Mechanics' Free Press and Reform Advocate

The Mechanic's Free Press, published from 1828 to 1831 in Philadelphia, was one of the United States' first labor union newspapers and was instrumental in starting the American labor movement. It also helped turn American laborers into a unified political force.

The Mechanic's Free Press was founded as a result of the beginning of the American labor movement in 1827. That year in Philadelphia, representatives from fifteen trades formed the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations, which was created to change what the founders saw as the historical lack of political control for poor workers.

The Mechanic's Free Press was founded in April 1828 with the goal of spreading the union's pro-labor message to communities across the country. The paper reached a circulation of 2,000, half the circulation of the largest New York City newspaper at that time.

The paper's editor and founder, William Heighton, was an English-born shoemaker. He told readers the Mechanic's Free Press was meant to "raise the productive classes to that condition of true independence and equality which their practical skill and ingenuity, their immense utility to the nation, and their growing intelligence demand." He called the working people the "blood, bone, sinew of the nation." He also invoked Biblical references to make his points, comparing industrialists of the day to money changers who should be driven away "from the temple of freedom." Heighton quit his job as a factory worker at the age of 28 and used his small savings to purchase a printing press.

The newspaper itself was a four-page publication that ran ads for clothing and blacksmith services.

The Mechanic's Free Press advocated for several causes that its founders thought would improve the lives of factory workers. The newspaper advocacy goals included securing a ten-hour workday, curbing child labor, creating tax-supported public schools, and abolishing imprisonment as a punishment for debt.

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