Citizen Worker: The Experience of Workers in the United States with Democracy and the Free Market during the Nineteenth Century

by David Montgomery

In the 1990s, democracy and market freedom are often discussed as though they were synonymous or interchangeable. What the experience of workers in the United States actually reveals is that as government became more democratic, what it could do to shape daily life became more restricted. This original and significant work examines the relationship between workers and government by focusing not on the legal regulations of unions and strikes, but on popular struggles for citizens' rights. The extent and failures of workers' efforts to exercise power through political parties provide insights from the nineteenth century to guide our thinking about the twenty-first.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Labor, Economics

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Mitchel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compact (160 pages) guide to the role of labor in America's burgeoning democracy from its founding to 1900. Montgomery's archive is rich, and his argument is studded with long-dead Americans who articulate the vexed relationship between democratic rule and free markets with astonishing clarity and canniness. The prose style is clean and muscular, and his arguments are compelling. A great read for scholars who need an introduction to 19th century American history.