Editing General Strike of 1835

'''General Strike of 1835''' was one of the first general strikes in American history, when Philadelphia workers across multiple trades walked off their jobs in late May and early June 1835 to demand a ten-hour workday. The strike began with coal heavers on the Schuylkill River wharves and spread rapidly to include carpenters, bricklayers, leather workers, cigar makers, and laborers from dozens of other occupations. At its height, an estimated 20,000 workers participated in what contemporaries called "the Turn-Out"—the largest coordinated labor action America had yet seen. The strike succeeded: within weeks, employers agreed to implement the ten-hour day, establishing a precedent that influenced labor struggles for decades. The 1835 strike demonstrated that workers from different trades could unite in common cause and that collective action could achieve reforms that individual negotiation could not.<ref name="sullivan">{{cite book |last=Sullivan |first=William A. |title=The Industrial Worker in Pennsylvania, 1800-1840 |year=1955 |publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |location=Harrisburg}}</ref>

== Background ==

The early 19th century saw the emergence of a new industrial working class in American cities. Traditional artisan labor—where craftsmen controlled their own work, owned their tools, and aspired to become independent masters—was giving way to wage labor in factories and large workshops where workers had little control over conditions. The typical workday in the 1830s stretched from sunrise to sunset, often 12 to 14 hours, with only brief breaks for meals. Wages were low, conditions were harsh, and workers had little legal protection or organized representation. The first stirrings of the American labor movement emerged in response to these conditions, with workers forming trade unions and advocating for reforms including limits on working hours.<ref name="laurie">{{cite book |last=Laurie |first=Bruce |title=Working People of Philadelphia, 1800-1850 |year=1980 |publisher=Temple University Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

Philadelphia was a center of early labor organizing. The Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations, formed in 1827, was one of the first citywide labor federations in America, uniting workers from multiple crafts in pursuit of common goals. The Working Men's Party, active in Philadelphia politics in the early 1830s, advocated for free public education, mechanics' lien laws, and the ten-hour day. Though these early organizations proved short-lived, they established patterns of coordination and a vocabulary of workers' rights that would prove crucial when confrontation came. By 1835, workers were increasingly convinced that only united action could overcome employer resistance to reform.<ref name="foner">{{cite book |last=Foner |first=Philip S. |title=History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Volume 1: From Colonial Times to the Founding of the American Federation of Labor |year=1947 |publisher=International Publishers |location=New York}}</ref>

== 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"/>

== Victory and Aftermath ==

Employers initially resisted the strikers' demands, but the breadth of the walkout—and the difficulty of replacing so many workers simultaneously—eventually forced concessions. By mid-June, major employers in construction and other industries had agreed to implement the ten-hour day. The municipal government followed suit, establishing ten hours as the standard for public works projects. The victory was not total—some employers found ways to evade the agreement, and enforcement remained inconsistent—but the ten-hour day became the norm in Philadelphia for decades, spreading to other cities and states as workers elsewhere organized their own campaigns.<ref name="sullivan"/>

The 1835 strike's success had lasting implications for the American labor movement. It demonstrated that workers from different trades, different ethnic backgrounds, and different skill levels could unite in common cause when properly organized. It showed that general strikes could be conducted peacefully and could achieve concrete results. And it established the ten-hour day as a realistic demand around which workers could mobilize. The panic of 1837 and the depression that followed devastated labor organizations and reversed many of the gains of the mid-1830s, but the memory of 1835 persisted, inspiring later generations of workers. The eventual establishment of the eight-hour day in the 20th century built on foundations laid by Philadelphia's ten-hour pioneers.<ref name="foner"/>

== Legacy ==

The General Strike of 1835 occupies an important place in American labor history as one of the earliest successful general strikes in the nation. The strike demonstrated that collective action could achieve reforms that individual workers could not negotiate on their own, a lesson that would shape labor organizing for generations. Philadelphia's role as a center of early labor activism reflects the city's broader significance in American political and social history—just as the city had been a crucible of revolutionary politics in the 1770s, it became a laboratory for experiments in workers' organization in the 1830s. The strike is commemorated by labor historians and by organizations seeking to understand the roots of workers' rights in America.<ref name="laurie"/>

== See Also ==
* [[Philadelphia Labor History]]
* [[Industrial Philadelphia]]
* [[Irish Philadelphia]]

== References ==
<references />

{{#seo:
|title=General Strike of 1835 - Philadelphia's Ten-Hour Movement Victory
|description=The General Strike of 1835 was one of America's first general strikes, winning the ten-hour workday for Philadelphia workers. Learn about this landmark in labor history.
|keywords=Philadelphia General Strike 1835, ten-hour movement, labor history Philadelphia, first general strike America, workers rights 1830s, Turn-Out 1835, ten-hour day victory
|type=Article
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[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Early Republic]]
[[Category:Labor History]]