Childhood Lost: Child Labor During The Industrial...

“Factories employing children were often very dangerous places leading to injuries and even deaths. Machinery often ran so quickly that little fingers, arms and legs could easily get caught. Beyond the equipment, the environment was a threat to children as well as factories putting out fumes and toxins¨ (“Childhood Lost - Child Labor During the Industrial Revolution.” ). Children were often involved in the hard labor of the Industrial Revolution, causing many deaths and injuries (compound). From the years of 1876 to 1900, the ¨Rise of Industrial America¨ began, shortly after the Civil War, which had encouraged the use of new machinery. However, this Industrialism Era provided many dangerous workplaces that not only adults worked in, but also …show more content…
Children as young as six years old worked up to nineteen hours a day with a one hour break (“Child labor in factories”). During this period in time, young children were allowed to work long hours. These hours were spent in a factory that harbored heavy, dangerous equipment that often resulted in children being injured or killed. A man named Charles Aberdeen would often go to these factories and just watch, this was in one of the reports he made “The smallest child in the factories were scavengers…...they go under the machine, while it is going……...it is very dangerous when they first come, but they become used to it” (C N Trueman). This proves that children worked in dangerous conditions, no matter how young they were. Children usually began working at the age of six, and parents would sometimes force their children to work to bring in extra money. But some children worked for no money, especially orphans, these children worked the hardest and often lived in the factories. Factory owners often justified this by saying that they didn’t need a payroll, as they were being paid with shelter, clothing, and food; although, they were given very little of anything promised (“Child labor in factories”). Although it was cruel, it would take many years until child labor laws were placed. Children labor continued to rise, and by 1900 almost one million seven hundred children under the age of sixteen were working in …show more content…
There were three main groups of people that encouraged this, parents, factory owners, and the government. During this era parents needed more money, as they didn’t earn much themselves, so they would send their children to work. This would often promote more parents to send their children to work at factories with them, giving them not only family time, but more money. The next group is the factory owners themselves, to make more income they would make their workers work long hours with little pay, which produced more goods, creating a bigger income for the factory owner. Finally, the government, they encouraged parents sending their children to work, as they were not allowed to be home alone. This was only an excuse, as sending their children to work would only produce more goods, which made more money for the government from the sale of goods. Child labor was the main issue that was being promoted, by including them in factory work it gave those around them benefits. Benefits such as higher weekly pay for families, more income from goods for the factory owners, and more money for America

Show More

Childhood Lost: Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution

How Did The Industrial Revolution Change America

Essay on industrial revolution

Essay about Child Labor

Child Labor Essay

Lecture 5 Essay

second sex Essay

Managing Information Technology (7th Edition) Essay