1. Chapter 13 – The Industrial North
13.2 – Changes in Working Life

2. Before steam engines, mills ran on water power

3. Rhode Island System
practice of hiring families and dividing factory work into simple tasks
Slater was the first to do this
“Men with growing families wanted.”
No resistance to this because children had worked on farms previously

4. developed by Francis Cabot Lowell
Lowell System
developed by Francis Cabot Lowell
hired young unmarried women from local farms to work in his factories
had clean factories and boardinghouses for the girls to stay
Lowell Girls
young female mill workers
paid between $2-4 each week
$1.25 for room and board
Lowell System

5. Better wages than any other job for girls at the time
Advantages
Disadvantages
Better wages than any other job for girls at the time
Chance to earn a living away from home
Free time to take class and form clubs
12-14 hour workday
Daily life controlled
Forced to work harder and faster to keep up with better technology
Health problems

6. Trade Unions Problem: Pay decreased and conditions worsened
Immigrants willing to work for less
Pay decreased and conditions worsened
Tried to improve pay and working conditions
Skilled workers AND factory workers protest
Unions disliked by factory owners

7. Strikes A refusal to work until employer meets demands
Not very successful at first…

8. Labor Reform Efforts
Sarah Bagley founded the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association
This made the struggles of factory laborers public
Want:
shorter working hours – 10 Hour Day Reform
Results:
– some states passed 10 hour workday laws, but long hours remained common