Child Labor In The Industrial Revolution Essay

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

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

The Industrial Revolution was a The younger boys who worked at the mines were called breaker boys. They didn’t work in the mine itself, but sat on benches and picked out the bits of rock from the coal. “These children worked in the picking room, a crowded, high-ceilinged vault, crisscrossed with rickety catwalks and crooked stairs, lit only by a wall of grime-choked windows” (Levine, Marvin J. "Mines, Mills, and Canneries." Children for Hire: The Perils of Child Labor in the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. 21. Print.) Within factories, small children had to work fast at the machines, being very careful unless an unfortunate body part happens to get caught in the high-powered, dangerous machinery. For several long hours in rooms without fresh air, ventilation, and sometimes, no windows, the working conditions that the children suffered through were appalling. There are children who work in hazardous industries, risking accident and injury; there are others working in conditions that take a slower but definite toll on the children’s health (Basu, Kaushik, and Pham Hoang Van. "The Economics of Child Labor" The Economics of Child Labor (1998): 412-27. Print.).

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.

Question 1: What jobs were children required to do in the Industrial Revolution? Throughout the Industrial Revolution children were hired for a vast variety of jobs. A lot of kids in the Industrial Revolution were hired to work in factories. In the factories children had to do some very hard and dangerous jobs including A match dipper whose job it was to dip matches in a liquid called phosphorus, this element is deadly if a person inhales too much of it into his lungs. According to Angus Koolbreeze “this chemical caused the children's teeth to rot out and some even died from inhaling the phosphorous fumes”. A huge percentage of child factory workers, work at a cotton mill. Usually Mill owners hired orphans and worked them extremely hard. For

On the other hand, because of the establishment of factories by businessmen, the workers ' lives became hard as they faced unfair working conditions in dirty and small working places. They worked long hours with no break. The machines used in factories were also very dangerous and led to workers enduring injuries. Unskilled labor did not even require training. During the Industrial Revolution, child labor became common since it was cheaper to have children working. Instead of earning an education, children started working as early as 8 years old. Also, factories produced pollution within the cities because of all the coal that was being used for power, leading smoke to contaminate the air. People became sick and even

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.

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.

Child Labor in America 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

Do you ever have to work? Do simple tasks or difficult tasks. When child labor was in America children had to work. They had many burdens and struggled with many tasks. In that period of America it was common for children to work. Now a days its illegal for children

“Child Labor in the Victorian England.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2015. • Factories hired children because they are smaller than adults and they are cheaper. • Children could start working at the age of 7. • The boys had to work in the coalmines and the girls had to work in the cotton mills.

However the industrial revolution was not all good. The working class had no other option but to turn up at the factories for work. The factory system resulted in over-crowding and unhygienic conditions and also the development of slum areas. Many factory owners who needed cheap, unskilled labour, profited greatly by using children and women to run the machines and because they were small and could fit in tunnels as well not only that they were more suited for factory life because they could adopt more quickly and easily than men. By the age of 6, many children were already working twelve hours a day in factories. These children had no free time to do anything plus they earned low wages. Hardly any of the children went to school they had to work in factories to earn money. Quite a lot of the people who worked at factories got sick and died because of the toxic fumes in the factories. While others were severely injured because the machines didn't have safety guards so many children got killed by machinery when they fell asleep and got caught up in the machines. Many of the children who were orphans, hired by the employers would

The Revolution also affected children. When coal became necessary to fuel steam engines, many people were needed to work in coal mines. Children were hires to go into narrow passageways and pick coal. Boys and girls were put to work doing dangerous things that children should not be expected to do. Children also worked in factories. Their small hands came in handy to retrieve broken threads in machines, however many children lost fingers while doing this.

When the industrial revolution took place in the late 18th century, children as young as age 7 could work full-time in factories or mines. Children accepted jobs because their parents needed money and businesses liked children because they were unlikely to try to go on strike or join a union. Another bonus was that the new industries could also do whatever they wanted to do with any biohazard

Child labor has been an extremely serious issue since the early industrial revolution and it continues to be an issue today. The movement towards the industrial revolution increased demand for labor, especially cheap labor, which targeted young children as a means for performing work in the factories. Since it was an economically growing era for the United States, children in the 18th century worked long hours for low minimum wage under harsh conditions to help their families. Children were easily suitable for the working conditions in the factory because of their size, and it was easy to manage them because the factories did not have to worry about paying them more as compared to adults. Further, today in the United States of America,