Children During The Industrial Revolution

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.

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.

In the 1800s the Industrial Revolution created new jobs for millions of people including children. Many children during the Industrial Revolution were employed in manufacturing and mining. One of the most widely recognized jobs for children was as a “Newsie” or “Newsboy”. This job was held by young children, usually boys, while girls usually worked in mills that produced textiles and paper products. Many newsies had families and homes, and were children who went to school in the day and sold papers in the evening and on weekends to support their families. Many times orphaned, there were as many as 10,000 homeless newsies wandering the streets of New York in the 1899. Some Newsies called “Street Waifs” or children who had been orphaned, homeless,

At this time children started working at a young age. The necessity of supporting their families, which caused child labor, forced children to start working at a very young age. In rural America, it was such a common practice for children to start working on farms at such a young age, that they picked up the trade before they became teenagers. According to Rosenberg, “by the age of ten, the farm boy began to acquire a workmen's identity of his own. He was capable

One of the many reasons why Industrialization is a negative impact on society is that it caused child labor. Child workers vary from ages 5-17.Child labor is when child work for money to support their family. There were not a lot of different types of jobs for child, but some of the job opportunities were coal miners, factory workers, and

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.

It is clear to see that in the picture of child labor, from document #10, that children were unhappy. They were also unsafe because of the harsh working conditions. These places are dangerous for adults and even more dangerous for kids. According to The Apostate, by Jack London, he started work before the age of 10. Jack said, “I started working when I was younger than him.” He was talking about his 10-year old brother. Imagine kids younger than 10 working in factories.

While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of better transportation, better housing conditions, less disease, electricity, and new better products, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were child labor, many deaths, diseases, missing limbs from machines, the machines were not designed for kids to work with, dynamite or explosive warfare, big business cartels, deformations, corrupt businesses, less family time, pollution, and poor working conditions.

One reason why the Industrial Revolution had a negative impact on the world is because it started child labor. Child labor is when businesses and industries take kids from any age and make them work in dangerous and inhumane places. In the document from a British industrial worker, the Sadler Committee in 1832 investigated the workers’ conditions in British factories. It says, “ ‘... When did you first begin to work in the mills? When I was ten years of age … we began at five in the morning and stopped at nine at night … at times we were frequently strapped [whipped].’ ”. This statement from the document shows a negative impact in the Industrial Revolution because kids at young age are sent to work for long hours and are frequently whipped.

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 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.

“The demand for labor grew, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries many children were drawn into the labor force. Factory wages were so low that children often had to work to help support their families. However, child laborers rarely experienced their youth” (National Archives). Child labor was a “normal” thing to many people

Children were working to have an income to help support their families during this era. They worked in factories, coal mines, and on farms. The factories that they worked in often worked the children as vigorously as the adults. They were not allowed breaks and worked over 69 hours per week (Source 3). “The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy” by Frances Milton Trollope, illustrated these conditions. A child’s death from working was the most common way to die in this century (Source 1).

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

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.