THE TRANSFORMATION OF IDEOLOGY IN THE EARLY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: PATERSON, NEW JERSEY: 1820 - 1840.
Item
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Title
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THE TRANSFORMATION OF IDEOLOGY IN THE EARLY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: PATERSON, NEW JERSEY: 1820 - 1840.
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Identifier
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AAI8508702
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identifier
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8508702
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Creator
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HARRIS, HOWARD.
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Contributor
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Herbert Gutman
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, United States
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Abstract
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Much of our information on the impact of early industrialization on the people of the United States comes from studies of the Lowell system of manufacturing. The wealthy backers of the Boston Manufacturing Company and similar firms established model industrial towns where they benevolently, but firmly, supervised the lives of their employees. They hoped, in this manner, to avoid the horrors associated with the growth of industry in Europe.;Paterson, New Jersey, was actually more representative of a majority of ante-bellum manufacturing communities than was Lowell. Most of its mill and shopowners were men of limited means who relied on locally borrowed capital to run their firms. Many of them started out as skilled mechanics. in order to operate their cotton mills and machine shops profitably they had to keep expenses in check while continually upgrading productivity. Investments in new technology, periodic wage cuts and the enforcement of workplace discipline and long hours helped them achieve their goal. These policies represented a direct challenge to many of the beliefs and values of the town's wage earners.;Nurtured on doctrines of republicanism, both native born and immigrant workers arrived in Paterson with a strong commitment to ideas of independence, liberty and equal rights. Having grown to maturity in an era when the artisan mode of production remained predominant, they equated freedom at the workplace with freedom in society at large. Republican ideology sanctioned their right to resist any encroachments on long held freedoms and privileges.;New forms of workplace organization and production threatened their sense of themselves as free and equal citizens of a democratic republic. Paterson workers responded to the challenge by striking, by organizing trades unions and by participating in legal and extra-legal political activities. Through their involvement in such organizations and actions wage earners began to redefine republicanism to correspond to the changing world they faced on a daily basis.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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History
