Coercion, Contract, and Free Labor in the Nineteenth Century

Presents a fundamental reassessment of the nature of wage labor in the nineteenth century.

Robert J. Steinfeld (Author)

9780521774000, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 February 2001

342 pages, 1 b/w illus. 2 maps 3 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

'A fascinating account is given of the shift that occurred during the mid- nineteenth century from long-term contracts enforced by criminal penalties to open-ended minute' contracts with agreed periods of notice … The important message today of this persuasive study is that the weakening of trade unions, and the revival of the myths of labour flexibility, may lead to the erosion of the freedom of employment contracts.' Labour History Review

This book presents a fundamental reassessment of the nature of wage labor in the nineteenth century, focusing on the common use of penal sanctions in England to enforce wage labor agreements. Professor Steinfeld argues that wage workers were not employees at will but were often bound to their employment by enforceable labor agreements, which employers used whenever available to manage their labor costs and supply. In the northern United States, where employers normally could not use penal sanctions, the common law made other contract remedies available, also placing employers in a position to enforce labor agreements. Modern free wage labor only came into being late in the nineteenth century, as a result of reform legislation that restricted the contract remedies employers could legally use.

Introduction: free wage labor in the history of the West
Part I. American Contract Labor and English Wage Labor: The Use of Pecuniary and Nonpecuniary Pressure: 1. 'Free' contract labor in the United States: an anti-essentialist view of labor types I
2. 'Unfree' wage labor in nineteenth-century England: an anti-essentialist view of labor types II
3. Explaining the legal content of English wage labor
4. Struggles over the rules: the Common Law Courts, parliament, the people, and the master and servant acts
5. Struggles under the rules: strategic behavior and historical change in legal context
6. Struggles to change the rules
7. Freedom of contract and freedom of person
Part II. 'Free' and 'Unfree' Labor in the United States: 8. 'Involuntary servitude' in American fundamental law
9. Labor contract enforcement in the American north
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK]