United States History Student Edition

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Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature In 1845, a petition was submitted to the Massachusetts legislature by factory employees regarding their working conditions. Many of the signees were women who worked in the area’s textile mills, including Sarah Bagley. PRIMARY SOURCE: PETITION “ Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature We the undersigned peaceable, industrious and hardworking men and women of Lowell, in view of our condition—the evils already come upon us, by toiling from 13 to 14 hours per day, confined in unhealthy apartments, exposed to the poisonous contagion of air, vegetable, animal and mineral properties, debarred from proper Physical Exercise, Mental discipline, and Mastication cruelly limited, and thereby hastening us on through pain, disease and privation , down to a premature grave, pray the legislature to institute a ten-hour working day in all of the factories of the state. —Signed, John Quincy Adams Thayer, Sarah G. Bagley, James Carle and 2,000 others mostly women ” — Voice of Industry , January 15, 1845 industrious hardworking debar to prevent mastication the act of chewing food privation a state in which things needed for survival are lacking EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Explaining What did the petition writers hope to gain from the Massachusetts legislature? 2. Evaluating What language did the petition writers use to persuade the Massachusetts legislature? How effective do you think their language is?

A Response to the Petition Later that year, the Massachusetts legislature responded to the workers’ petition by completing an investigation into factory working conditions. A commission presented its conclusions in a report. PRIMARY SOURCE: REPORT “ It would be impossible to legislate to restrict the hours of labor, without affecting very materially the question of wages; and that is a matter which experience has taught us can be much better regulated by the parties themselves commodity from what it is in foreign countries. Here labor is on an equality with capital , and indeed controls it, and so it ever will be while free education and free constitutions exist. And although we may find fault, and say, that labor works too many hours, and labor is too severely tasked, yet if we attempt by legislation to enter within its orbit and interfere with its plans, we will be told to keep clear and to than by the Legislature. Labor in Massachusetts is a very different

mind our own business. Labor is intelligent enough to make its own bargains, and look out for its own interests. ” — Massachusetts House Document, No. 50 , March 1845

commodity something that is useful or has value capital money or other resources used to create wealth EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Explaining What conclusion does the commission reach regarding the workers’ petition? 2. Analyzing Points of View What reason does the chair of the commission, William Schouler, provide to support its decision? Cite evidence from the text to explain your response.

Life in the North and the South 373 (l)Thayer, John Quincy Adams et al. Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature. In New England Workingmen’s Association. The Voice of Industry, January 15, 1845. Fitchburg, Mass.: New England Workingmen’s Association, 1845; (r)William Schouler. 1845 House Bill 0050. Report Of The Special Committee To Which Was Referred Sundry Petitions Relating To The Hours Of Labor. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, House of Representatives, 1845.