Culture Change and the New Technology An Archaeology of the Early Am
Harpers Ferry was one of America's earliest and most significant industrial communities - serving as an excellent example of the changing patterns of human relations that led to dramatic progress in work life and in domestic relations in modern times. In
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO GLOBAL HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor: Charles E. Orser, Jr., Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois A HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE MODERN WORLD Charles E. Orser, Jr. CULTURE CHANGE AND THE NEW TECHNOLOGY: An Archaeology of the Early American Industrial Era Paul A. Shackel
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Culture Change and the New Technology An Archaeology of the Early American Industrial Era
Paul A. Shackel Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and University of Maryland College Park, Maryland
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
On file
"Harpers Ferry—Scene of the Last Insurrection." Harpers Cover illustration: Vol. 3 (1859), p. 692.
Weekly,
ISBN 978-1-4757-9905-7 ISBN 978-1-4757-9903-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-9903-3
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1996 Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To Luigi Pepe and Maria Michaela Russo and Damian Shackelovich and Kristina Hluchy, the founders of two working-class families whose values and ethics I cherish
Preface
D
For centuries, Native Americans seasonally inhabited the shorelines of Harpers Ferry. During the 1780s, the area first received prominent recognition from Thomas Jefferson. Sitting on the cliffs of Harpers Ferry, he wrote his Notes on the State of Virginia, in which he described the vast beauty found at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Jefferson (1954 [1789]:45) claimed that it was "one of the most stupendous scenes in nature" and that it was "worth a trip across the ocean" to see. At that time, the area had a ferry operated by Robert Harper and only a few buildings, including a mill and a tavern. George Washington, a land speculator along the Potomac, seized the opportunity to capitalize on the region's waterpower and created a National Armory at Harpers Ferry in 1796. In the early nineteenth century, manufacturing proceeded slowly, but not quietly. At the Harpers Ferry National Armory, interchangeable parts were perfected by John Hall, much to the displeasure of many of the armory craftsmen. The creation of uniform parts became known as the American system of manufacturing, and eventually many other industries adopted this method. Interchangeable parts, mass production, and low-paid immigrant labor eventually became the norm for most American industries. Harpers Ferry is most widely known today for the attempted slave revolt led by John Brown
