The Fight for Our Rights

We often find ourselves complaining about our 9-5 job or that we sometimes have to call into the office on weekends, so it is probably hard to imagine working from sun up to sun down six days a week. During the nineteenth century when Americans were working 60+ hours a week, they had very few outlets to express the frustration of their long works hours at the factories. During the late 1820s, several newspapers that supported workers' rights began to form. Notable publications included, the Mechanic's Free Press, Spirit of the Age and Workingmen's Advocate. One major task that these newspapers set out to accomplish was the ten hour workday. Willy Heighton of the Mechanic's Free Press, wrote how he rarely saw the sun his whole life since he started working at such a young age. Because many people like Heighton began working as a child, he missed many childhood opportunities such as attending school. Because workers now had a way for their voices to be heard, they also tried to get children educated instead of having them work in the factories. Makes you re-think complaining your 9-5 job right?

Another issue that plagued America in the nineteenth century was slavery. One of the best call-to-action newspapers was The Liberator. William Lloyd Garrison began The Liberator as an anti-slavery publication. What made Garrison's newspaper different from the others was that he included both sides of the stories, creating one of the first open forums in journalism. The Liberator was extremely effective in the way that southern governmental bodies tried to prevent the newspaper from being published and distributed. It is hard to come up with any modern day publications that have had such a large effect on the public. After running for thirty-five years, after achieving the goal it set out to do, The Liberator was published one last time. Garrison's newspaper played a vital role in abolishing slavery by giving information to the people and letting them decide for themselves if slavery should be illegal.

"A woman is nobody. A wife is everything." This statement seems to just beg for a heated debate. As a result, The Revolution evolved. The Revolution tackled the tough topic of women's rights and this newspaper like the ones previously discussed gave a voice to those that would have otherwise not been heard. Stanton and Anthony, the two founders of the newspaper, called for equal pay for women, political representation as well as speaking up about the taboo topic of abortion. For each of these topics, the women provided anecdotes along with facts that supported their stands. Though The Revolution did not have as long of a run as The Liberator, it packed a punch among it's readers and led the way to the Women's Rights Movement several decades later.

 If only modern media were as affective as the newspapers in the nineteenth century.