The Industrial Age, appearing ingenious and uncannily beneficial in the long run, bore times of terror across a span of a couple hundred years. Though many don’t realize, industrialization still flourishes among society in present day, only more humanely. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s an industrial life came about excruciatingly slow moving, sustaining a prolonged amount of laborious struggle among urbanized families. In modern day we view the effects positively, but to live in the hardships ensued during this time was nothing something one would wish upon themselves to experience. Industrialization proves significantly more negative to the community for women and children were prominently disregarded, housing and cities lacked sanitary precautions, …show more content…
As a matter of fact, a young girl from the textile mills states, “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1). It was more desirable to hire women and children for they were less to pay for the equal amount of work a grown man could accomplish. These children had no say in this injustice for some groups were often locked in the room as to eliminate the chance of them escaping. Additionally, another particular girl who testified for the labor she experienced in the flax mills confided, “C: What were your hours of labour in that mill? B: From 5 in the morning till 9 at night, when they were thronged” (Document 7). Not only were children forced to work if they hoped to support their feebly existent families, but to exert themselves for as long as the sun hung in the sky. Under such demanding circumstances, many were deprived of any education as well as a normal childhood. Similarly, as depicted in this poem, “[Before] dawn my labor drives me forth ‘Tis night when I am free; A stranger I am to my child; And he one to me” (Document 2). Mothers are rarely exposed to leisure time spent with their family which forms a barrier between relationships. Not only are women expected to work long hours, but to tend to the cleaning and order of the cramped tenements the poor called home. The housing was indeed crowded as …show more content…
According to this child labor testimony, “C: It is very common to have weak ankles and crooked knees? B: Yes, very common indeed. C: This is brought on by stopping the spindle? B: Yes” (Document 7). Throughout the Industrial Revolution, child labor was without question to the employers of blossoming corporations and having health issues so young was frequent. This exemplifies how scarce the safety precautions were and how vulnerable children were in the work area. In addition, “C: And what time did it come on? B: I was about 13 years old when it began coming, and it has got worse since; it is five years since my mother died, and my mother was never able to get me a good pair of stays to hold me up, and when my mother died I had to do for myself, and got me a pair” (Document 7). In such disastrous scenarios such as this one, children sometimes had to fend for themselves if their guardian was injured or deceased. This goes hand in hand with the actuality that if one was wounded so much that they were unable to carry on, their jobs were at risk. Correspondingly, “C: Where are you now? B: In the poorhouse” (Document 7). No doubt, this girl found herself at many deep losses in her well-being, family, and occupation. Company investors and job employers were insensitive and merciless when it came to the potential loss of employees induced by the company’s equipment.
At this time in history, there were “two million children under the age of sixteen” working to provide for their families, and some kids beginning labor at the tender ages of “six and seven years (in the cotton
The age range of the women workers were from age fifteen to age twenty-four and very few male workers worked in this factory. The reasoning for these women workers to work long, hard hours helped them by “sending brothers to high school, to art school, to dental college, to engineering courses” (p. 96). Most of the work was as simple as “cutting threads, which can be done by an unpracticed girl of fourteen” (p. 44). Despite the harsh conditions of this factory, they only paid their workers six dollars a week and extra money could be made if they worked the whole week. These workers would hunch over hefty and risky sewing machines that only worked by foot pedaling.
The women would had experienced anything from sexual harassment, rubbed up against or felt on, to being locked into a room until they had finished their shift . Often the bosses would refer to the young preteen or teenage girls as the “working girls” . The working conditions of the women and young children could only be described as slave conditions, one worker described her experience while working for the Triangle Waist Company, “[w]e were like slaves,’ complained one women. ‘You couldn’t pick your head up. You couldn’t talk.
They got short breaks 15 minutes for breakfast and another 15 for lunch and only 10 minutes for a break. On busy days the workers would be kept till 10 pm. These crazy work time compared to today (8-12 hours) is for sure a long time to have to work. Continuing on, women were trapped in the factories. In Document E it shows a contract that parents might fill out to send their
In William Cooper’s testimony before the Sadler Committee, he stated that the workers began working at a very early age with long hours, rare meals, punishments and beatings, and the workers had no time for day school, so most factory workers were uneducated. “[I began working in the mills] when I was ten years of age . . .we began at five in the morning and stopped at nine in the night . . .we had just one period of forty minutes [for meals] . . .we were frequently strapped,” (Document 1).
While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily negative consequences for society because of the dangerous working conditions with no compensation for injury, it was actually a positive thing for society. Industrialization’s positive effects were that there were more jobs, child labor laws were created, and there was better transportation. The first thing was that more jobs were introduced. This made it easier for people to provide for their family, and although everyone had to work, they were all able to get a job so they could work.
Child Labor Analysis Child Labor was one of Florence Kelley’s main topics at a speech she gave in Philadelphia during a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Kelley talks about all the horrors children were going through and the injustices they were suffering. She talks of the conditions children working in, the hours they were going in, and all in all, how wrong child labor was. Her purpose for this was to gain support of people to petition for the end of child labor. Kelley’s appeals to Ethos, Pathos and Logos through the use of great rhetoric is what allows her to achieve her purpose.
Although many historians believe that there was a negative impact of industrialization and technological changes on American society; however, the positive impact of the two factors overpowers the negative impact on American society economically and socially between the time period of 1900 to 1930. Economically, there were positive impacts on American society due to the industrialization and technological changes that the nation was undergoing. In Theodore Roosevelt’s “The New Nationalism” 1910, he points out that no man in American society can be a good citizen because of the wage he makes that isn't ample enough to cover the bare cost of living, and the hours of labor are too long which doesn't give him energy and time to bear his share
The Progressive Era The Progressive Era was a period of time that ranged from 1890 to 1920. During this time many reforms were made in local areas, state and federal levels. Using evidence, the Progressive area proves to be limited given the overall affects of segregation, racism, child labor and the Electoral College and careless employers. The successful components of the era are commerce laws and women’s rights and Chosen Representation.
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.
As the rate of industrialization in America grew during the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, child labor became more and more common. The rapid growth of the economy and the vast amounts of poor immigrants during the Industrial Age in America justified the work of children as young as the age of three. By 1900, over two million children were employed. However, the risks of involving child labor greatly outweighed the positives; child labor was inhumane, cruel, and caused physical deformities among children. Children typically worked in coal mines, mills, and factories which contained many life-threatening hazards.
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. The greatest aspect of industrialization was that the kids and adults had good surroundings. “Of these there are 500 children who are entirely fed, clothed, and educated by Mr.Dale” (Document 6). The quote is evidence that shows the kids were well cared for.
In Florence Kelley’s speech, through her use of parallel structure and detailed description to describe the conditions of child labor, anecdotes that relay its prominence, appeals to emotion and motherhood, she conveys an effective message that child labor is unjust. Kelley illustrates a sweaty, brutal environment in which children are responsible for the production of many items that people use daily. According to Kelley, “Under the sweating system, tiny children make artificial flowers and neckwear for us to buy.” Words like “tiny children” and “sweating system” describe an environment that no one will feel comfortable in.
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 the late 1700 's and early 1800 's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for making most manufactured items. Many of America 's factories needed a numerous amount of workers for a cheap salary. Because of this, the amount of child laborers have been growing rapidly over the early 1800s.
Child labor was a great concern in the Industrial revolution but very few people did something to stop it. Women and Children were forced to work more than 10 hours a day with only forty minutes to have lunch. Elizabeth Bentley once said that they didn’t have any time to have breakfast or drink anything during the day. They worked standing up and if they didn’t do their work on time they were strapped (whipped). Children were treating like they were not important, like they didn’t deserve a better life.