Reddit reviews Common Labor: Workers and the Digging of North American Canals, 1780-1860
We found 3 Reddit comments about Common Labor: Workers and the Digging of North American Canals, 1780-1860. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
Anyone have suggestions of books on the roles of blacks (whether they be slaves, freemen, or what have you) in building America's infrastructure? Most of what that I have read recently does not jibe with that notion. For instance: www.amazon.com/Common-Labor-Workers-American-1780-1860/dp/0801855225
Immigrants poured into the country because they were thrown off the land in their home countries -- a term we call "primitive accumulation." Agricultural workers were forced into the labor pool by land enclosures, creating an surplus of common labor, not a scarcity.
Think about it -- if labor was scarce in the US then wages would already be high and there'd be no need for form unions in the first place. Unionism -- and the guild system before it -- was used to limit the supply of (already abundant) labor to keep labor prices high.
isawyourpantsmove wrote:
Anyone have suggestions of books on the roles of blacks (whether they be slaves, freemen, or what have you) in building America's infrastructure? Most of what that I have read recently does not jibe with that notion. For instance: www.amazon.com/Common-Labor-Workers-American-1780-1860/dp/0801855225