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United States Labor History

Selected Primary Sources

Revolutionary Era

The Account Book of John Head, Joiner
Cabinetmaking and Commerce, 1719-1753, Philadelphia
Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations, 1776
American Revolution, British Library
Boston Massacre Trials 1770
The Boston Port Act
Great Britain Parliament, March 31, 1774
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party Historical Society
Circular Letter of the Boston Committee of Correspondence; May 13, 1774
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
"Many Hundreds are Sterving for Want of Employment"
"Packed Densely, Like Herrings"
Gottlieb Mittelberger Warns His Countryman of the Perils of Emigration, 1750
"The Sentiments of a Labourer"
William Manning Inquires in the Key of Liberty, 1798.
"Work and Labor in this New and Wild Land Are Very Hard"
A German Migrant in Philadelphia, 1750.

"Boston tea-party." Three cargoes of tea destroyed. Dec. 16, 1773"

(courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA)

A Shoemaker and the Tea Party
by George Robert Twelve Hewes
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
The Stono Rebellion
Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the ...
"We Are All Equally Free"
New York City Workingmen Demand a Voice in the Revolutionary Struggle
Shays Rebellion
William Manning, "A laborer" Explains Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts: "In as Plain a Manner as I Am Capable"