Slavery vs. “Wage Slaves”

The Northeast was industrializing at an incredible speed, which meant there were more mills and factories being established. With this came the establishment of the term “wage slavery”, which referred to the “slave work” of the factory workers, who had to work multiple hours and get paid minimally. Orestes Brownson stated the wage slaves had “all the disadvantages of freedom and none of its blessings”. This to some extent was an accurate description of the wage slaves because the factory workers were not cared for if ill, and this caused the factory worker to be highly depended on his employer.

Wage slaves could be considered to be the factory workers of the antebellum Northeast. The factory workers could be considered to be wage slaves because of many plausable reasons. The factory workers did receive salaries or wages. Additionally, the factory worker was pretty much forced to work for another in order to remain alive. The factory worker did not receive much pay, and that money was meant to be used to remain alive. As, is the function of a slaves labor in the South, a slave would work to keep his or her life. Therefore, factory workers were indeed wage slaves.

The slaves were taken care of by their owners because slaves were at a high cost and the owner could not afford to lose his slave. Furthermore, each slave was given food, clothing, and shelter to survive, and in many cases the slave had decent relations with his owner. For example, the owner would sometimes farm with the slave. Slaves also had a higher life expectancy then the average factory worker meaning the slave had a less hazardous job, even though they were considered below all white people.

The average factory worker was constantly risking its life using hazordous machines, and working in overcrowded rooms often with sick people. The average factory worker was paid a minimal salary in which, he or she would barely be able to clothe themselves, provide themselves shelter, and feed themselves. In many cases the salary the worker received was enough to sustain life, and the employer was able to do this unlike the slaveowner because he practically had an unlimited supply of laborers willing to take a job, and the employer didn’t own the slave, thus he didn’t have to take care of his employees.

Conclusively, Orestes Brownson, is correct when he states that the working class Americans or the “wage slaves” did have all the disadvantages of liberty and had none of its pleasures. The working class Americans were “wage slaves” because they had to work just to maintain their lives, and they received minimal pay. Furthermore, the slaves had a two way relationship with their owners, and would live longer healthier lives then the working class Americans. The average factory worker would risk his life and work in terrible conditions to maintain his life.