They organized to agitate for a ten-hour workday rather than longer daily hours that were then common in industry.

Quick Scoop

  • In the 1840s, the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen was part of a broader labor reform wave in the United States.
  • Its central demand was to limit the workday to ten hours, pushing back against exhausting schedules that often stretched well beyond that.
  • Reformers argued that a ten-hour day would not only protect workers’ health but also give them time for moral and intellectual improvement and family life.

Bottom line: When you see the question “in the 1840s the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen organized to agitate for what cause?” the answer is: to limit the workday to ten hours per day.

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