FIRESIDE CHAT: Slavery, Free Labor, and the Nation's First Labor Movement: Philadelphia's Workingmen

Philadelphia in the Early Republic was notable for its large numbers of politically-conscious artisans and workingmen, in addition to being the site of some of the first trades unions and strikes in American history. At the same time, its status as a border-state city with slaveholding states to the south and the largest free Black population in the country meant that it sat uncomfortably at the forefront of the nation’s uneven transition from unfree to free labor. This Fireside Chat will discuss how Philadelphia’s early labor leaders considered a range of issues surrounding slavery and abolition between the American Revolution and the Civil War, and explain they ways in which they viewed the cause of antislavery as alternately intersecting with, or detracting from, the goals and aspirations of the nation’s first labor movement. While issues of racial identity and whiteness were preeminent for some, this talk will also describe how economic issues often undergirded the anti- and pro-slavery positions of Philadelphia’s labor leaders and workers, and conclude by explaining how the ideology of Philadelphia’s early labor movement ultimately contributed to the development of antislavery politics in Pennsylvania and beyond.

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