Industrial Revolution In Lynn Chapter Summary

The Industrial Revolution in Lynn explores the impact of the 19th-century revolution on the shoemaking community of Lynn, Massachusetts. Before the Industrial Revolution, those workers were part of a system of masters and apprentices with the household as the center of the community and of work. After the revolution, the apprenticeship system was broken, and workers became dependent on the factory, weakening the household as the center of life and work. Limits of class conflict and corruptness of factory employers, the workers went through hardships to improve conditions that held the community and its people together in equality. The pursuit of equal rights by the shoemakers of Lynn made them a microcosm of the industrial revolution because shoemaking was a small step for the inventing of new things for American culture and was not seen as an issue to the public until the townspeople began strikes against their employers. The careers of Ebenezer Breed, Micajah Pratt and Benjamin Newhall reflect the capitalist transformation of shoe manufacturing in Lynn from their very promising beginnings and their strive to increase their social status but utterly failed after their attempts.

Central shops and outwork altered this relationship because only a few shoemakers worked together under the same building before factories were introduced so there was not a sense of community until the workers all worked under the same roof and experienced the same hardships while spreading their opinions to each other. The introduction of the sewing machine for stitching and binding the shoes is what defined the factory system for the shoe industry. The hunger for profit from masters and the lack of skill required to use the machines is why the factory system was