In the mid-nineteenth century, industrial enterprises in the Northeast transformed the nation’s economy even though they employed less than 10 percent of the U.S. labor force. In the 1830s and 1840s, factories grew considerably in size, and some investors, especially in textiles, constructed factory towns. New England textile mills relied increasingly on the labor of girls and young women, while urban workshops hired children, young women and men, and older adults. However, as industrial jobs expanded, employment for skilled male artisans declined. The economic panic in 1837 exacerbated this trend and increased tensions that made it more difficult for workers to organize across differences of skill, ethnicity, race, and sex.