Child Labor Laws In the 1800's

Child labor was a big deal and parents have to worry about their child not starving. The food use to be sitting out. If you would it; you would most likely become sick. The kids didn’t get any free time because they were working Child labor law was passed so that only a limited age can work. They would also low pay them for working. In the article (A History Of Child Labor) it states “In the United States it took many years to outlaw child labor. By 1899, 28 states had passed laws regulating child labor. Many efforts were made to pass national child labor law. The U.S. Congress passed two laws, in 1918 and 1922, but the supreme Court declared both unconstitutional. In 1924, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting child labor, but the states did not ratify it.” Children coming home late is a problems because the crimes in the city.

During the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s child labor was a social issue that developed in the United States. In the early 1900’s, so many children ages 16 and under were working in American mine and factories. Our kids should not be forced to work at such an early age, they need education and a good childhood that they will always remember. Some children that are as young as 4 years old are being forced to work in crammed, dangerous factories. These factories are full of poisonous fumes and diseases that can obviously kill. Kids as young as 13 are being forced to work around 13 hours a day. Working these 13 hours is exactly what most adults are working at the time. Kids are also earning a lower wage since they are minors, employers

Workers went on strike to earn a fair living wage and in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in. His commission saw the truth awarded mine workers a wage increase and a nine-hour day. The department of Labor formed to help fix problems of the American worker. New York banned children from working under the age of sixteen for more than nine hours in a factory. To improve safety, in 1911, New York passed laws requiring fire escapes, fire drills and wired windows in all factories. In the next year, New York also passed a law requiring factory workers to have a “one-day-of-rest-in-seven”, meaning they needed to have at least one day break each week. After that, New York also made it illegal to hire children to do factory work in tenements or canneries, and made a fifty four- hour workweek the maximum for any working person under eighteen. (Doc 2)

For centuries, there has been a common relationship between employers and employees. Over the course of that time, the workplace and the jobs within it have evolved as new jobs were created, ways to execute tasks became more advanced and laws were enacted to put into place fair employment for those in the workforce. In 1938, congress would pass and President Roosevelt would sign the Wages and Hours Bill, more commonly known as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). This federal statute introduced a 44 hour, seven day work week, established the national minimum wage, guaranteed overtime pay in specific types of jobs at a rate of “time and a half”, and it defines oppressive child labor, which prohibits most employment of minors. The FLSA applies to those employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage.

During the industrial revolution in Britain, the usage of child labourers dramatically increased as it became a cheap and easy form of labour. This lead to the continued abuse of many children in textile factories. In 1833, the Factory Act of 1833 was put forth which dictated that no children under the age of nine would work. Children ages nine to thirteen wouldn’t work more than nine hours a day and children ages thirteen to eighteen wouldn’t work more than twelve hours a day. In addition it introduced the circulation of four factory inspectors who were to enforce the new legislation. They were to certify whether children had received their compulsory education of two hours each day and report conditions to the government. This act brought forth attention and sparked debates from the public which made stronger note of the working conditions for children.

In between the early 1900’s and late 1930’s laws regarding organized labor and laws protecting businesses were passed or declined. Different industries had different minimum wage requirements and some didn’t follow at all. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, one of the first things he did was sign a New Deal. The New Deal consisted of new proposed ideas and laws; many in particular pertained to labor. This was due to the happening of the Great Depression. The New Deal helped ban child labor, raise the minimum wage, and regulated the appropriate amount of hours a person should work.

The decade of the 1910’s was one of many changes. Many changes that were decades in the making were finally fulfilled. These changes came from new governmental policies, increases in industry, and the rising incomes of Americans. Many new rights were given to Americans in the 10s, in particular, child labor laws were changed, and women were given more freedom. In 1910, children under 15 made up 18% of the nation's employment. Many of these jobs were very dangerous, had long shifts, and very low pay. Congress passed child labor laws in 1916 and 1918 as part of the progressive agenda. However, the Supreme Court declared these laws unconstitutional.Women could be considered second class citizens in the 10s. Women were given few options both educationally,

Considered to be a landmark, in 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The nation was experiencing social and economic development of judicial opposition and depression. This law set national minimum wages and maximum hours workers can be required to work. Incorporated into this law are overtime pay and established standards to prevent child-labor abuse. Consequently, in 1963 an amendment was made to this law, which prohibited wage discrimination against women.

Child labor was a cruel and unfair way of using children in unnecessary situations. It was debated for a countless number of years whether child labor was a social problem or a political problem. Children were responsible for completing very dangerous, rigorous, and demanding jobs. Most jobs for the children were completed in factories, farms, and coal mines. Subsequently, the working conditions for the children were not healthy, and it led to life threatening situations. Many would get seriously injured or killed. Some worked until exhaustion and fell asleep on the job, and would experience harsh consequences. Generally speaking, child labor drastically changed the way owners ran their businesses during the Industrial Revolution. The ruthless ways of child labor were never changed for the better until different Acts and Laws were put into place. People were concerned with the social and physical wellbeing of working children in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

8. 15. Concerns for child labor were that children were working too long and not getting and education. The parliament passed an act called the English Factory Act of 1833 that stated; children fewer than nine could not be hired, the children from nine to thirteen could only work nine hour days, and the people to employ these children had to

The bill specifically banned the sale of any products from a factory that employed children under 14, a mine that employed children under 16, and any business that kept children under 16 working at night or more than 8 hours a day. However, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that this expansion overstepped the abilities laid out by the Commerce clause by overturned it 2 years later, 247 to 251 in the Hammer v. Dagenhart case. A second attempt at regulating child labor by utilizing the government’s taxation powers was passed as part of the Revenue Act of 1919, but this too was overturned on the grounds of unconstitutional extension of government powers (this time 3 years later). Ultimately, early 1900s proponents of child labor reforms, while successful at times on state and local levels, did not accomplish the definitive federal mandate they were looking for. A permanent, federal-level child labor law would not be passed until the Roosevelt era in

On May 24, 1937, a bill was introduced to Congress addressing the issue of minimum wage and work week hours. The bill “was accompanied simultaneously by a message to Congress from the President which reiterated the fact that ‘one-third of our population…is ill-nourished, ill-clad, and ill-housed,’ and which called for national action to fix minimum wages and a maximum working week for industrial and agricultural workers, as well as to prohibit child labor” (Douglas & Hackman, 1938). The bill put into effect that minimum wage would be the same regardless of age, sex, or color.

Believe it or not, before 1938, there was a time when children as young as 8-10 years old (sometimes even younger) would be forced to work until midnight or later in America during the time of the industrial revolution (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2001). There were simply no laws to regulate the maximum number of hours that children could work, how old they had to be, or how much they had to at least be paid. Thus, in 1938, Congress invoked its constitutional powers to regulate interstate commerce and passed a law known as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that addresses these malpractices by employers.

Laws and Acts have been established throughout America, putting restrictions on work labor for youth. The “Fair Labor Standards Act,” passed in 1938, establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and you employment standards affecting private and federal sectors for local governments. Laws such as these help youth throughout America, get fair pay, hours, and working conditions. Yet, there are still acts that some people may disagree with. The “Keating-Owen Act,” prevents children at the age of fifteen and lower from performing hard labor jobs. Teenagers such as myself, I am fifteen years old, are not allowed to do hard labor jobs, like painting houses, or doing landscaping. The pay for jobs such as these, are

The background history of child labor can be surprising. Although child labor has gone on throughout history it reached it peak during the Industrial Revolution. Children came from poor families who needed the extra couple of dollars they made to keep living.When parents couldn’t afford to raise their child they would sometimes turn them over to an owner of a mill or factory for them to work twelve to eighteen hours a day, only making about one dollar a week.(scholastic.com) Factory and mill owners liked having children in the workplace because children were small enough to fit into spaces where adults could not, they could be paid less than adults and they were easier to control. There were many times that the U.S. tried to pass laws against child labor