Essay about Poor Law

Now, however, child law has been outlawed in a series of Acts of Parliament starting in 1833 with the Factories Act, which required compulsory schooling and the cleanliness of the workplace. Fourteen years later the Ten Hour Act was passed, limiting the number of hours worked by thirteen to eighteen year olds to ten hours a day. Moreover, Murdock’s definition is also criticised, as it is argued that children can be reared and socialised effectively in lone parent families and many would argue that single sex couples also can rear and socialise children effectively although others would dispute this.

Luckily, the conflict was altogether solved when in 1833; Anthony Ashley Cooper took up the cause of factory reform and passed the Factory Act. This made it illegal to employ children under the age of nine, and set a maximum eight-hour day for children between the ages of nine and thirteen. Once this act (along other acts controlling urbanization conditions) was in place, burdens of the Industrial Revolution were not to be seen, and only benefit appears coming out from this revolutionary time period into the modern world.

Child labor was a big deal and parents have to worry about their child not starving. The food use to be sitting out. If you would it; you would most likely become sick. The kids didn’t get any free time because they were working Child labor law was passed so that only a limited age can work. They would also low pay them for working. In the article (A History Of Child Labor) it states “In the United States it took many years to outlaw child labor. By 1899, 28 states had passed laws regulating child labor. Many efforts were made to pass national child labor law. The U.S. Congress passed two laws, in 1918 and 1922, but the supreme Court declared both unconstitutional. In 1924, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting child labor, but the states did not ratify it.” Children coming home late is a problems because the crimes in the city.

The Poor Law The Poor Law was a system established since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, about two hundred years before the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. In this system the able-bodied poor should be set to work, whilst the others had to be provided for by their parish of birth. By 1795 when the whole system was under strain, an attempted solution was the Speenhamland system also know as the allowance system that was devised in 1795.

In 1900, children as young as nine years old were once expected to work sixteen hours a day in harsh conditions. They were useful because of their small size and the owners being able to pay low wages. Child labor laws exist because brave men, women, and children fought for these rights. The conditions of the children’s working environment caused Lewis Hine and the newsies to act upon it.

Different attitudes to social welfare reforms from the 19th century onwards depended on what lifestyle a person was living in. If a person was wealthy, they enjoyed an easy life. However, on the other hand, if the person was poor then that would make their life harder and difficult to live. Any able-bodied poor person able to work did not receive help from the authorities. They only entered the workhouse because they were desperate. People within the workhouses lived in terrible conditions, overcrowded, poor hygiene. Another name given to the workhouse was ‘’the slums’’ (Tom, 2016). Strict rules were put into place. If rules were broken severe punishment would follow. Inmates of the workhouse were treated harshly. They all worked long hours

The working conditions and working rights in the late 1800s and early 1900s were lacking and required some help to make more humane. Before any of the laws that helped reform our nation, working in mines or factories was dangerous and not worth the effort. Secondly, the hours were unethical, as workers sometimes had to toil away for 12 hours, seven days a week with a one day break every two weeks. Workers who were fighting for their rights were not alone, as there were some people who also believed morality was more important at the moment. The changes made were for the better and made the world of hard labor a better place. Thankfully, these rules were not ever taken away and people now live to know that they will earn the money and rights that they deserve.

In this time period, there were many problems in factories. Young children worked long hours in harsh conditions, factories were unsafe and underpaid their workers, and several goods were sold even though they were of bad quality. Document B highlights the horrors of meat factories. It claims that these factories payed no attention to sanitation and produced its products with no regard to quality. Articles such as this one brought attention to these problems and ultimately led to the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which ensured quality and sanitation. Document C brings child labor into question. It states that children working in factories lose their innocence and do not have the chance to be happy. This lead to several laws about child labor being passed but these laws were soon brought into question in the Hammer vs. Dagenhart trial. In Document G, a father challenges this law by stating that Congress has overstepped its boundaries by limiting the exchange of goods made with child labor. This trial eventually sided with the father and removed laws against child labor. Though there was one economic reform that was not permanently fixed, the Progressive Movement was still successful in bringing about major

Millions of people struggled to remain afloat yet had the strength to advocate for the protection of basic freedoms which was and continues to undoubtedly be the purpose of a nation’s government. The lack of regulation allowed for the expansion of factories, and this created a disregard for adequate housing. Families working in the factories usually could not afford proper housing, and looked for cheaper alternatives such as urban slums (Document #3). Slums were found close to factories, increasing the risk of airborne diseases for families and potential workers. The work-day was also unfair in terms of working 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

This was a little bit on the extreme, children who operated in factories work 12-14 hours with 1 hour break. Not only were these children subject to long hours, but also, they were in horrible conditions. Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for children to be using or working near. Many accidents occurred injuring or killing children on the job. Not until Florence Kelly helped win the passage of the Illinois Factory Act in 1893. The law prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours. The law became a model for other

From the years 1830-1870 the amount of factory reform passed by the government was revolutionary. Popular reform was mainly headed by prominent philanthropist mill owners and members of the Tory Party. This reform was partly motivated by public pressure, since the enfranchisement of men meant that they had more of a political voice. However, another factor that needs to be considered is the impact of changing ideals of politicians and other influential figures when instigating factory reform. Popular agitation also had a huge influence on factory reform.

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.

In 1834 the Poor Law act amendment was made whereby the poor were to follow the new order discipline. Workhouse conditions were reduced to be worse than the lowest paid jobs to discourage requests for help. Regardless of these conditions numbers within workhouses more than doubled by 1843 (Kirby et al., 2000).

Allow children between the ages of 12-15 to work 3 hours a day. They must go to school during the week.