1835 "Ten Hour Circular" Condemns Excessive Working Hours

Many labor organizations in the 19th century began to publish their own newspapers. These papers served to keep union members informed on current issues within the Labor Movement, and they also helped educate those who had not yet joined the movement. Though the union papers were able to effectively spread news among union members, they had one shortcoming. People who were not involved in the labor movement, such as workers who were not yet organized, would not often choose to read a union’s paper. Realizing this, many labor activists sought to reach out to people using more widely read newspapers.

The famous “Ten Hour Circular” was written for the purpose of reaching out to people through the regular newspapers. This circular was written by several leaders of the Labor Movement and detailed the plight of the workingman. The circular condemned the “odious, cruel, unjust, and tyrannical system which compels the operative Mechanic to exhaust his physical and mental powers by excessive toil, until he has no desire but to eat and sleep, and in many cases has no power to do either from extreme debility.” This well written circular was distributed to newspapers across the country which a message saying, “Editors of newspapers in the United States who are in favor of equal rights, are respectfully requested to publish this circular.”

Many copies of the “Ten Hour Circular” were printed throughout the country. They were very effective in eloquently explaining the unjust system which many Americans were forced to work under. Particularly effective was the use of themes from the American Revolution, which Americans across the country could relate to. The circular used these themes by pointing out that “we have rights, and we have duties to perform as American citizens and members of society, which forbid us to dispose of more than Ten Hours for a day’s work.” The circular explained that these rights should be respected, as they had been established “by the blood of our fathers, shed on our battlefields in the War of the Revolution… and no earthly power shall resist our righteous claims with impunity.”