Tracing the origins of the right to work -- The critique of wage dependency, 1828-1844 -- The political crisis over slavery and the rise of free labor, 1844-1860 -- The war years, or, The triumphs and reversals of free labor ideology, 1861-1865 -- Anti-labor democracy and the working class, 1865-1887 -- Epilogue : neoliberalism in the rustbelt.