Philadelphia Cordwainers Trial: 1806

The jury retired at 9 P.M. and apparently reached a verdict fairly quickly, but were not asked to return it until the next morning. They found all eight guilty "of a conspiracy to raise their wages." The punishment was that each of the eight defendants was fined $8 and forced to pay all the costs of the trial. The fine itself was a little less than what the average journeyman could make in a week; paying the fees of those four Philadelphia lawyers must have come to far more than that. Presumably the society of journeymen cordwainers paid all costs.

Nothing more is heard of these individuals or their activities. But in the years that followed, trial after trial throughout the United States would gradually establish the right of laboring people to form associations to seek better wages. In effect, these Philadelphia cordwainers had taken the first step toward forming unions.