The story ‘Camelot on the Merrimack” by Stephen Yafa describes how the first planned industrial community in America came into being. It is set in a young advancing American nation where there were many attempts by different stakeholders to industrialize it. The book specifically focusses on the Jacksonian era, a group of Massachusetts businessmen who were behind the industrial model mill town of Lowell in Massachusetts (Oates, 269). Stephen Yafa relates this account to the town of Lowell on the banks of the Merrimack and Concord rivers. He focusses on the Lowell mill girls, female girls who worked for the textile corporation during the Industrial revolution. The main character in this account that embodies the female Lowell workers is Lucy Larcom. Larcom is illustrated as a well-learned, articulate young woman who like the other mill girls comes from a poor background. It was these circumstances that forced mill girls such as Lucy Larcom to seek jobs at the mill in the hope of bettering themselves despite their bleak backgrounds.
Stephen Yafa in his story uses thirteen year old Lucy Larcom to illustrate the routine that the mill girls were subjected to at Lowell. The story ‘Camelot on the Merrimack” shows the nature of the “factory system” an alien concept in the formative years of the American nation. It also presents the female inclusion in the industrialization process which was unheard of due paternalistic nature of the society. The mill girls tended to demanding machines in secluded work-stations as cited by Yafa, “Nothing but the absence of bars on windows distinguished these cotton factories from prisons.” However, the massive employment of the women was more inclined on cost saving measures as their wages were half of what men were being awarded. The women used these opportunities to chip in their families income-wise. The transformation was linked to their work experience as Linda Evans cites “most of these workers saw their mill work as a way to reestablish their value to the family’ (Oates, 271).
The cotton industry at Lowell bred solidarity that created the trade union culture. The account in summary goes on to show how the mill girls who had no political leverage whatsoever managed demand for better working conditions. The trade unions to date happen to be a core force in the fight and protection of workers from exploitation and poor working conditions. Francis Cabot Lowell the force behind the mills camouflaged the exploitation of workers. This was through presentation of mill girls as clean and dignified which in the real sense was not the case. He is described as an “unapologetic thief” and not an enlightened capitalist as many thought of him (Oates, 269). The era depicted by Stephen Yafa in the story saw significant innovations such as Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in 1793. This innovation was an integral part of the American cotton industry helping it surpass tobacco as the main cash crop then. These innovations were great catalysts of the American industrial revolution.
The industrial revolution in America is profoundly linked to the passage of the Embargo act of 1807 and the 1812 war. The American nationals were angered by an incident with Chesapeake military ship. The British opened fire when they were not permitted to search the ship. This caused a public outrage leading to the Embargo act. The act stopped the imports from other countries and consequently ending the exporting of American goods to other nations. This also heralded war with the Great Britain in 1812, a war that made it clear that America needed more economic independence (Hilstorm, 33). This span of events foresaw the initial expansion of the manufacturing sector such as the textile manufacturing into effective economic entities. The industrialization revolution was catalyzed by organizational strategies such as the factory system which was employed by Cabot Lowell and the Boston associates. The tightly controlled mill towns of Lowell, Massachusetts opened in 1823 were the brainchild of the Boston associates. The factory system in Lowell, however, faced the protesting workers. The Lowell girls or rather the mill girls in 1824 downed their tools protesting factory and wage conditions. The Lowell factories were accused of exploiting of workers (Flanagan, 23).
The Lowell mill girls were motivated by different factors in their decision to work for the textile mill. Majority of them being of New England background were running away from the farm-life to which they had gotten accustomed. Some were said to be evading their overbearing father figures and husbands. It was also a chance for unmarried women to earn their own income away from home (Oates, 270). Other women as stated in the book “Like Lucy, other factory women surrendered their personal freedom for the lure of independent income” (Oates, 270). The employment at the Lowell mills provided the unmarried daughters with a chance to contribute significantly to their family earnings. It is just to say most of them were duped into working at the Lowell mills. This is illustrated in the story “Raised on farms were used to hard work” to explain that the girls assumed that the jobs at the mills would be less tedious than the farm work they were used to in Northern England.
The main character Lucy Larcom is said to have come from a poor background, a family of eight children all depending on their widowed mother. Lucy Larcom was forced to forego her schooling in order to chip in into the family kitty. She and her sister sought jobs from the mills which Stephen Yafa cites “mill work provided her with cash to send home”. The earnings from the mills offered Lacorm with the license to dream despite coming from not a well-endowed background. Through, “scrupulous saving, she and her fellow workers had the funds for a new dress and jewelry to be seen in in” (271).
In conclusion, it is justified to say that the benefits that came from working at the Lowell mills overrode the horrific conditions that the Lowell girls faced in the course of their work. This was evident as most of the girls shared similar needs and background. Lucy Larcom, a key character in the account, embodies the struggles faced by these girls and the benefits gained from working at the mills. Coming from a poor background, Lucy had to forego much in order to fend for her family; a scenario that resonated well with many of the Lowell girls. The exploitation of workers was an issue that dogged the Lowell mills and the industrial revolution as a whole.
Works Cited
Hilstorm ,Kelvin. The industrial revolution in America. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Flanagan, Alice. The Lowell mill girls. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Oates, Stephen B. Portrait of America: Volume 1 Tenth Edition. Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth, 2007-2012. Text.
