1. August 30-September 1, 2010

2.  Workers no longer need specialized skills.  The work was often very simple and workers were only taught one job in the mill.  Samuel Slater had a plan to keep workers in his mill.

3.  The Rhode Island System  The strategy of Samuel Slater to hire families and dividing factory work into simple tasks  Many families believed that factory work was similar to farm work.  Tasks were simple enough for children to contribute as well!

4.  How did these families get paid?  Children were paid very low wages.  Wages for families was often paid in store “credit.”  Some items were often paid over time.  Why? ▪ It allowed mill owners to reinvest their money in their business.

5.  Mill owners would often go to poor communities who welcomed the opportunity to earn money and learn a new skill.  Where can you see that today?  Immigrant workers  Low-income families  Unemployed

6.  Slatersville  Mill town  Included homes for workers  The owner’s home  Company Store  Slatersville Mill

7.  Francis Cabot Lowell  Developed the Lowell System that change the textile industry:  Def.: ▪ Based upon the water-powered textile mills that employed young, unmarried women from local farms. ▪ The systems included a loom that could both spin thread and weaved cloth in the same mill.

8.  The Lowell Girls  Paid between $2 to $4. (Good pay!)  Room and Board ($1.25)  Better work than family farms  Encouraged to: ▪ Take classes ▪ Form Women’s clubs

9.  This textile work was difficult!  Girls needed hair pulled back! ▪ Why? P.393  Hot, stuffy rooms (Dehydration)  Major cuts to hands with treads  Loud machines (Deafness)  Dust and cotton in air (Damage to Lungs)  Shifts of 12 to 14 hours  Mill Girls only worked about 4 years.

11.  Factories quickly produced low-priced goods.  Shop owners had to hire more workers, but pay less wages.  Even factory workers were having a difficult time finding a job.

12.  Trade Unions:  Groups that tried to improve pay and working conditions  Strikes:  Workers on strike refused to work until employers met their demands.

14.  Labor reformers wanted to lower the hours per day.  President Martin Van Buren had granted a 10- hour work-week for federal workers.  Not enough for other workers.

15.  Unions improved work for many factory workers.  Long hours remained for most states.  Child labor would eventually end during the late 1800s.