“I regard my workers just as I regard my machines... When my machines get old and become useless, I reject them and get new ones, and these people are part of my machinery” (Sands 12). A foreman of a textile mill in Fall River, Massachusetts, uttered these words during perhaps the worst period in the history of American labor, the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of people in the United States flocked to work in factories where they faced long hours, unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and low wages. Unions, or groups of organized workers, formed in the United States to guarantee workers the right to a safe job and a fair wage in the face of wealth-seeking capitalist factory owners. In exchange, union members have a responsibility to work diligently and to the best of their ability or face the bankruptcy of their company and the loss of their job. In the eighteenth century, most people in what would become the United States worked on farms. and plantations (Clark 11). Seeking wealth, farm and plantation owners needed cheap or free labor to work their fields, so they purchased indentured servants. Initially, indentured servants were people who wanted to immigrate to the colonies but could not afford it. Landowners paid for indentured servants' travel to the colonies. In exchange, serfs worked as slaves to the landowners for a certain period of time, usually seven years (Clark 11). After the period of servitude, landowners freed their serfs usually with a donation of land or money. However, landowners did not like having to let their serfs go. They wanted something more permanent: slaves (Clark 12). The first slaves were brought to the colonies in 1619 in... middle of paper... Prohibition. University of Michigan. 2004 http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nkazmers/organizedcrime2.html I trust this source because it was written by students of the University of Michigan, a prestigious college and I used this source to learn about the racket of work. Sands, Stella. "Industrial Revolution" Kids Discover May 2011: 2-17 I trust this source because it is from a reliable children's history magazine. Nicholson, Philip Yale. The history of labor in the United States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004 I trust this book because the author cited his sources for all of his information and I used this book to learn about work during the civil rights movement. Ondersma, Karl. Personal interview. November 7, 2013 I trust this source because it was a personal interview of a person who has worked for a long time within the unions.