Lowell Mills

Working women also showed that they were not less lady-like, because in the mills they were able to live in decent conditions. According to Reverend Henry A. Mills the boardinghouses were to be kept “both inside and out…clean and in good condition,” (2) this allowed for women to live healthfully, clean, and orderly. They had busy schedules but that did not make them live any less than normal than any other women.

In the workplaces were new machines like Spinning Jennies and other textile machines that would assist people such as Mary Paul in the Lowell Mill (Document 1), or child laborers in other factories. The Industrial Revolution produced many machines which would later evolve to become our modern day utilities. Without this period of time, we would not have the technology we use or the lives we live. Production became faster through these large workplaces, especially places “such as...textile factories that appeared” (Document 3) during the time. These factories would have long lasting effects, not only positive. It would leave behind much waste, and later cause pollution; yet it would also make nicer clothing. Because of the work it did, products could be made quicker by less people. Finally, Industrialization produced faster transportation that completely changed the world. “Railroad travel was fast. Going to San Francisco from New York City took only six days. Before the railroads, the trip took months.” (Document 5) Through the frequent use of railroads, more business opportunities were available and more businesses could output their goods to more places. The more places that could be reached, the more money could be made. People could “travel cheaply from place to place, and not only travel at less expense, but travel ten times quicker,” (Document 9). This key factor is only one reason why the effects of the Industrial Revolution were, overall,

During the rise of wage labor stunted working people in new ways. In 1824 the textile workers protested and the factory conditions and the mills model of Lowell faced large clashes in the 1830s. Another improved transportation system was essential for raw materials to be able to reach factories and to manufacture good that went to consumers. This improved transportation system was known as the market revolution.

Textile mills grew because of new inventions that would make the product and people willing to work for a living. In the 1790’s, Samuel Slater built the first factory in Rhode Island, which had a machine that could spin thread and yarn. This allowed an increase in the New England area of spinning mills. In Lowell, Massachusetts, factories were created on the Merrimack River combining all parts of cloth production, such as combing, spinning, shrinking, weaving, and dyeing (Roark, 262). This also brought the change in the workforce by using girls as employees. These young women would work at the mill until they got married, and replacements were always

In such a unique nation where the average person is family oriented and running a family owned farm and/or business their was bound to be room for change. In 1793 Samuel Slater, a born European created the first cotton spinning factory in Pawtuckett. This is said to be one of the many things that sparked Industrial Development in America. This project alone sparked the need for more cotton to be produced at a faster rate which brought upon the creation of the cotton gin. New growth in any field brings more than what meets the eye. The cotton gin producing more cotton made it neccassary for a new form aof transport to be developed. Shortly after the country started to adapt textile mills started to pop up

These mills were different as they had seen a major advancement in machinery whereby they were able to combine processes such as spinning and weaving under one roof. This meant more production of goods and an increase in profit as the companies only had to rely on the mills to not only transform raw materials but also weave them into finished goods – cloth. According to Tindall, and in contrast to the English mills, the founders of the Lowell mills opened up the mills in the countryside as they were less crowded, and their workers would be able to receive paternal guidance whereby they were required to live in the housing provided by the company and away from unpleasant urban conditions, and attend church every Sunday. The aim of the founders was to introduce a system whereby their workers would not only gain monetarily but also spiritually and form healthy relationships. Most of the factory workers at the Lowell mills were mainly of the female sex as most men had migrated westward in search of cheap land and economic opportunities. The Lowell mills also employed mostly young women because they were dexterous in operating the machinery, and were willing to work for lower wages than those paid to men. The “Lowell experiment” was supposed to provide the young women with tolerable work conditions, prepared meals, comfortable boarding houses, education and cultural privileges. However, as years passed by the expectations changed and they women became weary and formed strikes in protest to their conditions. A thorough analysis of Harriet Robinson’s Loom and Spindle: Or Life Among the Early Mill Girls shows the reasons behind the strikes at the Lowell

Textile mills grew because of new inventions that would make the product and people willing to work for a living. In the 1790’s, Samuel Slater built the first factory in Rhode Island, which had a machine that could spin thread and yarn. This allowed an increase in the New England area of spinning mills. In Lowell, Massachusetts, factories were created on the Merrimack River combining all parts of cloth production, such as combing, spinning, shrinking,

According to Factory systems (document 7), the cotton spinning mill help made clothes a lot cheaper because everyone could have their own Factory system. This was very helpful because resources were more easy to access and everyone had it available to them. Also, according to document 4, clothes were made faster and cheaper and with the new invention called the Power Loom it was a lot more productive. The Power Loom impacted daily life by making clothes at a much faster rate and providing more products for everyone.

The Industrial Revolution was a time when there was a big increase in trade and crop growing. They had many things that helped them to increase their wages, and crop growing was one of the biggest incomes. The Industrial Revolution began in England because they had good natural resources, they had useful inventions, and they had good working strategies. England had many great resources, which is one of the many reasons why the Industrial Revolution began there. All of their resources helped with their needs.

In Maury Klein's. “The Lords and the Mill Girls,” industrialization is attempting to rid itself of the horrible standards adhered to at most European and other New England factories through the endeavor of the Lowell Mills. The Associates, who open the Lowell mills, attempt to create an atmosphere which is the best of both worlds. They want to create profit, but don't want to abandon their virtues and principles by creating an industrial district which, “degraded workers and blighted the landscape”(Klein). The key to their success is their working population. They seek civilized workers, who save money, attend church, and adhere to the pious principles of religion and culture(Klein). They find their laborers in women of the New England farmers,

The Erie Canal was not the only new development that attracted people; America built some of the first factories as well. Factory production before now was almost nonexistent. A cotton-spinning mill was first built in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Over the next decades textile was the dominant industry of the country. This made way for hundreds of companies being built across the nation. (C-114) The iron industry also helped make way for better jobs which lead to more immigration. Pennsylvania’s furnaces and rolling mills were fast supplanting small local forges. Philadelphia had developed a high pressure steam engine that was used for a variety of industrial purposes. Within a few years it powered ships, sawmills, flour mills, and printing presses. The demand for labor in these facilities created more and more immigration. Until about 1830, the increase in population was fed mainly by newcomers from New England. However, the tide shifted in the 1840’s, millions of people from Ireland, Germany, and other countries moved to America. In just over ten to twenty years, major

The Lowell Mills, in Massachusetts, before the Market Revolution bosses acted like family and they were paternal to their workers. Prior to the market revolution, paternalism guided the relationships between employers and their workers. Paternalism meant that employers took care of their workers in a similar way to how they would care for their own family members. In times, employers would keep their workers working instead of firing them, and they would overlook transgressions such as tardiness. They would also take care of workers in their old age. As the Lowell Mills exemplified, the demands of the market, however, fundamentally changed this relationship. Between 1822 and 1839, Lowell's population grew from 200 to 18,000 people and the mills rivaled the world's major textile centers. Lowell was unique for its size, but also because it employed mostly young, single women rather than men, like the vast majority of other mills and factories. Lowell chose women because they received less wages since they were perceived as not having a family to feed. They were also seen as more obedient and less rebellious, and their smaller hands were believed to be more dexterous and suitable for detailed textile work. Lured by the potential of the market, the Lowell Mills departed from the traditional paternalism and instead sought to maximize profits. As the women's wages decreased, the pace of work and the regimentation of the work place increased. Moreover, workers became deskilled because they only made one part of the final product instead of the product in its

After the Civil War, the south was faced with creating a New South. This New South produced new ways of making money to try and help reestablish its economy. One of the ways for southerners to find work was industrialization. Industrialization was the process of producing clothes from cotton, and it resulted in mill villages being formed across the Piedmont landscape (Hall 106). These mills provided jobs for many people who lived in the south who left their work on the farm in search of a different life. Analyzing the relationships between the mills and its workers through resources found throughout the book, The Most They Ever Had, the reader can get a sense of how the workers felt about their labor and what effect the mills had on their lives. The relationships will be described by explaining what the mill work was, what the conditions were like inside the mill, and some of the curricular activities that took place outside the mill. This will help in

Mills was the last of the New England garment factories, and a century old family

The textile factory system of the United Kingdom was mainly located around the areas of Greater Manchester and the towns of Pennines and Lancashire. These areas would become the bedrock of the textile industry in Britain, as Rosen states: ‘The true industrialization of Britain, and subsequently, the world, depended on a commodity that could attract consumers not by the thousands, but the millions’ . A commodity, like, for example: cotton.