Discuss The Impact Of The Industrial Revolution On American Workers

The Industrial Revolution replaced the older notion of the “Artisan Republic” in the United States. Large factories with tedious and impassionate work replaced small workshops of learning laborers practicing their crafts. In the United States, hierarchy in the factories replaced the industrial democracy of artisans (Lecture, November 9, 2017). American workers resisted the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution in a myriad of ways. American workers sought to maintain these older traditions of work by utilizing ideals and values of artisan republicanism, such as egalitarian ideology and traditions of American independence, while also using working class resistance, such as unionization, disseminating information, and holding strikes. American workers were successful in creating positive changes in the new factory system but found it difficult to maintain older habits of the Artisan Republic. The shift from the Artisan Republic to the Industrial Revolution changed the dynamics of labor in the United States. Artisans and craftsmen ran their shops in their homes with the help of live-in apprentices (Clark et al, p. 338). The master craftsman would teach the apprentices in hopes of understanding the craft at a high level. There was no clear division between workers and the boss as much of the work was
The men and women of the shoemaking industry were finished with the oppression of the factory system. Women of Lynn were incredibly angry about their wages and demanded more money. Women shouted, “don’t work your machines; let em’ lie still till we get all we ask, and then go at it…” (Dawley, p. 90). These meetings that the women had were unifications for a common goal in an effort to have higher pay. This is an example of a union in which the women sought representation and pushed for their desires. They were eventually successful and received a fairer