ABSTRACT

Educating youth in the habits of industry and encouraging their social advancement were important threads in the Republican agenda. Apprenticeship, the commonest form of vocational training, enabled boys to learn a useful trade and to make the vital transition between dependent wage earner and independent master. An apprenticeship in one of Philadelphia's better-known workshops was something a lad prized. Applications far exceeded available places and all firms were choosy. At William Norris in the mid-1850s 'there are always more applications for the berths than the proprietors can receive'. Middle-class lads wanted to become machinists - 60 per cent of apprentice machinists were from lower middle-class backgrounds, a higher proportion than for most other trades. In the eighteenth century apprenticeship commonly involved a formal agreement between the master, apprentice and parent. In contrast to the ambition of many apprentices, older journeymen, who had charge of the cub's instruction, might have a more jaundiced view of self-improvement.