Rodney

Couldn't tell you about the original of pants. But if you go back 250 or so years in the West, people generally didn't wear pants as we know them -- they wore knee breeches (knee-length pants) and hose. Just like the revolutionary war pictures. Long pants came into style in the early 19th century, a style inspired by hunting clothes used by European nobility. In those days, royal hunts were big society events, so you can see how the hunting clothes could become fashionable .

And -- and this is just my guess -- the industrial revolution was hitting its stride about that time. And if you're going to spend 12 hours a day in a noisy factory full of sharp-edged metal machines and implements, long pants are probably better protection for the legs that short pants and hose.