The Workingmen's Movement.--No. 1

As some readers might know, I'm currently working on the chapter on the Workingmen's movement for my manuscript on the cultural change in Philadelphia between 1785 and 1850. I thought I would occasionally quote some material from the Mechanics Free Press that bears on contemporary political debates.

Aug 29, 1829.

From an "Address" by the Standing Committee of the Republican Political Association of Working Men of the City of Philadelphia

"To promote the happiness of the laboring man, to secure to him the possession of that wealth he so abundantly creates, has been no more the object of our legislators, than it has of the legislators of China, of Russia, or of England.”