Child Labor In The 1800s

Child labor is the use of children in industry or business, especially when illegal or considered inhumane. Child labor has been an ongoing problem for many years all around the world. Many people have taken a stand to fight against the devastating problem of child labor. Florence Kelley was a successful fighter, as she fought for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. To deliver a message over a strong topic such as child labor, a sense of strength, intelligence, and passion is needed, and Kelley truly had it throughout her message connecting with her audience.

The court case of Hammer v. Dagenhart is a extremely crucial case over child labor laws and child labor in general. A brief syllabus of the case is that children were working long hours in factories in the early 1900s which were causing health issues for them and just the simple fact that is was these were not fit for children to be operating. Some of the places/worksites that had child labor included mills, factories, industrial workshops and other similar to those with tedious work that adults wouldn't do for the pay they were offering. This took place just prior to the Great Depression and already money was hard to come by. Therefore many of these kids were just trying to support their families and help out with what they could.

In 1904 Harsh national campaign for federal child labor law reform began, they had set a national minimum wage for the first time, a maximum number of hours for workers and placed limitations on child labor, children under sixteen years of age were prohibited in manufacturing and mining.

Children were put in situation where they had to choose between school and work. Most times the choice was work because they had to support their family. Child laborer took advantage of this. They hired children from about ages four to fourteen to work in factories or on the farm. The children worked long hours with minimal breaks.

While child labor is perceived to have a dark and unsafe past, it used to play an important part in the US economy. The role that children played in the workforce during the 19th century focused on manual labor. “Through the first half of the 1800s, child labor was an essential part of the agricultural and handicraft economy of the United States. Children worked on family farms and as indentured servants for others. To learn a trade, boys often began their apprenticeships between the ages of ten and fourteen” (History.com).

Companies employed children to work in worse environments than adults. Companies did this because Children were less likely to fight back and got paid much less than adults. Many of the underage children working did not go to school, which created a cycle of poverty. Their working conditions were so harsh that in 1902-1915 progressive child labor reformers sought to fight back. With the help of the progressive child labor reformers, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Keating-Owen Act banning articles produced by child labor from being sold in interstate commerce.

Child Labor was a huge flaw in the American system before the Progressive Era. Children were unskilled, but they could use their puny hands to reach in and under machinery. This became a problem, because fingers and sometimes limbs were lost. First, the National Child Labor Committee was formed to watch over the children. In 1916, the Keating-Owen Act was passed that made any good made by a child illegal to be transported out of state.

In addition, an 1836 National Trades’ Union convention was the first body to call upon minimum age for factory workers and the minimum age was an encounter to create a better environment in child labor controversies. Later, starting from Massachusetts in 1842 limited the workday hours for children under age 12 to 10 hours, and other state acted applied the similar law with the criteria of underage. By the end of the 1840s, Every New England state had a child labor law. Although the problems and bill occurred in the 19th century, there had been more inside conflicts happened related to the Child Labor. As a result, the 1906 year was the historical year in the fight against Child Labor and same year federal child labor bill was introduced in

Although child labor laws were put in place in the U.S. many years ago we can still find it in the seams of our country. According to Semuels, The Occupational Health and Safety Administration received 19 child-labor complaints and found 467 child-labor violations in 2010. (par. 18) In addition, these children work in construction sites, farms, or other places that require hard physical labor.

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 Labour was not an establishment formed from The Industrial Revolution, but rather industrialization that expanded the demand for labour. Oxfords’ Professor Jane Humphries says that estimated by early 19th century England had more than 1 million child workers, 350,00 were 7 to 10 year olds and made up 15% of the total labour force. Each have experienced such traumatic involvement and hardships. Charles Aberdeen shared his experience when he worked in the Manchester Cotton Factory in 1882.

In the small towns they at least worked for their families but in the city the worked harder, in harsher conditions and for a huge company. This resulted in more hours of work and more sickness because of how hard they worked. Child labor is still present today. More than 59,600 of the workers in the U.S.A are under 14 and many other countries have it worst. We can see how child labor was present in the industrial revolution, but we can also see how it is still present today.

Child labour laws seek to force certain standards to ensure the vulnerability of children in such matters are not forced into inappropriate working situations. And most of them are living under the unfortunate conditions where it forces them to work in some way just to survive. The basic rights of children are taken from them, they never experienced formal education, they did not have time to play with their peers and to

Child labor has been a major issue since the Industrial Revolution, which has led to Child Abuse such as human trafficking, rape, and prostitution. Also, child labor leaves children to experience no childhood, preventing them from education, sports, and extracurricular activities.

There are many reasons that cause child labor: Poverty and unemployment levels are high – As you see, the most of employed children work in less developed countries by economy. In such countries poor families and children may rely upon child labor in order to improve their chances of attaining basic necessities. According to U.N statistics more than one-fourth of the people around the world live in poverty that is caused by the high unemployment levels. Free education is limited – U.N estimated that approximately 75 million children were not attending school. The education for the whole world’s children costs 10-30 Billion dollars that is 0.7% - 2% of the annual cost of global military spending.