Compare the material and nonmaterial conditions of slaves and of urban industrial workers. c ...

ANSWER: Students should recognize that some material conditions for slaves were superior to those of industrial workers. The text points to diet and housing as examples. The text, however, also points to the degree of independence that industrial workers were able to enjoy. It is to state the obvious that employers could not beat employees the way slaves were beaten. Nor could they sell off unwanted employees. An additional comparison may be made with Lowell Mill girls whose employers (like slaveholders) were supposed to take a paternalistic responsibility toward them.