Market Revolution Voices Of Freedom

The Market Revolution was a pivotal time in American history, it spanned from the late 18th to the mid 19th century. This revolution brought about significant economic, social, and cultural transformations, and at the heart of this revolution was the rise of market based economy, characterized by industrialization, urbanization and the expansion of transportation. The market revolution represented a newfound sense of freedom, particularly with economic opportunities and material prosperity. For some, the ability to accumulate wealth became hand in hand with freedom, however others disagreed with this notion, they challenged the idea that wealth equated to true freedom. By examining primary sources from Voices of Freedom, we can gain insight …show more content…
Their ability to accumulate wealth was seen as a form of freedom, enabling them to assert control economically and improve their living standards. Sarah Bagley acknowledges the economic opportunities available to workers in the mills, where young women like her could earn wages and achieve a degree of financial independence. She also acknowledges that the ability to work and accumulate wealth provided a sense of agency and autonomy for workers, allowing them to support themselves, and in some cases their family. “We must have money; a father’s debts are to be paid, an aged mother is to be supported, a brother’s ambition to be aided, and so the factories are supplied” (p.p. 167). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid However, Bagley also highlights the constraints and injustices integrated in the capitalist system. “Whenever I raise the point that it is immoral to shut us up in a close room twelve hours a day in the most monotonous and tedious employment, I am told that we have come to the mills voluntarily and we can leave when we will.”