CONVICT LABOR FOK EOAD WORK. 7 



then had been capitally punished, should thereafter be punished by 

 labor 'pubhcly and disgracefully imposed.' Under this law the 

 convicts were employed in cleaning streets, repairing roads, etc., 

 their heads were shaved, and they were clothed in a coarse uniform." ^ 

 But as will be noted, the motive which inspired this early experi- 

 ment in convict road building in the United States was wrong, and 

 its effect is best described in the words of "a most respectable eye- 

 witness," as reported by Wilham Crawford, esq., in his report 

 "to Lord Viscount Duncannon, His Majesty's principal secretary of 

 state for the home department" in 1834 on ''The Penitentiaries of 

 the United States." He said: 



The directions of the law of 1786 were soon found to be productive of the greatest 

 evils, and had a very opposite effect from what was contemplated by the framers of the 

 law. The disorder in society, the robberies, the burglaries, breaches of prison, alarms 

 in town and country, the drunkenness, profanity, and indecencies of the prisoners in 

 the streets, must be in the memory of most . With these disorders the number of crimi- 

 nals increased to such a degree as to alarm the community with fears that it would be 

 impossible to find a place either large or strong enough to hold them. The severity of 

 the law and the disgraceful manner of executing it led to a proportionate degree of 

 depravity and insensibility and every spark of morality appeared to be destroyed. 



For these reasons the law of 1786 was repealed and in 1790 the 

 first penitentiary in the United States was constructed in Philadel- 

 phia. All convi(it labor in the State of Pennsylvania was thereafter 

 performed within its walls. 



Following this example penitentiaries were established in rapid 

 succession in Connecticut, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Ver- 

 mont, Maryland, New Hampshii"e, Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, 

 Kentucky, Maine, District of Columbia, Indiana, Georgia, and Illinois. 

 In 1834 when Wilham Crawford, esq., made his report to Lord Vis- 

 count Duncannon, the following were still without them: The States 

 of Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carohna, South Carolina, Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri, and the Territories of Florida, 

 Michigan, and Arkansas. 



From the above classification it will appear that, in general, the 

 Northern and Eastern States were provided early with penitentiaries, 

 whereas the Southern and Western States had no such institutions. 

 The same classification may be made in respect to the system of labor 

 provided for the employment of the convicts. Whereas the Northern 

 and Eastern States adopted the contract and State-account systems 

 and employed their prisoners in indoor workshops, the practice of 

 leasing convicts to private persons for outdoor work was followed in 

 the South and West practically from the foundation of the Republic. 



The reasons for these early differences are readily seen in the differ- 

 ent conditions and environment of the two sections — North and 



' Report of the Commissioners on i'cnal Codo of 1'onn.sylvanla, p. 13. 



