This book discusses the relationship between workers and the government by focusing not on the legal regulation of unions and strikes, but on popular struggles for citizenship rights. This discussion includes the role of democracy in the dismantling of indentured servitude, judicial decisions shaping the rights and obligations of the development of vagrancy law and of municipal police forces. The book also examines the role of the Democratic, Republican, and Know Nothing parties in shaping popular political culture and in mobilising and channeling the political activity of white and black workers.
