Child Labor And The Luddism Movement

The people working in these factories weren’t just adults, many of them were actually children. Children from age 4 and up were allowed to work in these factories. Most factories would have children work because they had tiny fingers and hands, and they were able to fit into tiny areas that adult hands could not fit in. These children would mostly work in cramped, dark, and damp areas; these children would not have a very long or happy life. Hard labour, and the high cost of food and other items like stuff for hygiene, made life difficult and most children did not have a long life. The infant mortality rate was also very high because of these same reasons. The children who did live long enough to start working at age 4 would on most days

For these workers, work was their life and with out work their life would have no purpose. For some children work was a type of schooling. The children would learn work skills and work ethic. But for the adults, work was something that was expected and a way to earn money. When the factories started to bring in machines the workers became unhappy. The workers were mad because their work was being taken away from them. This lead to the Luddism Movement. The Luddism Movement is when the workers went around and would smash the machines. The workers would smash the machines because they were mad that machines were taking away their work. The Luddist were trying to make the owners of the factories realize that they were not happy with all the changes they had made with their work. For the employers the machines were great, the machines could work more efficient, which would make them more money. The employers would need fewer workers to do the work, so they would pay less money to the workers and they would keep more money for the

The workers went through times of starving and not knowing if they would survive till the next day, but they still got up in the morning and went to work. Work was not always very fun but they still showed up to work hard so they could get paid and to try to provide for their families. During the Industrial Revolution pay was very low, and once they would get paid they would have to spend it all on food and rent. They would not have any money left to save. Now, people get paid enough money to afford to buy food and household items to help keep their family healthy, or they can receive help from the Government. During the Revolution people could not afford to live with the money they were paid. If the people would have received more pay from their employer, their life could have been very different than it