Working and Living Conditions During The Industrial Revolution Essay Example

📌Category: History, The Industrial Revolution
📌Words: 437
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 31 March 2022

The Industrial Revolution was a time depicted by repugnant working and living conditions for men, women and particularly children. Without the developments and innovations made during this prominent time in history, conditions for children would not be as adequate as they are today. One of the multiple conditions that improved since the Industrial Revolution, is that children today do not have to start working at 9 years old. Children today have the privilege to go to school and not be in a coal mine working 12 hours a day. 

Working conditions for kids were very dangerous during the Industrial Revolution. An example of dangerous working conditions for kids is how they were forced to work – what is absurd now – a shocking 9 hours a day at the minimum. With the introduction of the Factory Act in 1833 (source 2), it required children from 9 – 18 years to work more than 9 hours a day. Some of the work they were forced to do are disclosed in source 3. In source 3, it states, “clearing away the coal to a height of a little more than two feet”. These are one of the many dangerous jobs that they part take in daily. Fortunately, things have changed since, and now we are required to be a minimum of 13 years and have the freedom to choose how many hours we work. 

During the Industrial Revolution, children were forced to work in unsustainable conditions. Considering the high intensity work they part take in; it would be both physically and mentally exhausting for a child. Children would have to drag heavy loads constantly during the day. This is mentioned in source 3 where it states, “dragging their heavy loads behind them”. Source 5 is essentially a visual representation of what this looked like. Children were harnessed by the ankle and forced to drag carts of coal up and down the mine. Thankfully, in today’s society, this would not be tolerated. Celestetmoc.com states that “Children were usually hit with a strap to make them work faster”. Fortunately, we have come to realise over the past few hundred year that abuse should not be a solution in any circumstances whatsoever.

This essay has proven that working and living conditions during the Industrial Revolution were very abysmal and unsafe to work in. It is almost like people during the I.R. were desensitized to children’s self being. As ludicrous it may sound, without the introduction of harsh and dangerous working and living conditions for children during the Industrial Revolution, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We were able to fix our mistakes to ensure a better future. We have achieved the ability to differentiate what is wrong and right. In conclusion, the Industrial Revolution was a blessing in disguise, however, only for the people in the future.

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