| Massachusetts has a reputation for being a liberal democratic state: abolitionist, advocate of citizens' rights, promoting economic justice. The reputation has endured since the fight for freedom from British rule over 200 years ago. But Massachusetts has another side to the freedom and democracy-rallying cry. The cotton gin did not merely solidify the American South's plantation-and-slavery marriage; it allowed the North to capitalize on the production of cotton. While not technically a slave state, Massachusetts profited from slave labor, played an important part in supporting the institution of slavery, and thereby was able to establish its own factory system where individuals were used to bring profit and power to a select few. Consider Lowell, Massachusetts, one of America's oldest, most successful textile mill cities ever created. It is a particularly good example explored in this thesis, which will attempt to present a different view of the state of Massachusetts. |
