Description: Men Is CheapExposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War AmericaBrian P. LuskeyWhen a Civil War substitute broker told business associates that "Men is cheep here to Day," he exposed an unsettling contradiction at the heart of the Union's war effort. Despite Northerners' devotion to the principles of free labor, the war produced rampant speculation and coercive labor arrangements that many Americans labeled fraudulent. Debates about this contradiction focused on employment agencies called "intelligence offices," institutions of dubious character that nevertheless served the military and domestic necessities of the Union army and Northern households. Northerners condemned labor agents for pocketing fees above and beyond contracts for wages between employers and employees. Yet the transactions these middlemen brokered with vulnerable Irish immigrants, Union soldiers and veterans, former slaves, and Confederate deserters defined the limits of independence in the wage labor economy and clarified who could prosper in it.Men Is Cheap shows that in the process of winning the war, Northerners were forced to grapple with the frauds of free labor. Labor brokers, by helping to staff the Union military and Yankee households, did indispensable work that helped the Northern state and Northern employers emerge victorious. They also gave rise to an economic and political system that enriched the managerial class at the expense of laborers--a reality that resonates to this day. Hardcover : 296 pages ISBN-10 : 1469654326 ISBN-13 : 978-1469654324 Product Dimensions : 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches Publisher : University of North Carolina Press (March 23, 2020) Language : English
Price: 29.99 USD
Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
End Time: 2025-01-13T02:42:34.000Z
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Title: Men Is Cheap
Topic: Civil War
Subjects: History & Military
Number of Pages: 296 Pages
Publication Name: Men Is Cheap : Exposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War America
Language: English
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Publication Year: 2020
Subject: Labor & Industrial Relations, Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Sociology / General, Military / United States, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), Labor
Item Height: 1.1 in
Item Weight: 19.8 Oz
Type: Textbook
Item Length: 9.4 in
Author: Brian P. Luskey
Subject Area: Political Science, Social Science, Business & Economics, History
Item Width: 6.1 in
Series: Civil War America Ser.
Format: Hardcover
