Child Labor In The 1800s

As child labor swept across the United States, people began realizing that the effects on children could sometimes be devastating from unsafe and harsh conditions. “The 1870 census found that 1 out of every 8 children was employed. This rate increased to more than 1 in 5 children by 1900. Between 1890 and 1910, no less than 18 percent of all children ages 1015 worked.”(Schuman History of child labor in the United States—part 1). Employers found that children would work for less than adults and most families would make their children work to bring more income for their family. “Some children work so they can help their parents meet basic necessities such as food, clothing, and a home. Orphans often have no chance but to work.”(Herumin, 75).

She spent 7 months in the hospital and was still undergoing medical treatment.”(Schuman History of child labor in the United States—part 2). People began noticing the large number of children working and they became upset by the poor conditions and lack of choice due to the children's family's financial instability. During the process of the Child Labor Movement, reformers tried to put laws and regulations in place around child labor and spread awareness and information to the public to help end the children's suffering. Two of the main things that posed an issue to the child labor movement were the factory owners and other employers' unwillingness to let go of their child workers and the poverty that was occurring from the children not going to school and finding better jobs. “Working children were typically unable to attend school, creating a cycle of poverty that was difficult to break.”(History.com). Most employers liked child workers because they could pay them less money, which increased their overall

People who did not want children working had good intentions and just wanted to stop the unfairness and negative things that were happening, such as children being forced to work and injured. These were very legitimate concerns because the industries were becoming very filled with child workers, which stopped many of them from making better money later in life. The problems of the children working could have been easily avoided if the government enforced the laws and regulations for children working. The Child Labor Movement started when people were upset with the amount of children working in terrible conditions and for very little money. The main strategies that people used to try to end child labor were creating and enforcing laws, and spreading information to the public. As more and more people started to find out about child labor, the more seriously it was taken. “Beginning in 1900, efforts to regulate or eliminate child labor became central to social reform in the United States.”(History.com). The people leading the child labor movement were spreading information as much as they could “They used written pamphlets, leaflets and mass mailings to reach the