Maggie Luke
Mrs. Nester
English 4
15 December 2014
Child Labor in Britain during the Industrial Revolution
Child labor was a cruel and unfair way of using children in unnecessary situations. It was debated for a countless number of years whether child labor was a social problem or a political problem. Children were responsible for completing very dangerous, rigorous, and demanding jobs. Most jobs for the children were completed in factories, farms, and coal mines. Subsequently, the working conditions for the children were not healthy, and it led to life threatening situations. Many would get seriously injured or killed. Some worked until exhaustion and fell asleep on the job, and would experience harsh consequences. Generally speaking, child labor drastically changed the way owners ran their businesses during the Industrial Revolution. The ruthless ways of child labor were never changed for the better until different Acts and Laws were put into place. People were concerned with the social and physical wellbeing of working children in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.
To begin, people debated whether child labor during the Industrial Revolution was a social problem or a political problem. During the Industrial Revolution, the extent of child labor changed due to Britain becoming more industrialized. In the article “Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution,” Wade Thatcher stated that the majority of scholars argued that since there was a plentiful supply
Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.
Throughout the 1700’s and the early 1800’s child labor was a major issue in American society. Children have always worked for family businesses whether it was an agricultural farming situation or working out of a family business in some type of workplace. This was usually seen in families of middle or lower class because extra help was needed to support the family. Child labor dramatically changed when America went through the Industrial Revolution. When America’s industrial revolution came into play, it opened a new world to child labor. Children were now needed to work in factories, mills, and mines. These were not ordinary jobs for young children, these jobs required much time, effort, and hard work. “American
The use of children sped up production and made the pool of employees much larger. The benefit of child labor for the workers being able to have more people in the factory. The disadvantage was the fact that children are young and should be spending their time learning and playing opposed to operating machines for 16 hours and never attending school (Document 1). Some communities made child labor an option and enforced education at the same time. These communities were known as working societies. They focused on making nice conditions for children that worked. They took good care of kids and paid them in exchange for work. Safety was a big concern so death rates were very low (Document 5). However, not all companies treated their kids well. Some factories abused child labor, allowing kids as young as three years old to help out (Document 9). Politicians are managers claimed that the kids were just fine and even benefited from working. “I have visited many factories, and I never saw a single instance of corporal chastisement inflicted on a child. They seemed to be always cheerful and alert” (Document 4). Child labor was a debatable topic during the Industrial Revolution because many people depended on it but many other people wanted it to stop because it was
Today we have child labor laws, which prohibit the use of children as workers. During the industrial revolution, there was no such thing. You can see in Lewis W. Hine’s photo that a child is dangerously balancing on a milk crate so he can reach the machine. (Lewis W. Hine) Children worked extremely dangerous jobs for very little pay. This boy in the photo could easily fall from where he is balancing and could cut himself open on the machine.
Writing Assigment II Child labor was nothing new, for children has long worked in the fields and workshops of pre- industrial Europe. What was different about the conditions under which children worked in early industrial factories? Children played a major role in factory work during the Industrial Revolution. Children size and lack of understand left them vulnerable for factory owners.
The biggest problem about the industrial Revolution was the matter of Child labor. Child labor was used and favored by many businesses because children could be paid less than women that could be paid less than men. According to the conversation on document 7,C: What time did you begin work at the factory? B: When I was six years old. (Document7) This part of the conversation on document 7 directly mentions child labor. Child labor began in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Children would work in mostly textile factories. Textile factories made cotton clothes to be sewn into clothing.
Child workers in factories Children were viewed as a dispensable source of labour during the Industrial Revolution. Evidence of this is that they were given potentially dangerous jobs, worked to the point of exhaustion and harshly punished for their actions. Children were viewed as dispensable because they were given potentially dangerous jobs. The jobs that children were made to do in factories and mines were often in tight enclosed spaces or close to dangerous heavy machinery. Evidence of this can be found in sources one, two and seven.
Child labor was a major issue at the time especially in factories since children had no voice and labor was cheap. Children would be paid less than adults and less likely to break out in strike. They could also fit in tight spaces. Children were not even able to learn they had to work all the time (Aboukhadijeh). Since work deprived them of an education most children did not know their ABC’s. Without an education a new middle class of uneducated would be formed (Aboukhadijeh). Another problem children faced was their health. Typically people did not care about their health this quote explains that “children should not be allowed to labor in the factories from morning till night, without any time for healthy recreation and mental culture,” for it “endangers their well being and health” (Child). Finally this was resolved in 1832 by the New England unions (Child). In the United States today, child labor remains a problem in agriculture, especially among migrant farm families. It is also an issue that comes up in protests of United States companies who buy products made by child laborers abroad
During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young
Throughout the American Industrial Revolution, child labor in industries such as textiles, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, laboring, street work, and domestic work was endemic in the United States. Several factors, including mechanization, urbanization, industrialization, poverty, labor shortages, and lack of regulation were the primary causes for this increase in child labor. Children, as young as three years old, worked from sunrise to sunset in factories, mines, fields, and mills where conditions were excruciating. The arduous work resulted in myriad deleterious effects, namely, afflictive injuries, pitiful deaths, and bleak futures. In order to curtail the abusive conditions, numerous people championed the rights of child laborers and ultimately achieved their concordant goal of gaining federal regulation of minimum employment ages, permissible types of jobs, and duration of work hours for youths.
Most of the children who worked also suffered some sort of illness due to the conditions. Every child had their reason for working, they also had the conditions and suffered the effect, but finally got the reformation laws. During the Victorian period child labor was at an all time high. According to article "Child Labor" children
Child labor. A very cruel part of the British Industrial Revolution. Among the worst, children working at cotton mills was very harsh, dangerous, and terrible. In this essay, I will be explaining why working at the cotton mills was the worst kind of child labor in the British Industrial Revolution. Let’s begin with the first two reasons.
During the 1800s, Great Britain was making great new changes to its nation new advances in technology, and a rapid growth in the population,especially, in urban areas of the country which resulted in supply and demand. Factory owners only had one problem they didn’t have enough workers, and didn’t want to take lots of money out of their pockets to provide new employees. The solution was finally found they found people who could be paid the cheapest wages, work long hours, and are fast learners, children. These children were working in factories and mines things such as that as young as the age of six years old. Child labor momentous component to the Britain Industrial Revolution succeeding.
Although children had been servants and apprentices throughout most of human history, child labor reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution.There was a big impact on the daily life of a child labourer as poor children often worked full time jobs with minimal pay in order to help support their families. Young children worked long hours in factories under dangerous conditions. children were easier to manage and control than adults because their size was perfect as it allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines.The practice of child labor continued throughout much of the Industrial Revolution until laws were eventually passed that made child labor illegal.
Child labour is the employment of children as money earners. It became a serious social problem in the Industrial Revolution in Britain during the 1700's, and the problem spread to other countries as they became industrialized. The problem arose when children, many below the age of 10, were employed by factories and mines. The youths were forced to work long hours under dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and their wages were very small. Child workers were often deprived of the chance to attend school. Uneducated, the only work they were capable of doing was unskilled labor. Thus, they had little chance to improve themselves.