CHAPTER IV 
A BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW 1 
Unionism first appeared in this country about the 
close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nine 
teenth centuries, 2 in the form of local craft unions, 
mainly among the printers, cordwainers, bakers, ship 
wrights and carpenters. These unions did not appear 
earlier in this country because not until about this time 
was there any well-defined separation of the employing 
and laboring functions, and therefore, only then were 
there the beginnings of distinct groups of employers and 
1 The historical study of unionism is valuable just in propor 
tion as it gives insight into the real character and causes of 
unionism. The facts as facts mean nothing, and the knowing 
of them means nothing except as they help toward knowing what 
unionism is and why it is. Throughout the discussion, therefore, 
this should be kept constantly in mind. As a general hint in 
this connection, we should consider carefully the question: Is 
there any such thing as unionism, i. e., unionism as a whole, 
unionism as such ? On the answer to this question will depend 
not only the nature of one’s generalizations but one’s whole atti 
tude toward union phenomena and the union problem. (See 
Notes on Method, p. 376.) 
2 There had been labor organizations in America before this, 
as far back as the seventeenth century. These organizations, 
however, were not trade unions, but craft guilds of workmen 
who combined in themselves the functions of laborer, master 
and merchant. They were organized to license, or otherwise 
limit the number of legal craftsmen, to regulate the quality of 
work, and to maintain customary prices. 
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