How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Locations vary, ca. 1820-1992. Comprising nine items, including, Printed Senate Report ("Plan for the Defence of our Commerce"). Washington, D.C., April 3, 1820. 8vo.; Patron of Industry. New York, Saturday, July 29, 1820. Printed newspaper. Folio; Printed Congressional Report ("Kentucky--Protect American Manufactures"). Washington, D.C., April 26, 1832. 8vo; Profits on Manufactures at Lowell. A Letter From the Treasurer of a Corporation to John S. Pendelton, Esq., Virginia. Boston: Little & Brown, 1845. 8vo; The Coal Calamity Supplement to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. September 25, 1869. Folio; Printed Senate Report ("Memorial of the Laboring Men of the United States"). Washington, D.C., December 15, 1869. 8vo; Group of two stereoviews depicting Pennsylvania miners, ca. 1880s; Paxton, A.B. Cabinet card depicting Oregon laborers.

Condition varies, generally very good; documents all disbound; photographs worn.

The roots of the American labor movement stretch all the way back to 1619, when Polish craftsmen organized a strike to protest their being barred from voting in the first elections held in the Virginia colony. Subsequent strikes did little to achieve the goals of the strikers, largely due to a lack of organization and a lack of legal recourse. It was not until the Industrial Revolution came into full swing, as craftsmen found themselves losing their jobs to machines, that workers began to organize and demand protections for their livelihoods. The legality of labor unions was decided by the United States Supreme Court in the 1842 landmark case of Commonwealth v. Hunt.

Over subsequent years the debate over worker rights has been played out again and again, often with bloody results, as in the case of the Haymarket Affair and the Pullman Strike. After a decline in union membership during the latter half of the twentieth century, the labor movement has seen a dramatic resurgence over the last two decades, largely in response to concerns over economic inequality and high costs of living.