View source for Knights of St. Crispin

The '''Order of the Knights of St. Crispin''' was an [[American labor unions|American labor union]] comprised of shoeworkers in New York, Massachusetts and neighboring states.  Founded in 1867 it claimed 50,000 members by 1870, by far the largest union in the country.  But it was poorly organized and soon declined.  They fought encroachments of machinery and unskilled labor on autonomy of skilled shoeworkers.  One provision in the Crispin constitution explicitly sought to limit the entry of "green hands" into the trade.  But that failed because the new machines could be operated by semi-skilled workers and produce more shoes than hand sewing. 
==Bibliography==
* Commons, John R. "American Shoemakers, 1648-1895: A Sketch of Industrial Evolution," ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' 24 (November, 1909), 39-83. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-5533(190911)24%3A1%3C39%3AAS1ASO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V in JSTOR]
* Commons, John R. ''History of Labour in the United States'' - Vol. 2  1860-1896 (1918) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22784998  online edition]
* Dawley, Alan. ''Class and Community: The Industrial Revolution in Lynn'' (1976) [https://www.amazon.com/Class-Community-Industrial-Revolution-Lynn/dp/0674004310/ref=sr_1_1/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194846620&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Hall, John P. "The Knights of St. Crispin in Massachusetts, 1869-1878," ''Journal of Economic History'' 18 (June, 1958), 161-175. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507(195806)18%3A2%3C161%3ATKOSCI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 in JSTOR]
* [http://www.albany.edu/history/ej/origins/ Gerald Zahavi, "The Endicott Johnson Corporation:19th Century Origins" (2001)]

==See also==
* [[American Labor Unions]] 
====References====
<references/>
[[Category:Gilded Age]]
[[Category:Labor Unions]]