Working Girls of Lowell
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Assignment 4 DAP, Chapter 7: Away from Home: The Working Girls of Lowell
At the end of the 18th century America began to move from an agrarian society into an industrialized and "modern" society. The South was still a heavy agrarian society, but the North; particularly New England began to change into an industrialized society. Industrialization was spawned by the rise of technology, increasing transportation, and the American demand and desire. As westward expansion continued to grow and prosper, all the young men were moving west as well. Due to the decrease of the men in and around New England, there became a "surplus" of young women. Readily available labor is another driving force for industrialization in the United States, the factories and cotton mills had an insurmountable amount of labor at their disposal.
The Lowell Mill, and other factories and mills like it found ways to convince farming families in and around New England to let their daughters to come and work at their mills. After all they had nothing else do on the farm due to all the young men moving west with westward expansion. The recruiters created a false point of view of the mills, which led to the vast amount young females to flock to the mills. The girls would have to live and work on the mills, and due to the misleading stories about the mills, the girls thought that they were moving onto greener pastures...