Introduction

How do you build a nation that fosters unlimited economic opportunities for newcomers?

Landscape of Unidentified New England village Sturbridge Village

In this lesson you will examine how girls and young women left the farms of New England to work in factories that made textiles for clothing, far from their homes. Many of the mill towns grew into cities and the women became instrumental in changing the way workers were treated by the factory owners.

Sarah Bagley was born in New Hampshire. Her family was poor and she had to find work. She really wanted to go to school and study, but she decided that if she couldn’t do that she would find interesting work. Eventually she came to Lowell, Massachusetts, to work in the mills.

You will see pictures of the newspapers in which women like Sarah wrote about working at the mills. Workers like Sarah Bagley worked 6 days a week for 11-14 hours each day.

You will investigate the lives of three majors groups that had opinions about the factory system.

* factory worker
* newspaper publisher
* state legislators

Using research gathered from primary and secondary sources you will participate in a debate about working conditions in the factories.

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