Declaration of Rights, 1836

In 1836, a convention of mechanics, farmers, and workingmen met in Utica, NY. The Equal Rights Party was formed at the convention and the document below is the product of that meeting.

Declaration of Rights

1. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created free and equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent inalienable rights; among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
2. That the true foundation of Republican Government is the Equal Rights of every citizen, in his person and property, and in their management.
3. That the idea is quite unfounded, that on entering into society we give up any natural right. The rightful power of all legislation is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them from us. No man has a natural r ight to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the law ought to restrain him. Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of society; and this is all the law should enforce on him. When the laws have declared and enforced all this, they have fulfilled their functions.
4. We declare unqualified hostility to bank notes and paper money as a circulating medium, because gold and silver is the only safe and constitutional currency.
5. Hostility to any and all monopolies by legislation because they are violations of the equal rights of the people.
6. Hostility to the dangerous and unconstitutional creation of vested rights, or prerogatives by legislation, because they are usurpations of the people's sovereign rights.
7. That no legislative or other authority in the body politic can rightfully, by charter or otherwise, exempt any man or body of men, in any case whatever, from trial by jury and the jurisdiction or operation of the laws which govern the community.
8. We hold that each and every law, or act of incorporation, passed by preceding legislatures, can be rightfully altered or repealed by their successors; and that they should be altered or repealed, when necessary for the public good, or when required b y a majority of the people.

Assignment:

Read the above document. While reading you should notice that these statements are really a re-worded list of grievances. Therefore, in your own words, make a list of problems faced by workers.

Enrichment:

Research and find specific instances of these problems faced by workers.

THE AUCTION SYSTEM

Public Ledger, Sept. 4, 1843, p. 3; Sept. 8, p.2. To the Manufacturers of Cabinet Ware: Being a journeyman in the trade, it is with much regret I continually see advertisements in the daily papers, calling the attention of the public to sales of Cabinet Ware, asserted to be from the best manufactories of this city. I often ask myself how it can be possible that any employer can be so ignorant of his own interest as to be the means of encouraging the sale of their own work by such a ruinous practice for it is well known that the prices of the different ki nds of Furniture sold at auction, are far below the first cost. His own interest demands that he should not countenance the public sales, and more particularly he should look to the interest of the large number of workmen employed in the making of the art icles sold at such a miserable sacrifice. Already, by a gradual reduction of the price of labor, the journeymen are reduced to the necessity of laboring from 12 to 14 hours per day to gain a mere subsistence. The continued practice of sending Furniture to Auction, will and must lower the price of labor, now so low that the common necessaries of life can scarcely be obtained by the workman. I now ask (in the name of all the Journeymen Cabinet makers) the employers of this city to send no more of their Furn iture to Auction. If your necessities are such as to make it necessary for you to raise money on your goods, do so by selling from your Warerooms at reduced prices even by that method you will save, at least a percentage of ten dollars per hundred, and ha ve the chance of being able to secure a better set of customers than you can possibly expect at Auction. I have understood from various Sources that a large sale of Furniture is contemplated to take place in the course of this week, at the Masonic Hall. I f such is true I hope all the manufacturers of Cabinet Ware will keep their Furniture from it. I feel confident if they will do so, it will be eventually for their own benefit, and for the good of the numerous body of journeymen employed in the trade. One of many Journeymen Cabinet Makers-

WILLIAM H. QUIRK

Assignment:

Read the above document and in your own words, list and describe the problems facing these workers.

  

The Illinois Labor History Society
28 E. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 663-4107