Working Life and the Constitution

The Constitution of the United States was first created in 1787, its’ main purpose was to unify our country. However, by 1850, the United States had become a source of sectional discord and tension. This ultimately led to the failure of the union it had created. (Collier, 1986)

Working life in America during this time was extremely demanding and physical; ninety percent of white American men were farmers. If men did not own a farm, they worked on one or worked as laborers on farms owned by others. A small group of men owned large commercial farms or plantations. About 10 percent or so of American men who were professionals, businessmen or urban artisans-lawyers, importers, printers-frequently owned modest farms, on which they might keep a cow or some chickens and raise vegetables for the home table. (Laurie, 1989) These early American farm families were dependent on their own resources to a far greater degree than most human beings ever had been or are today. People didn't want to work for others because they wouldn't be able to get rich. The only way to earn large profits was to be self-employed but in order to be successful you needed people to work for you. In order for communities to grow, people needed to see that they would be able to prosper in that community. As towns grew, there became an increased need for artisans. (Dubofsky, 2004)

The United States Constitution does not directly address federal labor law, but Congress draws much of its power to regulate labor relations from the interstate commerce clause. The equal protection clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments serve as the basis for further worker protection laws. (McGann, 2010)

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, and the Supreme Court has generally taken a broad view of this power. One of the earliest modern worker protection laws was enacted in 1935, when Congress passed and President Franklin Roosevelt...