Chapter Summary

The chapter that I read was about labor in America. It spoke about how before factories opened up in America, most people only worked for themselves, mostly farmers. If these farmers were lucky, they could sell or trade their extra crops for money or whatever else they needed. When factories opened up in America, they were filled up very quickly by women and children for a very sad reason; they would work for amazingly low wages, giving up their time to support their families. This connects to the world today, because in certain countries, people will work for almost nothing at all, either because they are illegal immigrants or because they greatly need the money. My chapter had at least 3 primary documents, including a description of the paper-mills, a letter from a young working girl, and even a little bit from Harriet Tubman! Cheap labor is a very sad and unfortunate thing that tells us that some people really need help and that we are fortunate to have whatever we have. The chapter that I read taught me many interesting things!

By Jonathan P.

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