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John Ferral, Philadelphia, to Seth Luther, Boston, 6 June 1835
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Collection Ferral Letters
Title John Ferral, Philadelphia, to Seth Luther, Boston, 6 June 1835
Description FerraI (or Ferrall), an Irish immigrant, was one of the principal leaders of the General Trades Union of Philadelphia (est. 1834) and of the June 1835 general strike in that city for the 10-hour day that united skilled and unskilled, native and immigrant, Protestant and Catholic (but only white) Philadelphia workers in one of the landmark events in the history of the US labor movement. Ferral's letter is written to his fellow labor leader, Seth Luther of Boston; in it, Ferral does not allude to his Irish background or to the Irish Catholic and Protestant origins of many of Philadelphia's workers. Rather, his letter is a classic description and vindication of the general strike and its success. Unfortunately, the financial panic of 1837, and the severe, subsequent economic depression, eroded both wages and working-class unity, culminating disastrously in the 1844 Philadelphia riots (centered in the heavily Irish, industrial suburb of Kensington) that ranged native and Irish Protestant workers against Irish Catholic workers and their churches. In its wake, the US two capitalist- party system solidified its fatal division of the American working class, with native and immigrant evangelical Protestants adhering to the Whig Party (and later to the Know-Nothing and Republican parties), while Irish Catholics adhered to the Democratic Party. [Written from "Schuykill Falls" aka Falls of the Schuylkill, now East Falls district in Philadelphia].
Date 06/06/1835
Date Issued 27/03/2023
Resource Type Text
Archival Record Id p155/24/4
Publisher University of Galway
Extent 4pp
Topic Ferral Letters
Geographic Philadelphia (city),Philadelphia (county),Pennsylvania,United States,Boston (city),Suffolk (county),Massachusetts
Temporal Nineteenth century,Eighteen thirties
Genre Transcript
Note Title, description and transcript text by Professor Kerby Miller.
Creator / Author Name John Ferral