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To: DiogenesLamp
Sorry, but labor unionism was not such a big deal in 1860 as it became in the latter 19th century.
Yes, the North did have a lot of manufacturing but in 1860 it was nearly all small-business, family shops with near neighbors as employees.
Such small shops also employed immigrants and the word "scab" was sometimes used, but again, before 1860 there were neither major unions nor large strikes.

What Northern workers did worry about in 1860 was the possibility of being replaced by work-gangs of Southern slaves through legal actions related to the SCOTUS Dred-Scott decision.

As Abraham Lincoln famously put it at the time:


12 posted on 01/17/2021 6:52:21 AM PST by BroJoeK ((a little historical perspective...) )
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To: BroJoeK
What Northern workers did worry about in 1860 was the possibility of being replaced by work-gangs of Southern slaves through legal actions related to the SCOTUS Dred-Scott decision.

This is exactly what I was referring to. They were motivated by Economics, not morality.

13 posted on 01/18/2021 7:34:41 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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