During the times of the Industrial Revolution and later, children began working in factories. Factories needed to be staffed, and there were a lot of jobs that needed to be filled. Children could work for cheaper than an adult man. Employers decided to hire children to save money, and yet have their factories be running smoothly. This decision raised a lot of issues, because some of the population believed that children should be in school, and not work. These jobs were extremely dangerous, and children died frequently of mistakes that would not have happened if the worker would have been an adult. Three primary sources from the Industrial Revolution show a glimpse into what life was like for these child laborers. These pictures and letters help show the horrors of children working in factories and were fundamental to child labor laws being put into place.
The pictures given show the hardships of children working in factories. Often times the kids were too little to run much of the machinery,
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This already dangerous job, employed by child laborers caused more hardship than good. Because the children were paid very little, the employers could easily replace workers who were injured. There were no laws against working small children, in fact, it was quite common. Employers liked employing children to save money, but it caused a lot of pain and suffering and tainted the face of the Industrial Revolution. People were outraged by the way these children were treated and called for a change. These children were overworked, underpaid, and undernourished. If these children were not dying in the factories, they were dying on the street or dying of starvation. The government stepped in and decided that these lawschildren should not be working. Laws were put in place that prohibit child workers and promot education. If a child got a proper education, maybe they could make the factories ad the world a better