Labor and Labor Movements
By the time of the Civil War, most American workers were wage earning employees, rather than independent farmers or business owners. Although only a minority of these workers belonged to unions, organized labor movements had powerful effects on American economy and politics throughout this period. Especially for agricultural workers in the South, but also for Northern workers, the Civil War and its aftermath served as an important turning point in the history of American labor and business-labor relations.
Before the Civil War
During the antebellum era, most Americans worked on farms. In the North and the Southern upcountry, men tended to work with grain production and larger animals, while women oversaw poultry, dairying, and gardening, as well as sewing and housework. On the plantations of the Southern low country, most of the work was performed by African-American slaves. By 1860, most slaves were occupied with the work of planting and harvesting cotton, the nation's number one export.
Even as millions of people continued to be occupied with agricultural work, more Americans came to be employed in services and industry. Among the first manifestations of the industrial revolution in the United States were early textile mills, such as those built in Lowell, Massachusetts.
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