Workers Petition to Andrew Jackson
Five workers in the federal navy yard in Philadelphia wrote this petition to Andrew Jackson to ask that their work day be limited to ten hours. Addressed to Jackson at the Hermitage in Tennessee, the letter recounts the workers' frustrations and appeals to Jackson’s concern for his place in history: ... frequent appeals have been made for the establishment of a system requiring but ten hours labour in our national yard. The commandant has been solicited. The board of navy commissioners have been solicited. The Secretary of the Navy declines interference. Congress at last session was petitioned, but none of these have availed. And therefore as a last resort the committee have been appointed to solicit the fountain head of government … It will also be a gratification … to reflect that one of the last acts of your presidential career was to give comparative freedom to millions of your countrymen and to know that the honest blessings of the labourer will be awarded to your memory when you shall [have] passed to that bourne from whence no traveler returns. Two days after the date of the petition's postmark, Jackson ordered ten-hour days to be granted in the Philadelphia shipyard as of September 3rd. The petition is signed by John Crossin, Wm. Thompson, Joshua L. Fletcher, Joseph D. Miller, and Edward McDonald.
Dates
- 1836 August 29
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Extent
0.1 Linear Feet
Abstract
Five workers in the federal navy yard in Philadelphia wrote this petition to Andrew Jackson to ask that their work day be limited to ten hours. Addressed to Jackson at the Hermitage in Tennessee, the letter recounts the workers' frustrations and appeals to Jackson’s concern for his place in history. Two days after the date of the petition's postmark, Jackson ordered ten-hour days to be granted in the Philadelphia shipyard as of September 3rd. The petition is signed by John Crossin, Wm. Thompson, Joshua L. Fletcher, Joseph D. Miller, and Edward McDonald.
Biographical/Historical Note
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh President of the United States, serving from 1829 to 1837. Born in 1767 in the frontier settlement of the Waxhaws in South Carolina, Jackson moved to Salisbury, NC in 1784 and received his license to practice law in 1787, beginning his practice in North Carolina's Western District in Washington County (now a part of Tennessee). In October 1788, he moved to Nashville, where he met his wife Rachel. After serving as the major general of the Tennessee militia for twenty years and earning recognition as a military leader in the War of 1812, Jackson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1823 and to the presidency in 1828. After serving two terms as president, Jackson returned to the Hermitage, his Nashville home, in early 1837. Eight years later, in 1845, Jackson died at his home at the age of 78.
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single folder.
Acquisition Note
Special Collections purchased this petition in 2010.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository