Child Labor In The 1800s Essay Example

Child labor conditions and allowances in the late 1700s and the early 1800s were simply unimaginable. This time where child labor was at its peak, is called the Industrial Revolution. But times have changed since the Industrial Revolution. People, including children, suffered miserable conditions in their workplaces. The United States now protects our minors and requires safe and healthy work environments. Since the Industrial Revolution, child labor laws in the Untied States have dramtically improved the lives of minors in the workplace.

Imagine working from sunrise to the sunset as a child among other working adults. Doing the same kind of work, and getting paid less for it. Back in those times, the conditions consisted of unsanitary environments and dangerous machinery. Children suffered through dangerous and unsanitary working conditions, low wages, and long hours. It wasn’t until the early 1900s when things started to take a turn for the good. Minimum wage came into play and going to school also became a requirement. During the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a “New Deal”. The New Deal created more jobs and put more unemployed adults into the workforce. Having more adults in the workforce created less of a need for child labor.

Today, that has changed. Minors now have more rights and are protected under their employer’s expenses. The United States has created Child Labor Laws that protect these rights. Compared to back then, minors have a much different experience while they work. For example, children under fourteen are not allowed to work and children under sixteen are restricted to certain hours and requirements in order to work. In the past children didn’t have these rights and they were under no expense to their employers. Only some of these bad conditions include bad ventilation which could later cause lung disease, 12 hour long shifts with little to no pay, and dangerous michenty which was prone to serious injury.

Children today are lucky enough to have the Child Labor Laws in place. As mentioned before, these laws protect minors from experiencing what the children in the past had to go through. Minors’ everyday lives now are now much more at ease then they were before. Children are now required to go to school and get an education. Minors also aren’t allowed to work in the more injury prone industries. Another thing is that children have a specific time that they can work until. Of course children are only protected by these laws until they become of the age of an adult - eighteen years old. All of these reforms that took place to build a better working environment for minors. Without child labor laws, our country wouldn’t be the same. 

In final review, the attributes of child labor have changed drasitcally since the late 1700s and early 1800s. It is clear to see that child labor has taken a turn for the good. Child labor laws have radiacally changed and improved the lives of minors in their workplaces.