Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution Essay

The nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in Europe marked a major turning point in European industry and production. Factories became the main source of production of goods, as a focus on agriculture decreased. Women began to work outside the home, performing the tasks they had done at home in the past now in factories, often under poor conditions for little pay. Women’s experiences in the factories of the Industrial Revolution served as a definite indication of a shift in European gender roles, through women’s transition from agriculture-related employment to working in factories, and the little pay they received, although men still expected women to care for the children and the home, as per the stereotypical gender standards of the time.

Between two wars The Civil War and World War I was called the Glided Age. The Gilded Age grew a accelerated industrialization of factory based steel mills, also a country based on railroad for transporation,blooming cities and in science. The Gilded Age also grew in social chage and economic growth, creating new opportunites for entrpreners. The effects of the industrialization on American 's were work labor which lead to the orgin of The Kinghts of Labor. In addition with such the rising of industrial the citites grew which lead to immigiration and also the creation of the hull house.

Tuttle,Carolyn. Edited: Robert Whaples “ Child labor during the British industrial revolution.” .EH.Net Encyclopedia. August 14, 2001.

The Industrial Revolution was an important event in history. It brought about many positives during its time. For instance, kids were well fed, educated, and clothed. There were plenty of negatives, as well. One very sad example was the machine injuries that happened to both children and adults. The Industrial Revolution was a horrific time in the 1700s by the fact that it caused bad pollution and children would be worn out at the end of their work day.

During the years 1880-1920 there were many issues because of urbanization and industrialization. The industrial revolution brought many new job opportunities with low wages making companies focus on women and children. These opportunities were available but at a cost, they were paid less and they were forced to work up to ten hours. The industrial giants made labor a tough and unfair lifestyle. They wanted more riches, but they were making people suffer in order to obtain the money. The progressives wanted to help relieve all these problems through a philosophy called progressivism. They managed to achieve some of their aims but not all of them.

Businessmen and factory owners could hire children because they could pay them less than women, which women got paid even less than men. On average, the children would be paid about a dime for a ten to fifteen hour long day. These children were working with heavy, steel machines, making their jobs so dangerous that they would lose fingers, toes, limbs, or even their lives. Also, little education is seen “In the urban tenement picture from Encarta Online Encyclopedia, where the children are not at school. This could mean it is a weekend, but the ration is slim. The laundry hanging shows it was definitely during the day, so it was around the time school would be in”(Document 6). Children like those in the photo were missing out on an education that could broaden their thinking and make them suitable for a career. Instead of raising up businessmen and women, doctors, or inventors, children who only cared about work and providing were produced. These robots of children only thought about working hard and not giving up, not about opening their minds to knowledge. So really, this means that the Industrial Revolution produced

Factories were dimly lit and hardly clean, the machines would injure workers in countless ways with no laws to help the injured. The mines would send workers home with black lungs, from inhaling coal dust. The working space in mines were cramped tunnels where adult men could barely fit, which led to smaller people, otherwise known as children, being hired. As a direct cause, women and children have especially faced the worst of the Industrial Revolution, as it was seen as acceptable to pay them less and they typically had smaller hands and bodies to work the machines and fit in coal mines. For example, in Document 5 a six year old girl testifies and states, "...I carry a full 56 lbs. of coal in a wooden bucket. I work with sister Jesse and mother. It is dark the time we go." In that testimony, it is shown that a 6 year old little girl is forced to carry 56 lbs. of coal by means of a rope and chain. Another two girls, aged 11 and 12, say “We leave the house before six each morning and are in the level until seven o'clock and sometimes later. We get 2p a day and our light costs us 2 1/2 p. a week.” From these two examples alone, it can be seen that young children are being overworked and underpaid. In Document 6, there is an image picturing two young children working huge machines in a factory. The children are both barefoot and wearing loose clothing that can, and

Children in the 18th century worked many different jobs. Some of the jobs required lifting heavy materials or items, such as bricks. Other jobs required very little lifting, but still asked children to complete hard work by today’s standards. Despite the tasks, there were many reasons why these children working was dangerous. While working, children were abused and some even lost their futures. Labor in the Industrial Revolution was dangerous for children because the children were abused by employers and overlookers, they were deprived of their childhood, and injuries were very common.

Child labor during the 18th and 19th century did not only rapidly develop an industrial revolution, but it also created a situation of difficulty and abuse by depriving children of edjucation, good physical health, and the proper emotional wellness and stability.

In early times, children were seen as property of their fathers. During the Industrial Revolution from about 1760 to 1840, children were part of the labor force. Indentured servants, including children, made up an important part of the labor force when the North American colonies were first formed. Their small bodies were just the right size to fix machinery or work in small spaces such as mine shafts of chimneys. Safety was not a primary consideration. It wasn’t until the Great Depression and the competition between adults and children for the job, that the labor laws were amended to exclude children. In 1938, congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, prohibited children under 14 to work. (scholastic.com)

Regarding politics, the Industrial Revolution greatly impacted the world by establishing child labor laws and supporting imperialism. At the start of the Industrial Revolution, children as young as six years old were working in factories. Conditions were exceedingly harsh; they worked very long hours around extremely dangerous machinery at a premature age (Doc 4b, Byerly). Do to the lack of child labor laws, children were put at high risks of growth defects and their fingers being dismembered by machines. Because of these conditions, the first child labor law was enacted in 1819. The Factory Act of 1833 made it illegal to hire children under the age of 9, and children at ages 10 through 12 could work for the maximum of eight hours. For this

The Industrial Revolution brought awful working conditions to those who worked in factories and elsewhere. Working conditions for adults and kids were drudgery. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) People were expected to do hard work each day no less. If there was a break it was limited, people were not treated fairly. Breaks were ideally rare in majority of the jobs.“What time was allowed for meals? Forty minutes at noon” (Document 7). Lunch was truly the only meal which isn't enough food to have people functioning for the rest of the nine hours left that they were required to work. Since there was little pay there was little for lunch so the food that was given was not enough.

Did you know that during the Industrial Revolution children were forced to work in factories, and were being paid very little money? I do not think that it is right to make a child work and not get to have an education. In the article “Child Labor” it talks about child labor and how it has changed over the years.

The tremendous increase of child labor in the U.S occurred in the late 1700s and early 1800s. While child labor in the U.S has always existed it was usually in family business or agriculture, but during the Industrial Revolution, child labor reached its extreme due to new innovations and ideas. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution brought, urbanization, factories, jobs, more immigrants, and it replaced hand labor for making manufacture items. Children from poor families had to go and work to support their families because that was the only way they can survive. Also, children provided cheap labor that benefited factory owners during that time.Children went to work in harsh and dangerous conditions, leaving their education behind so they and their families can be able to survive.

Child labour has been prevalent in societies throughout most of human history however it reached new heights during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and United States of America during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.