During the early 1900’s and the years before, it was common for children to work in factories, mills, and any other industrial jobs. Families at the time depended on the income these children earned. Concern began to raise of the effects these strenuous jobs and long hours had on children. These long hours deprived these children of their education; children would work sixty to seventy hours a week. It was rare for working children to get fresh air, time to play and enjoy their youth. A few states passed laws prohibiting child labor, but the states were placed with restrictions at an economic disadvantage.
It was unjust for children 16 and under to work eight hours a day, overnight, or more than six days a week. Congress passed the Keating-Owen Act of 1916 in response to these concerns. This law hindered factories that employed children by ceasing their shipment across state lines.
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Dagenhart on behalf of his sons Reuben and John, in spite the Act passed. The law prevented his sons, who were 16 and under, from working in the cotton mill. He asked the U.S. District Court to remove the law because it was unconstitutional and it was taken to the Supreme Court. There he argued that the law was not a regulation of commerce (Commerce clause was a line separating state and federal laws), the Tenth Amendment (which reserves all powers that are not granted by the federal government to the states excluding forbidden laws) left the power to make rules to the states, and the Fifth Amendment (“ nor shall be compelled… to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property”) protected his liberty and property which included the right to allow his children to work to prove he couldn’t live without the earned income of his two