What is a Danbury Hatter?

Answer 1

Answer

Danbury, Connecticut was established as a center of the hat-making industry in 1780. In 1902, an attempt to unionize labor at the Loewe manufacturing company lead to a US Supreme Court case commonly known as the Danbury Hatter's Case. A Danbury Hatter was a member of the trade who worked in Danbury, and probably referred specifically to union workers.

Explanation

In 1902, hat manufacturer Dietrich Loewe of Danbury, Connecticut, made news by refusing to recognize the Hatter's Union that was attempting to organize labor in his town. Most of the union members went on strike, hoping to extract higher wages from Loewe. When Loewe reopened the factory with non-union workers, the Hatter's union organized a boycott of Loewe's hats that spread to other states.

Loewe filed suit against the union for restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The US Supreme Court issued an injunction against the union in 1908, and later fined them treble damages (1915) for their actions.

The case dealt a significant blow to organized labor at the turn of the 20th century, a period of time known as the "Lochner Era," after the US Supreme Court decision Lochner v. New York, 198 US 45 (1905) that struck down a New York law limiting work hours for bakers as unconstitutional. The Lochner era, which coincided with the Second Industrial Revolution (approximately 1897-1937), was characterized by pro-corporate/anti-labor laws and court decisions that struck down attempts at regulating working conditions as unconstitutional.

The Danbury Hatter's Case is the popular name for Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 US 274 (1908).

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