan 1951 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A STUDY OP THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER IN PENNSYLVANIA IOOO to 1840 Submitted in p a rtia l fu lfillm en t of the requirem ents for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of P o litic a l Science, Columbia U niversity. W illiam A. S u llivan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE At the beginning of the nin eteenth century the term "workingman" rarely if ever appeared in public p rin t. The in d u stria l worker as such was unknown. But by the decade of the 1830’s, the "workingman" had come to co n stitu te a novel but indeterm inate fo rce in the American community. He was a product of the In d u strial R evolution which, in th is f ir s t h a lf o f the century, was su b tly transform ing the whole mode of American lif e . I t was not u n til the la te n in eteenth century that the so cia l upheaval brought on by the In d u strial R evolution and it s Impact on the workingman attracted the a tten tio n of serious scholars. In 1886, Richard T. E ly, of Johns Hopkins U n iversity, published the Labor Movement in America, and the follow in g year George^E. M cN eill, a w ell known labor lead er, edited The Labor Movement - the Problem of Today. These stu d ies, although adm ittedly inadequate, opened up fo r the students of American economic and so cia l h isto ry a v a st, unexplored fie ld fo r inquiry. John R. Commons and h is A ssociates at the U n iversity of W isconsin undertook the enormous but ex citin g task of unearthing the m anuscript m aterials which would d isclo se the ro le of labor in shaping the course of American h isto ry . Their e ffo r ts resu lted in two monumental p u b lication s: the f ir s t being a ten volume c o lle c tio n of manuscript m aterials referrin g to American labor e n title d Documentary H istory of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11 American In d u stria l S o ciety : and the second being the most exhaustive and sig n ific a n t study of the American labor movement to date - a four volume p roject e n title d the H istory o f Labour in the U nited S ta tes. Since the appearance of the la tte r study, a ll subsequent h is to r ie s of the American labor movement, e sp e c ia lly those referrin g to the f ir s t h a lf o f the nineteenth century, have been, w ith rare excep tion s, l i t t l e more than "generalized summarizations o f what had been presented in d eta iled fash ion 1 in the H istory of Labor in the U nited S ta te s. " Two exceptions to th is gen eralization are the follow in g: F ir st i s Professor Richard B. M orris’ b r illia n t study of Government and Labor in Early America, an o rig in a l and com prehensive in v e stig a tio n of labor In the C olonial Period; and the second i s , Dr. Norman W are's challenging h isto ry of The In d u strial Worker 1840 - I860. Dr. P h ilip S. Foner has undertaken an am bitious p roject e n title d H istory of the Labor Movement in the Unitod S ta te s. The f ir s t volume of th is p rojected two volume study appeared in 1947, and Its o r ig in a lity , p a rticu la rly in it s treatm ent of the labor movement in the f ir s t h a lf of the n in eteen th century, lie s la rg ely in In terp reta­ tio n rather than in new m aterials uncovered. Since the vast canvas of American labor h isto ry has attra cted the a tten tio n of some of America’s outstanding 1. P h ilip S. Foner, H istory of the Labor Movement in the U nited S ta tes (New York, 194*7) , P* 1(3 ~ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. sch olars, and the general h isto ry of the American labor movement has been to ld a number of tim es th is p roject is r e str ic te d to a more concentrated theme. (The ind ivid u al sta te s have always been a sig n ific a n t fa cto r in American h isto r y , and the w riter in th is volume undertakes), a comprehensive study of the in d u stria l worker in a lead in g in d u stria l s ta te , Pennsylvania, from 1800 to 1840, In the follow in g chapters the w riter has examined the impact of the In u d stria l R evolution on the Pennsylvania wage earner and h is reaction to i t . His sources have been, prim arily, m anuscript account books (day books, led g ers, journals and receip t books) which have been preserved in the numerous rep o sito ries throught Pennsylvania. In ad d ition , contemporary newspapers have been used e x ten siv ely , e sp e c ia lly for tracin g the development of the trade union movement. These newspapers were invaluable and alm ost the only sources of inform ation for the d iscu ssio n of labor-management r e la tio n s and the numerous strik es which broke out as a r e su lt of the in a b ility of these two groups to reco n cile th eir d ifferen ces. They a lso provided indispensable leads to the p o litic s of the workingman. Without the aid of numerous in d ivid u als th is study would never have been p o ssib le . To Dr. S. K .Stevens, S tate H istorian of Pennsylvania, and to the Pennsylvania H isto rica l and Museum Commission I am deeply indebted for generous fin a n cia l a id , w ithout which, th is study could not have been completed at th is tim e. I sh a ll always remember how Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. graciou sly Henry Howard Eddy, Chief of the Public Records D ivision of the Pennsylvania Museum and H isto rica l D iv isio n , remained open a fter hours and a ssiste d me in other ways too numerous to mention. To the sta ffs of the numerous h isto r ic a l s o c ie tie s scattered throught Pennsylvania, I am e sp ec ia lly indebted, I sh a ll remember w ith kindness Barney Cheswiek of the Ridgway Branch L ibrary, who never tired of answering the innumerable requests o f th is w riter* To Dr* J. Martin KLotsche, President of Milwaukee State Teachers C ollege, I am indebted for f ir s t having suggested to me a study of labor in the Jackson Era. Nor can I fo rg et the patience w ith which Professor John A. Krout liste n e d to my papers and a ssiste d me through the doctoral seminar in which th is paper was begun. I must also acknowledge the gen erosity of Professor Arthur C. Bining of the U n iversity of Pennsylvania, who shared w ith me h is notes on the iron industry of Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. P rofessors Dorfman and Malone gave me many valuable c riticism s to imrpove the m anuscript. To Bean Harry J* Carman of Columbia U niversity I am indebted for having consented to read th is en tire m anuscript. Above a ll I am g ra tefu l to Professor Richard B. M orris of Columbia U n iversity. Throughout a ll my graduate stu d ies he has p a tien tly guided and a ssiste d me. He has been generous w ith h is time and c riticism . His suggestions have been numerous and invaluable throughout the whole course of th is Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. p ro je c t, both as to in v estig a tio n of the sources and the preparation and rev isio n of the manuscript# Whatever errors appear in th is m anuscript, errors of fa c t or in terp reta tio n , of ommission or com m ission, are mine. W illiam A. Su llivan Brooklyn, N. Y# Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS page Preface i Chapter I - The Industrial Setting 1 A. Industrial Centers 4 B. Industrial ftrogress 8 C. The Growth of the IronI ndustry 14 D. Growth of the TextileI ndustry 25 E. Other Industries 35 II The Wage Earners 42 A. The Factory Operatives 45 III The Wage Earners - Part H 85 A. The Iron Workers 85 B. The Conaacaa Laborers 104 C. The Skilled Artisans 110 IT Growth of Trade Unions 124 A, Labor Organization 1SQO-I828 132 V Labor Organization Curing the Age of Jackson 142 VI The Skilled Artisans and Industrial Strife 169 VII Labor Strife Among the Unskilled Wage Earners 202 7IH Labora nd Politics Curing the Jackson Era 219 A, The Working Men’s Party of Philadelphia 231 B. The Working Men's Party of Pittsburgh 248 c. The Working Men’s Party of Dauphin County 261 c. The Working Men’s Party of M ifflin County 263 E. Critique of the Working Men’s P olitics 264 The Wage Earners and Social Reform 281 Appendices - A Trade Societies in Pennsylvania in the 1830's B Summary of Strikes in Pennsylvania 1800-1840 C Votes in the Presidential and Gubernatorial Elections 1828 - 1840 Bibliography Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE INDUSTRIAL SETTING The years from l800 to 1840 form a convenient unit for a study of the In d u strial worker. During these years the statu s of the worker was undergoing a subtle but profound transform ation. The Introduction of steam- driven machinery and the growth of the factory system menaced the preeminent p o sitio n of the sk ille d artisan , and brought u n sk illed hands,and women and child wage earners into d irect com petition w ith him. These same decades w itnessed, too, the emergence of labor as an organized and a ctive force in the economic and so cia l lif e of the nation. Pennsylvania, during these f ir s t four decades of the nineteenth century, provides an ex cellen t locale for the study of the labor movement. Probably no other sta te could match its w ealth in natural resources. Its fe r tile v a lle y s, its wooded m ountains, its alm ost inexhaustible d eposits of coal and its beds of iron ore provided a firm foundation for a w ell integrated economy. In the East two m agnificent waterways, the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay, promised ready access to World Markets for its products from the earth, the fie ld and the fo r e st. And beyond the mountains, the Ohio River carried the produce Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of the w estern country to the outside world. Both as colony and commonwealth, Pennsylvania attracted wage earners o f a va riety of trades and occupations from the ©Id World. A generous land p olicy, a lib er a l frame of government and a bold ad vertisin g campaign made Penn's colony the most cosm opolitan settlem en t in E nglish North America. German em igrants, -the greater part o f whom were mechanics and weavers, 1 arrived sh o rtly a fter the colony was founded. Throughout the eighteenth century they came in ever increasing numbers, s e ttlin g on the rich farm lands in Lancaster County. Welch s e ttle r s arrived ea rly , esta b lish in g them selves in Chester and Philadelphia C ounties. The S cotch -Irish came in alarm ing numbers. Contemptuous of land t it le s and disregarding the Indian tr e a tie s, they squatted on the u n settled lands of the fr o n tie r . Decades before the Quaker colony was esta b lish ed , the Swedes and the Dutch had planted settlem en ts along the Delaware. This rich ly endowed colony w ith its heterogenous population was destined to assume a commanding p o sitio n among the E nglish settlem en ts in North America. Throughout the eighteenth century, its commerce and in d u stries held a preeminent 1. J. Franklin Jameson (ed. ), O riginal N arratives of E arly American H istory ; Francis D aniel P astorius, C ircum stantial D escription of Pennsylvania, 1700jprinted in N arratives of E arly Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware - 1707 (New York, 1$12), pp. 207 ff- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. 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