Question

Why do you think these northern workers compared themselves to slaves? How might a northern factory owner react to this banner?

a) Northern workers compared themselves to slaves because they believed they were being exploited and treated unfairly, similar to the conditions of slavery. A factory owner might react by dismissing their claims and defending their labor practices.

b) Northern workers compared themselves to slaves due to their challenging working conditions and low wages. A factory owner might respond by acknowledging their concerns and making improvements.

c) Northern workers compared themselves to slaves as a form of protest, even though they were well-compensated. A factory owner might react by negotiating with the workers to avoid a strike.

d) Northern workers compared themselves to slaves to gain public sympathy. A factory owner might respond by agreeing to better wages and working conditions to avoid negative publicity.

Answer 1

Northern workers felt their exploitative conditions paralleled the plight of slaves, emphasizing the lack of opportunities for advancement. Factory owners would likely reject this comparison, highlighting the potential for economic mobility in free labor systems. Both groups' perspectives demonstrated contrasting views on labor and the effects of the wage labor and slavery systems on society.

Step-by-step explanation:

Northern workers compared themselves to slaves because they experienced severe exploitation and harsh working conditions, much like slaves in the South. Edmond Ruffin articulated the belief that northern employers held their workers in a 'more stringent and cruel bondage' compared to the slaves who at least were ensured food, clothing, and shelter by their masters. This comparison was likely designed to illustrate the Northern wage labor system's inability to provide real opportunities for advancement, thus likening the workers' plights to the lack of social mobility seen in slavery.

Northern factory owners, particularly those who profited from slave labor or viewed slavery with ambivalence, might react defensively to such comparisons. They could dismiss the workers' claims and maintain that the conditions of wage labor were not equivalent to the involuntary servitude of slavery. They might also argue against the comparison on the grounds that wage labor offered the possibility of upward economic mobility, even if that potential was seldom realized.

Similarly, the northern perspective on free labor championed the dignity of work and the potential for social mobility, values that were antithetically opposed to the institution of slavery which they perceived as damaging to society.