Colonists During The Industrial Revolution

From the start of civilization in America, colonists had to work for a living by creating the necessary goods for themselves and others. By doing this, colonists established a source of income and means to barter with. As homes and furniture had to be built, colonists relied on their expertise and skill levels to build such necessities. Over time, apprenticeships developed, where experts in their field would teach young students their trade. Such trades included blacksmiths, wood workers, and artisans. These skilled workers sold their products out of their shops for quick income. Others, such as women would weave clothes out of their homes using their hands or homemade machines. During this time, skilled craft was valued and also appreciated,

While some people resisted the changes through protests, sit-ins, rebellions, while trying to maintain their traditions, others adapted to this new era and tried to improve working conditions of their new jobs through the establishment labor unions.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, people worked independently to produce goods and services to supply to their communities. But as time went on and demands for such items increased, American’s reverted from skilled craft shops to structured factories. “Apart from shipbuilding and ironworking, most early manufacturing was performed in households” (Clark and Hewitt, 338). These household crafts slowly transitioned to factories and warehouses settings, which enraged some working- class Americans. As a result, they resisted this change due to years of working independently. They did not want to face the harsh working conditions at the workplace. However, certain working- class American saw advantages of working in a factory setting. Nonetheless, the majority of the population wanted to preserve their old traditions and began a movement of

Even though the workers are not physically making the projects, they were more interactive and were abiding by tradition that they were used to because back in that time, there was no technology that are present today.

Women, who were once homemakers, also transitioned to the changes of the Industrial
Revolution. At first many of them resisted, but eventually they also adapted. Normally women had the back-end position of being housewives, which consisted of taking care of the house, children and husband. While the women stayed at home, their husbands would go out and work all day and women felt the urge to rebuild this standard by demanding equality. During the
Industrial Revolution, they were granted jobs at textile miles, factories and warehouses.
“Counting outworkers, almost half of all manufacturing workers, and about two-thirds of those in New England, were women” (Clark et al, 347- 348). Women were still given lower wages and more hours than men, which encouraged to form women labor unions and go on strike to fight for their rights. “…Pawtucket mill owners tried to extend the workday and lowered piece