In the 1750’s the Industrial Revolution changed the way goods were produced and how people lived their lives. The Industrial Revolution started to bring more jobs for people, but being that it was so new at the end of the 18th century there were no laws or regulations that allowed children to work in dangerous conditions such as coal mines and factories. The working conditions were horrible and the days were long. Children were being killed from machinery and toxic fumes. During this time Free-Market Capitalism was going on and only the wealthy people could vote. From these terrible work conditions it leads to the Combination Act’s, Urbanization and England to rise. The civilizations were being moved closer to the factories so the workers would be closer. In a way the workers owed everything to their boss. The Industrial Revolution also led to the development of Socialism. The Industrial Revolution was a great turning point in the history of man-kind; it had positive and negative aspects. It led humanity to great technological advancements and also great losses. This revolution changed world history dramatically forever. Starting with no laws or regulations on working conditions, new industries would hire 7-8 year old children boys and girls and send then out into the coal mines and factories. Little boys were used more for the coal mines because they were small and their hands were small enough to work in that …show more content…
This was happening because all the new industries that were opening up and workers were moving into the poorhouses and closer to the work place. The big changing point in the industrial revolution was child labor. Children were heavily employed in the workplace. They were paid 1/10th of what a working man would be paid. Doctor Turner Thackrah started to observe the children that would be leaving the cotton mill’s very ill looking, pale and sickly. Observations of these kinds
In the agricultural industry the children would harvest crops and sewing. If the children were working in the mining industry it was very dangerous. The conditions were very poor, it was very dirty and not pleasant. The boys were called “Breaker Boys” they broke down raw coal into different pieces for certain furnaces. The coal bearers would carry coal on their shoulders, and the smallest children worked as trappers, they would open trap doors in the mines to move the coal. As for the manufacturing industry, the children would work in dark and dirty conditions. They worked around sharp tools and and machines, which caused a lot of injuries to them.
The labor conditions that children faced were very demanding for a human being from such a small age. For example “In the Manayunk district of Philadelphia, children as young as seven assisted in spinning and weaving of cotton and woolen goods” (Wolensky 2). The children working in the factories had their childhood freedom taken away from them. “In 1830 in a sample of 43 Manchester mills, 22.3% of the workforce was under 14 and 32.4% under 16” (Cunningham 412). This means that about 50% of the workforce in the mills were made up of children under the age of 16 and in today in the United States, a person cannot work until the age of 16. “And it is a hard thing for small children to be confined in a tight close room all day long. It affects their growth, makes them pale and sickly” (Nason). The time these children spent in the factories prevented them from spending time with their neighbors, friends, and family. The fact that young children had to work in these textile mills, created changes to American culture on how childhood years are supposed to be spent.
The Industrial Revolution was an important time in the United States, but it costed many children to sacrifice their childhood. With the booming industries
Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.
The factories could kill them or give minor injuries. On top of all of this the children are barely making any money and work longer than grown men at times. Another place children were put into labor were in mines, and according to historylearningsite.com, “In one unnamed coal mine, 58 deaths out of a total of 349 deaths in one year, involved children thirteen years or younger.” In most coal mines children pushed carts full of coal or made sure coal did not pile up when getting transported. Children were often used as a way to get to small places that adult men could not.
In “Child Labor During the English Industrial Revolution”, the text states, “Children worked under deplorable conditions and were being exploited by the industrialists” (Tuttle). During the Industrial Revolution industries were booming and opportunities were developing. This caused the need of an abundance of workers in factories - specifically children. Child labor during the Industrial Revolution created a wide range of views on how the children were treated, which led to Act’s being passed and laws being created.
According to the article “A History of Child Labor” reviewed by Milton Fried, a child could work as long as six days a week for up to 18 hours a day, and only make a dollar a week. Child labor was nothing but cheap labor. The big companies loved cheap labor because then they could make an item for not very much money, and make a huge profit margin. Fried continues to state how cheap the labor was, “One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with barbed wire ‘to keep the young imps inside.’ These were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night.” Unlike, children today who are in bed sleeping by 8 pm each night, these children had to stay up all night working to make just enough income for their families. Sadly, the children had no choice but to work for very little pay. Their mothers and fathers made so little money in the factory system that they couldn’t afford to let their children enjoy their childhood: “Other working children were indentured—their parents sold their labor to the mill owner for a period of years. Others lived with their families and worked for wages as adults did, for long hours and under hard conditions” (Cleland). The child had no other choice, but to work for these big
The kids under the age of fourteen were sent to go assist with the textile workers. They then would beat and verbally abuse the child. And if children would show up late, they would be weighted. Weighted means to put a very heavy weight on the child's back and have them walk up and down the factory aisles for hours, so other children can learn from it. This then resulted in back and neck injuries. (“Child Labor in Factories”) While this all seems really cruel, there were many positives that came out of child labor. Children were still able to contribute to their families. Money was a big struggle, and it had a major impact for poor families. Children were also getting a wide range of opportunities and work experiences for the future ahead. Although it might not be the best way to get experience, they were still helping out there families and showing respect towards them. This shows that during the Industrial Revolution, children were used harshly for labor, and the positives and negatives out of
The Parliament tried to change these conditions through the Factory act of 1833. This act restricted the starting age limit of child workers to have to be at least nine years old to work. It also put restricted hours on child labor. Kids from nine though twelve were only allowed to work eight hours per day. From ages thirteen through seventeen they were allowed to work up to twelve hours per day. Mining conditions were even worse than factory conditions. People were constantly getting diseases and dying from working in mines all day long. To change this, they came up with the Mine Act of 1842. This stopped woman and children from working in the mines. They also put a ten-hour work limit which limited the work day for people who worked in the mine with the Ten Hour act of 1847. This was a big deal for workers who were used to working eighteen hours per day. This slowed down mining but saved many lives in the
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change and increased efficiency. No more would be goods be produced by sole means of farming and agriculture, but now by the use of machinery and factories. Technology was beginning to increase along with the food supply as well as the population. However, this increase in population would greatly impact the social aspect of that time. Urbanization was becoming much more widespread. Cities were becoming overwhelmingly crowded and there was an increase in disease as well as harsh child labor. Although child labor would be reduced somewhat due to unions, the Industrial Revolution still contained both it’s positive and negative results.
How people worked, the nature of their interaction with society, was one of the fundamental changes brought on by the demands of the industrial revolution. Taking advantage of the benefits obtained by the division of labor and scale of production required that people work together in large groups. This new paradigm of working collectively under the factory system had no contemporary parallel – except for the working conditions of slaves who also labored in large groups. An examination of the lives of factory workers and slaves shows that there are many similarities between the way slaves were managed, and the management of industrial workers. The very nature of the administration of large groups required a similar organizational structure to effectively run a larger scale operation.
Imagine waking up at five in the morning to walk over a mile to a factory where you work until noon where you get a half hour break for lunch, then it’s back to work until nine or ten at night, when you are finally allowed to go home and you are only eight years old. Today that seems unimaginable, but during the early 19th century it was the everyday life of thousands of children whose ages range from as young as five until you died. During the Industrial Revolution many children were required to work dangerous jobs to help their families.
...rphans also started to work in factories, since they had no one to care for or about them. They also had no one to complain, making it easy to exploit these children, knowing that there was no one to regulate safety and conditions. Since population kept increasing, unemployment was on the rise so many people had to work in factories for long days and in brutal conditions.
Factory and mine owners exploited the situation by offering families a means to make more money, by putting their children to work. Industry profited from this arrangement by saving money, since child labor was more “cost effective”. According to one historian, Clark Nardinelli, “in 1835 56,000 children under the age of thirteen were working in textile factories alone. By 1874, the number of child laborers in the market hit its peak with over 122,000 children between the ages of 10 and thirteen working in textile factories (4).” ... ...
How would you feel if your boss cut down your work paycheck just because he wanted a better life for them self? The men, women and children that worked in factories during the 18th and 19th centuries were brutally mistreated causing poverty, injuries and pallid body types (Thompson). At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, working was incredibly unsafe because there were absolutely no labor or safety laws. Working conditions back then were extremely different from those that are in place today. The unbearable working conditions caused a vast amount of labor laws and rights.