Child Labor In The Industrial Revolution Essay

The industrial revolution first came to the United States. People soon moved to city area to find jobs. People often had children work for them for small wages and children had overworked. Sometimes they work for over 19 hours a day. They worked in very terrible conditions and worked close to many large machinery. There were many deaths during this time. Factory owners loved child labor because it was almost free work. Children from 9-13 worked were only allowed to work 8 hours a day and those 14-18 could work more than 12 hours.

In 1833, the Factory Act of 1833 was passed to improve the working conditions for children who labored in factories. A source reveals, “Young children were working very long hours in workplaces where conditions were often terrible,” (Document 10). As this came to the government’s attention, the act was produced by them in an attempt to lessen the abuse of working children, and to treat them more like children. First, the Factory Act limited the hours children could work in factories. The act states, “Children of 9-13 years to work no more than nine hours a day; children of 13-18 years to work no more than 12 hours a day,” (Document 10). Children were also not allowed to work at night. By having working hours reduced, children were able to fit in time to play, sleep, and get an education. It also reduced fatigue, as the children weren’t on their feet as long, and they got in more time to sleep. Secondly, within the act, there was a rule limiting the age children must be to work in factories. No children under the age of nine were allowed to work in the factories,” (Document 10). Although this decreased the amount of money coming in for each family, it allowed the children to get educations, have more free time, and help their

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.

During the Industrial Revolution, children as young as six years old sometimes worked instead of going to school. They were not paid very much. The conditions were dangerous. Children were breathing dirty air and often worked on dangerous machines.

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.

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

Conditions of factories were not safe for anyone, let alone a small child. Due to these conditions many children died before their prime. Many children “began work at age 5, and generally died before they were 25” (www.victorianweb.org), America was beginning to lose an entire generation due to these working conditions that so many had to endure. Children were hired at an alarming rate. “In 1870, the first time census reported child workers, there were 750,000 workers in the United States age 15 and under, not including those who worked on family farms or in other family businesses” (“Child Labor in America”), these numbers were not something that was looked over, it astonished many. “A cotton manufactory of 5 or 6000 spindles will employ those 200 children” (Bremner 232). The workforce would continuously grow, hiring more and more children each day. Factories were good for using children as a means of their productivity. “Textile factories, for the most part […] were in the forefront of this industrial revolution, and children formed an essential component of the new industrial workforce” (Bremner 232). Many times without these children working some of these factories would not have survived through the revolution.

Children most of the time worked in mines, glass factories, textiles, canaries, and home industries. A lot of these industries are filled with dangers that can easily kill them. In this quote “Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay” (Child labor in factories). A good number of these kids were harassed and mistreated by the factory bosses. If children didn’t arrive on time to work, they would have to be punished by the factory bosses. The punishment was that the children would have to sprint up and down the factory aisle until they were completely drained out of energy and they had to do this nude carrying a backpack full of heavy objects. This caused a lot of children to develop

They had worked long hours for ridiculous wages. Were unable to enjoy their childhood due to labour. Most importantly many children died while working in the industrial revolution. With bigger, more powerful machines, the danger of labour was increased that much more. The amount of deaths, and injuries of the youth in the workforce lead to child labour laws.

The Industrial Revolution changed the roles and lives of children of the working class. For many centuries before the Industrial Revolution, children still had to work along with their poor and working class families. Farm children tended the animals or planted seeds, pulled weeds, and harvested ripe crops in fields. Boys took care of cattle and sheep while girls milked the cows and fed the chickens. Some children who labored at home became apprentices. As apprentices, they stayed and worked with their master in a workshop, earning training in a specific trade instead of wages. Most of these children could start their own business by the age of twenty-one since they had become highly skilled masters of that trade. (Tuttle)

The Industrial Revolution, beginning in the year 1750 and ending in 1914, was a time of ground-breaking changes for many technological advancements in the 18th century. The revolution changed the way food, clothing and other necessities were produced, therefore prompting a catalyst to other technological developments that the rest of the world would soon follow. One of the many advancements that contributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution was the establishment of factories. However, during the early years of the revolution, more than two-thirds of employees in factories were children who were subjected to work for long hours doing hard labour to receive minimal pay for their families. There are many historical records reporting

Children have been exploited as servants and apprentices throughout most of history. But child labor hit new extremes during the Industrial Revolution. They worked long hours in dangerous factories for very little money. Child labor was useful because of childrens sizes they were able to move through small places in factories or mines that adults could not fit in. Children often worked to support their families. In the 19th century reformers sought to restrict child labor. During the Great Depression, Americans wanted jobs to go to adults instead of children. In colonial times child labor was not subject to controversy it was part of the agricultural economy. Children worked on their family farms but were also hired on other farms.

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 boys had to work in the coalmines and the girls had to work in the cotton mills.

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