England was a society dominated by children. During the reign of Queen Victoria one out of three of

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

In the documentary “The Children Who Built Victorian Britain” by BBC, talks about the children of the industrial revolution, it shows the jobs they had, where these children came from, their motivation and the progression of laws against child labor. Before the industrial revolution people used to manufactures their goods in their homes using simple machines, but in the late 1700’s this shifted drastically in Britain. They started to implement new ideas of modernization using industries to manufacture goods at a larger scale. The steam engine, iron and textile industries were one of the many industries that played a key role to improve economy, transportation and living conditions in the late 1700’s. Without the industrial revolution we wouldn’t have the technology that we have nowadays, but the industrial revolution also brought a dark chapter for history, the exploitation of children.

During the industrial revolution in Britain, the usage of child labourers dramatically increased as it became a cheap and easy form of labour. This lead to the continued abuse of many children in textile factories. In 1833, the Factory Act of 1833 was put forth which dictated that no children under the age of nine would work. Children ages nine to thirteen wouldn’t work more than nine hours a day and children ages thirteen to eighteen wouldn’t work more than twelve hours a day. In addition it introduced the circulation of four factory inspectors who were to enforce the new legislation. They were to certify whether children had received their compulsory education of two hours each day and report conditions to the government. This act brought forth attention and sparked debates from the public which made stronger note of the working conditions for children.

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.

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.

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

In 1815, the British Parliament sent out researchers to interview child workers and learn more about factory conditions. Factory owners often preferred to hire women and children because men expected higher wages. Children were hire to work in Great Britain’s coalmines. There was soon some reforms for child workers and a proposed law to limit their workday to 10 hours. In the end, there were connections among child labor, factory conditions, and attitudes about capitalism, reactions to capitalism and the rise of labor movements.

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 working conditions of the average laborer during the industrial revolution were oftentimes harsh and dangerous as seen in documents in 1,2,3 and 5. According to the Sadler Committee of 1832, men were forced to work excessively long hours and were whipped to stay awake. (Doc. 1) Additionally, the Sadler Committee revealed that many workers have suffered from infections, disease and muscle problems. (Doc. 2) This shows that industrial factory owners oftentimes exploited their laborers for profit. Andrew Ure’s The Philosophy of Manufactures reveals that children in the factory

During the 19th century children from ages of 3 onwards were forced into employment, mainly to work in factories. Child labour was extremely popular and played a big part of Britain’s economic success. Adults seemed to

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

“The Cry of the Children” and stories, poems and other works were a direct response to the lack of standardized child labor laws and, or the enforcement of existing laws and regulations related to this issue to protect the safety and welfare of child laborers. Although the English Parliament passed the Chimney Sweepers Act in 1788, it wasn’t until the Factories Regulation Act of 1833 that finally sparked a significant point in taking this issue seriously. From the late eighteenth century the employment of children in mines and factories neglected child workers safety and the conditions of employment would be strongly debated for many years after. In 1833, the Report on the Employment of Children in Factories had led to the Factory Act of 1833

During the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, there was great wealth and also great poverty. Most middle class children worked in factories and mills; factory owners employed children as they didn’t complain and were also cheap to pay. During Victorian Britain, there were no laws to protect children from work. Lord Shaftesbury argued in parliament for laws to be changed; inspectors went into factories to find out what they were really like, this resulted in three laws to be passed. These were 1841 Mines Act, 1847 Ten Hour Act and 1874 Factory Act. By 1874 no child under ten would be employed in factories. (www.bbc.co.uk) In 1870, the government passed a law, drafted

England was transforming, from an agrarian to an industrialised nation. As a result, people were flocking from the country to the towns in the hope of finding work in new factories. Subsequently a large number of workers in need of a job led to a decline in wages. Sadly, even children were not spared. There were many poor families who had to send their children to work and help financially toward family budget. Moreover, the conditions in which children usually worked were dreadful and dangerous, because since they were tinier they could manoeuvre more easily in narrow spaces. On the other hand, there was a strict code of conduct which included dignity, charity work, philanthropy, strong social ethics, sexual restraint and (outward) prudishness and yet, all this