In the current Presidential campaign there are numerous news stories of candidates openly courting organized labor. The influence of labor in the American politics has waxed and waned over time and geography and it is sometimes helpful to look back at the roots of the labor movement in early America to help us understand the current dynamics. Perhaps one of the most successful rises of labor power in America was in the formation of trade societies in early Republican New York.
Revolutionary New York
Although the New York trade guilds of the mid 18th century would periodically come together in ad-hoc coalitions, they would hardly be called an organized political movement. Their actions were usually street demonstrations and protests put together to address specific short-term issues or events. The political elite of the city paid them little notice, considering the protests just the base rantings of “mere mechanicks.” However, as the run up to American Independence approached, the tradesmen found their interests more and more aligned with those in the independence movement. By the time of the Stamp Act the mechanics had become an active part of the Sons of Liberty. They continued their street protests but also expanded their actions, taking part in mob violence and even seizing a British garrison. But, unlike many of their compatriots, the tradesmen were every bit as much a labor movement as they were a patriot movement and split from the Sons of Liberty in 1774 to form the independent Mechanics Society. The Society did continue to advocate for and take actions to support independence but they also expanded their agenda to include popular local labor reforms.
Early Republican New York
The trade societies continued to grow throughout the 1780’s becoming a defacto political party. In 1784 they nominated their own list of candidates for city offices and developed a platform, which among other planks that would look familiar to labor politics today, included endorsing competitive foreign trade tariffs and free public education. With the Federalist – Republican break up of 1794, the mechanics would find themselves firmly in the Jeffersonian Republican camp. Influenced by Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, the movement would become more and more progressive. Their ideology would expand to include advocating for much broader voting rights, expanding civil liberties and abolishing slave and prison labor.
The societies successes continued to grow into the early 1800’s. Promoting “liberty, personal sovereignty, and corporate and social responsibility,” they were able to get a significant number of their candidates elected to citywide offices despite vocal conservative opposition. The culmination of these successes could be seen in the election of sail maker and society member Stephen Allen to three consecutive terms as New York’s mayor beginning in 1821.
Sources:
Wilentz, Sean. Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788 – 1850. NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. 1984.
Rock, Howard B. "Artisans and Paradigms." Labor History 40.1 (Feb 1999): 42(1).
