Children Prior To The Industrial Revolution

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Prior to the Industrial Revolution, children were used for labor at home and occasionally in the town doing menial tasks to help benefit the family. As more production plants, cities, and the cost of living began to rise, so did the use of children in the mainstream labor force. Many children were doing jobs that were dangerous for adults or were just not designed to be done by children. Injure and fatigue was common, but many families, mainly in urban areas, needed the income. Immigrants needed the money more than most, and many young migrant children, especially girls, worked for textile companies. These young women worked at least 8 hours without breaks and often with ill-manned foremen who would abuse their power. Eventually, workers’

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