During the Luddite Rebellion, groups of hand weavers became convinced that power looms were responsible for their lower wages and increasing unemployment. So, they organized themselves into groups and set out at night in disguises to smash the machines. Although such reactions to industrial change were not the norm, Lowell was concerned and wished to avoid any similar chaos in his factory.
Indeed, he wanted to make arrangements that encouraged the physical well-being and moral character of his workers. He recruited healthy and well-educated young women from farming families. Although they worked long hours, these women received food and board and Lowell paid them in cash.
The company hired women considered respectable as chaperones, required the workers to attend religious services, and provided opportunities for them to educate themselves. These living arrangements made it easier to convince daughters from respected farming families to come to the mill to live and work temporarily.
Lowell was not the only entrepreneur to bring the production of textiles to the United States. But he was the first to do so with a vertically integrated system, thus introducing the modern factory to the United States. Henry Clay also visited the factory in and praised its accomplishments in a speech to the House of Representatives. During the War of , a large number of businessmen invested in manufacturing textiles.
After the war ended, Britain flooded the United States with cloth, sometimes even taking a loss in order to damage the American textile manufacturing business. Lowell argued in Washington for the government to take measures that would protect the growing textile industry. With the cooperation of William Lowndes and John C. Calhoun , he successfully advocated for the Tariff of , a duty on cotton cloth. Lowell died in Investors looking for a new spot for a textile mill established the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, named in honor of Francis Lowell.
By the late nineteenth century, it had a population of almost 40,, with the majority of working-age people employed in the textile industry. Initially, his system continued to find success but by the mid-nineteenth century it began to decline. Cotton overproduction lowered the price of finished cloth. Massachusetts Historical Society Collection Guides. Edited by Joel Mokyr. Then apply your knowledge of American history to answer the following questions:.
The men in the images are engaged in factory work, construction of skyscrapers, and working on the railroads. Using the Lowell and Brownson documents and the information from the stamps, develop an essay indicating the type of employment opportunities available to women in the s and almost a century later in the s. History Resources. Lowell Mill Girls and the factory system, Greene, Questions for Discussion Read the introduction, view the images of the two original documents, and read the edited excerpts.
Then apply your knowledge of American history to answer the following questions: Locate the following words and attempt to define them from context clues: slander , mortality , infamy , virtuous , folly. If necessary, employ a dictionary. Describe the conditions in America around that encouraged young women to seek employment outside of their home. We don't have enough time to fully touch on the importance of Lowell mill girls who were women working in the Lowell, Massachusetts mills during our Lowell Food Tours so we thought we'd include some extra trivia about these hard workers who were pivotal to Lowell's history and fought hard for their rights.
Neighborhood: Lowell Category: History. Share this post:. Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on pinterest. Typically, mill girls were employed for nine to ten months of the year, and many left the factories during part of the summer to visit back home. The majority of mill girls in Lowell lived in boardinghouses.
These large, corporation-owned buildings were often run by a female keeper , or a husband and wife. A typical boardinghouse consisted of eight units, with 20 to 40 women living in each unit. For most young women, life in the boardinghouse was dramatically different from life on the farm. Usually they shared a room with three other women, sleeping two to a bed. A fireplace in each room provided warmth in the colder seasons. The keeper prepared three meals a day, and the women dined together in a common room.
Women formed many new friendships with other female boarders. The bonds created through daily social intercourse helped new workers adjust to the demands of factory life. And during the strife of labor protests, boardinghouses often became informal centers of organizing activity.
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