Editing General Strike of 1835 (section)

== The Strike ==

The strike began on May 29, 1835, when Irish coal heavers on the Schuylkill wharves refused to work beyond ten hours. These laborers, who loaded and unloaded coal from ships and canal boats, worked some of the longest hours and received some of the lowest wages in the city. Their decision to strike quickly inspired workers in other trades. Within days, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, painters, and other construction workers joined the walkout. Leather workers, cordwainers (shoemakers), cigar makers, and factory workers followed. By early June, the strike had become truly general, encompassing workers from nearly every sector of Philadelphia's economy.<ref name="sullivan"/>

The strikers organized meetings, parades, and demonstrations to maintain solidarity and publicize their cause. Speeches emphasized the justice of the ten-hour demand—workers argued that excessive hours damaged health, prevented education and civic participation, and reduced workers to mere machines. The rhetoric drew on republican ideals, arguing that citizens of a free republic deserved time for self-improvement and family life. Strikers explicitly rejected the claim that they were motivated by laziness; they demanded the right to work reasonable hours at fair wages, not the right to avoid work altogether. The orderly, disciplined character of the demonstrations helped win public sympathy and distinguish the strikers from the mobs associated with other civil disorders.<ref name="laurie"/>