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====== Overarching comments/observations/questions from this Week ======

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PURSELL READINGS 
====== Steinberg, “Dam-breaking in the 19th-Century Merrimack Valley” ======
Kaden Crim
Introducing dams into industry as a source of power quickly realized great value in hydroelectricity. The problem with this was the aquatic engineering side. These dams were often crude and prone to flooding. Not only this, but downstream environments, cities, and people would suffer. It quickly came to heated debate as to what place aquatic industrialization had in modernizing America.

The creation of these factories and communities that use dams came at the expense of other businesses and communities. You can't have one without the other. - Oliver M

Theodore L. Steinberg examines a conflict between several actors (Worster, Young, the Lake Company, etc.) over greater access to natural resources. In my opinion, his analysis properly situates this conflict within the framework of class struggle and industrialization, but I would also note the presence of other discourses embedded in these social relations. Namely, the debate surrounding the binary opposition between nature and culture. - Nikolai Kotkov

I thought it was interesting how Steinberg showed that the push for industrial progress in the Merrimack Valley often ignored the environmental risks of dam failures, which makes me think about how economic growth sometimes comes at the expense of safety. --Caitlyn Edwards.

I found Steinberg’s inclusion of the story of the dam breakers and the complaints lobbied against the Lake Company to be incredibly interesting. I’ve never really been taught about any pushback against new technological inventions, since they’re usually portrayed as 100% beneficial with no drawbacks or protesters. I also thought that the Boston Associates were a good representation of the spread of capitalization because of industrialization and how big companies began to seek out more and more control over nature. - Noah Rutkowski

This is just one example of many of the effects of industrialization and corporate greed on local communities. While Americans cities may have avoided becoming like London in the greasy, condensed industrial sense, they did not avoid the inevitable withering of local culture and sustenance at the expense of business. - CJ Nemetz

Technology at this time created a business controlling aspect of environmental things. Companies were changing rivers and building dams just to power their factories. How water became something people fought over. It’s kind of crazy to think that natural stuff like rivers had to be claimed and protected just so businesses could keep running. -James Clayberg

It’s so interesting to read about the environmental and social/cultural impacts of the expansion of the manufacturing industry. It kind of both helps the local communities by providing job opportunities and economic development but at the same time has a negative impact on the people and places that already exist, like the farmers who claimed the company illegally flooded their land due to the construction of the mill. - Grayson Donohoe

Steinberg examines the Boston Associates and other corporations approaches to natural resources during the industrial revolution in a way that I find incredibly interesting. He specifically interrogates the question of what it means to stake claim to a natural resource, and the conflict and damage that claim can bring to other businesses and communities in the area. - Abby Firestone

A common theme I'm noticing throughout American history is our blatant disregard for environmental concerns. Seems like this concept of "profits over people and planet" are consistent regardless of the time period. - Callie H.

Here I think we can see one of the main worries of the time being ruining the living condition of the American people, come true. The manufacturing really disrupted communities, through their manipulation of natural resources such as water. And also changing peoples livlihood and uprooting them. - Izzy Ellenberger

Reading the story on the dam-breaking had shown that despite the efforts made to be careful with drawing water from the lake, there was resistance to it.  It goes to show that when a higher group interferes with others, even for the betterment of industry, it will be met with hostility.  Plus the arrest for battery was an eye catcher. - David Y.

====== Winnipisiogee Lake Company v. Worster ======
Hydroelectricity was too crude to be sustainable for its current designs. Worster sough to fix this and, in an extension of sovereignty, sabotaged the dam. This case came to court and later, a riot that would result in Worster's incarceration.

We this happening even today, obviously. In N/S Dakota there is a real problem with water rights. The big factory/farming corps use dames at the top of the rivers and restrict water flow down. It's interesting that this problem also applies to Lakes, and in communities that factories are prevalent as well. We also see this in modern day AI/data centers. The AI uses so much water that it's causing entire communities to start having serious problems -- Oliver M

This case demonstrates the struggle over the dam between Worster and the Winnipisiogee Lake Company. Beyond the legal details, I found it notable that the defendant (Worster) resisted not only the operation of the dam itself but also the judicial procedures by ignoring the court’s orders. - Nikolai Kotkov

I found the resistance of court orders by the defendant interesting. - CJ Nemetz

I think this document is a great example of how the manufacturing industry had grown so much in the United States during the 19th century that companies felt the need to go as far as to have their power sources, in this case the water, legally protected. - Grayson Donohoe

Again, with this document I find the prospects of water rights, and more specifically the claiming of a natural resource to be a interesting situation when it comes to increasing industrialization. There are only so many major bodies of water in the US. - Abby Firestone

It’s interesting how water is so basic and became a source of legal battles and even conflict. We still see this today with companies controlling water flow for farming or tech, and smaller communities getting pushed out. A reminder that access to natural resources is always tied to power.    ------James Clayberg

This document shows that they prioritized the control of natural resources rather than focusing on the needs of the people. It is also frustrating that they are fighting over something like water, which is vital for everyone to live. - Izzy Ellenberger

To think that at a time with industrial growth, not many thought about the impact it would have on others in the area.  The court case here arguing over the use of a natural resource, I.E. water, seems equal on a level of possession. - David Y.

====== Great Falls v. James Worster ======

Kaden Crim
James Worster may be one name, but it was common sentiment that considered damming water sources as a point of controversy. His actions, though radical, were led by the downstream inhabitants who were suffering from unsustainable business practice, an unfortunate trend for the time.

The case was a problem that challenged the question if a company could use or divert water in a way that takes it away from others. Most of the time courts would agree with the person suing as if companies could do this they would have a monopoly on the river. - Will C

A rare capitalism L. Just because progress would be better if a dam used up all the water, that doesn't mean that other's shouldn't be able to have access to water as well. Also a reminder that common-law is only common-law until it gets torn to shreds by greedy people. - Oliver M.

This is another notable case involving the legal struggle over ownership of a dam between Worster and the Great Falls Company. I found it interesting that the Great Falls Company presented a historical record to commemorate the dams that had existed prior to their own. - Nikolai Kotkov

I thought it was cool to see a case surrounding the use of water. Changing the availability of water by redirecting it for a valid use, versus now taking the water away from other people. The case showed how companies can't redirect water if impacting others. -James Clayberg

An interesting look at a court case involving a private citizen and a company pre-Sherman Act. Another classmate commented on the behavior of the court in this case, and I agree that it is a relic of this time period compared to today. - CJ Nemetz

The long listed history of the use and construction of the dams over time was really impressive to see. Again, it goes back to my previous comment about how the industry had grown so much and now through this document we see how that’s impacting the courts and legal processes during a time where these big industries were so new and there was little federal involvement. - Grayson Donohoe

Yet another interesting situation regarding the claiming of a water source. Except here, the problem is more about diverting the water itself away from an entire people rather than just a struggle between two corporations over who could and could not use water. - Abby Firestone

The parallels between this case regarding the dams and current proceedings related to the impact of data centers is way too on the nose. Clean, accessible air is currently being treated the same way water was in this particular case. - Callie H.

The legal system here very much favored manufacturing and the growth of the industries over the everyday lives of the people. - Izzy Ellenberger

Looking at the case, it makes me wonder if there was any influence on the court decision by the companies against the private civilian.  I bet if anything stuff like this would no doubt influence a future president to fight against this system. - David Y.
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SMITH AND CLANCEY
====== A Strike at Harpers Ferry (Correspondence) ======

Kaden Crim
Unionizing workers setting their own terms meant a sharp cut into supervisorial authority and company profit margins. While we know this change to be permanent in modern American labor culture, severe resistance saw its birth.

This correspondence provides an interesting insight into the relations of production between armory workers and their management. One can interpret these strikes as an expression of Foucault’s concept of disciplinary power from the managerial side, as management sought to impose strict discipline, fixed working hours, the rationalization of the labor process, and the internalization of these values. - Nikolai Kotkov

It’s interesting how the men choose to respond to these strikes, and is likely telling of how management of factories, outside of the gun making industry, responded and handled strikes. The list of facts in correspondence after the strike discuss that the amount of workers were unnecessary, and working the men for more hours would make other employment unnecessary. I find it rather humorous that the employers were basically saying, if you don’t wanna work with us then great we’ll get more of you. This is oddly reminiscent of the 1981 airlines strike, in which Ronald Reagan responded very similarly. - Ava B

Growing up I lived twenty minutes from Harper’s Ferry so reading about the armory and talking about it during class has been really fun! It’s interesting to see through this correspondence what we were talking about in class in terms of wanting to promote efficiency and how that leads to employers not really giving their workers the best conditions. When I think about worker’s strikes I always tend to think about the Progressive Era and urban centers, so seeing the beginnings of that in smaller, rural manufacturing places is super interesting! - Grayson Donohoe

The way that these men are talking about the workers almost makes it seem like they're excited that the men are striking, if only because it gives them a good excuse to whittle down their numbers and have to pay less pieceworkers. In the first of the segments H. K. Craig literally says: "...having taken place at a moment when piece work is on the eve of being diminished for a time affords an opportunity of culling our ranks". He's quite literally saying that the workers are culling the workforce for them by striking. - Abby Firestone

The management Harpers Ferry seemed okay the workers walked out, gave them a reason to cut down the workforce. It’s interesting how they used the strike as a way to push their own agenda, like tightening control. You can really see how labor resistance was met with strategies to keep workers in line, even if it meant losing some. -James Clayberg

It's interesting hearing the recollection of events, where workers are seen unionizing, peacefully and increasingly, in a movement to oppose regulations set by this new standard of the factory setting. Talcott's correspondence calls back to our previous discussion on this new idea that, in a field that doesn't particularly require much skill, anyone is replaceable: "...here are our Regulations, if you will not abide by them - go elsewhere - for we know that as many good or better workmen can be had at any moment." It was very interesting getting to read direct correspondence on both sides of this resistance, and the different reactions that came from that. - Izabella Martinez

You can really see the seperation between the workers and the government. It is also upsetting that what was a peaceful protest was quickly seen as an outbreak. Even though the workers were just standing up for fairness within their labor conditions.- Izzy Ellenberger

Looking at this, it showed that the armory seemed unimpressed with the strike, feeling that they could and would easily replace the workforce with fresh faces if need be.  However, the workforce shows that it wants to stay and work there under their (better?) terms.  - David Y.
====== Douglass, Beaten in a Baltimore shipyard ======

Kaden Crim
As stated in reference to the aquirement of worker authority following the Harper's Ferry Strike, individuals like Frederick Douglas came under a similairly intense scrutiny. Business owners and similairly wealthy, powerful individuals were angered by diving profits and were desperate to attribute these things to a root cause, a single person. Douglass' writing shared many unionizer sentiments and, as such, was meant with intense backlash.

Frederick Douglass presents a vivid personal example of labor relations as shaped by slavery and racism. The very essence of these relationships can be captured in Douglass’s comparison with piracy: “I owed it to him... solely because he had the power to compel me to give it up. The light grim-visaged pirate upon the high seas is exactly the same.” - Nikolai Kotkov

Having read Douglass' autobiography previously, it was fascinating to read this excerpt in the context of labor relations and technological aspects rather than from purely a racial relations standpoint. To that end, however, this excerpt shows that racial relations play an undeniable role in shaping said labor relations, as they have in numerous other aspects of American history. - CJ Nemetz

Douglass does a great job of retelling his experiences in the workforce in this passage. One part that stuck out to me was when he said that the white men were saying how African Americans are going to take over the county and they “ought to be killed.” It reminds me of the rhetoric people used post-Civil War or about immigration how the people who now have freedom or have come to the United States are going to take jobs from white Americans. It’s interesting to see these racist ideologies kind of develop alongside the development of technology and industry. - Grayson Donohoe

"Their reason for this, as alleged, was, that if free colored carpenters were encouraged, they would soon take the trade into their own hands, and poor white men would be thrown out of employment." This was a really interesting part of Douglass' writing to me, largely because this sentiment has never really gone away, the blame / accusation has just shifted to other marginalized groups. In the early 20th century, it was the Irish, then the Italians and Jewish people, and now the accusation has shifted to Hispanic immigrants. The xenophobia and racism so deeply engrained in a fear of progress is perhaps the most important part of all of these readings. - Abby Firestone

The same fear sparked from Douglass hasn’t gone away either. The idea that certain groups are “taking over” jobs still show up today, just aimed at different people depending on who you are and what lens you are looking through. ---James Clayberg

We can see from what Douglas went through that racism was extremely and violently prevalent within their economic and social hierarchies. It’s really sad that they saw a person with knowledge and skill and beat him just because of his race. -Izzy Ellenberger

It's so important that we have a recorded history of the turmoil and prejudice, both against and regarding workers of color/minorities, at a time when competition for employment was high. Douglas' accounts of his days training to work in the yard were visually stimulating as well: "At times I needed a dozen pair of hands." This writing remarks on what it really meant to be a "freeman," and the white man's perception Black Americans during this shift: "It was impossible to stand my hand against so many...If I had been killed in the presence of a thousand colored people, the testimony combined would have been insufficient to have arrested one of the murderers." - Izabella Martinez

Even if tech has improved and methods change, it doesn't mean that old prejudices would suddenly die out as well.  Douglass' situation here shows that, and it is not easy to look at.  Even after the end of slavery, these views would linger on, especially into the 20th Century (such as the infamous Red Summer).  - David Y.

I thought that reading Douglass' perspective was so compelling. He was targeted by the other workers, and it was hard to read about the violence he endured, especially because he couldn't even defend himself without a white worker to testify for him. 
-Hannah Holstrom
====== McGaw, Papermaking ======

Kaden Crim
One might dare attribute the beating of Frederick Douglass and unionizing backlash to a rise in industry. As in the modern era we fear the introduction of AI into the workforce, laborers feared a decrease in job availability if industrial methods may mitigate usage of human resource.

The paper mill was huge for him and the family as it was a big part of the town's economy. It also showed a shift to better ways to write from rag paper to straw paper to wood pulp paper. - Will C

This chapter analyzes the impact of modernization on the relations between paper mill workers and their management, on the image of American proletarian masculinity, and on women’s position within the economic networks of the paper mill industry. - Nikolai Kotkov

I find it interesting that the author in the small preface of this notes that worker’s pride is something to be considered in this reading. Something that is diminished as precursors of the assembly line manufacturing became a more popular means of production. Workers who were once prideful of their skills and their product, had been replaced with people who were neither, and simply knowledgeable of their one task in the production line. - Ava B

McGaw’s discussion of how women’s work in paper mills differed from men’s work was particularly interesting to me. Women did not experience much change in their work after industrialization because they weren’t typically working with the machines. It was surprising to me to hear that the female rag sorters were somewhat valued and, unlike male machine workers, weren’t pushed to prioritize quantity over quality. - Noah Rutkowski

I am able to see some parallels in the adaptability of women's work from mill to mill and the specialization of their work to the American System of Manufacture. While these workers are not unskilled, nor was their work easy, but the desire for efficient work is present. - CJ Nemetz

This reading reflects a lot about what we talked about in class on Tuesday with the development of piece work and how people started breaking down the process of manufacturing one thing so that there wouldn’t be as much of a need for skilled workers. Seeing the many titles people had at the paper making factory like “machine tender” and “foreman of the drying room” is such a great example of this. - Grayson Donohoe

McGaw talks in this essay a bit about differences in the standards for masculinity and education when it came to factory work post mechanization, specifically as it relates to injury. There is an assertion here that injury became considered as a sensible and even inevitable part of the learning process. Even if you did not own the factory or the production, you were manly if you could hold your own and make it through life threatening or serious injuries without making a big deal about it. In some ways echoing the whole "boys don't cry" sentiment. - Abby Firestone

Skilled labor started to fade as jobs got more specialized and repetitive. I also thought the part about women’s roles was surprising and how they kept doing similar work even as machines took over, and were still seen as important in the process. It’s a good example of how not everyone experienced industrialization the same way. ----James Clayberg

I thought it was interesting to see how proud they were in their craftsmanship and how they embodied their skill. Though because they were so focused on their one skill when different technologies and machineries advanced the worker is practically out of a job.- Izzy Ellenberger

I enjoyed reading up on the transition towards mechanization, and the problems and opportunities that came as a result. Gendered work made for an interesting outcome, with the women's pertaining to similarly performed and interconnected skills used outside of the workspace, and the men's craftsmanship and artisanal skillsets making way for simple, mechanized occupations. - Izabella Martinez

Compared to the other readings, we see how there is a defense for the need of mechanization of factories and how it says: "Machines did not replace workers, reduce their level of skill, or subdivide their
tasks."  Not to mention the reading mentioned how machines would improve the safety of the workspace.  How true could that be? - David Y.

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