The people worked dangerous jobs to provide for themselves and family with little pay. Children were even working in dangerous factories and constructions barely little to no pay. Workers would try to go on strike,
The child labor was a huge problem in the United State. They would children doing dangerous jobs, some children would even die from doing these chores. The 1890s there were about 1 million 10 - 15 years olds who worked, that number had doubled by 1910. Industries even hired 5 and 6 year olds to work 18 hours a day. Along with this there were health conditions like miners inhaling stuff from the mines, glassworker exposed to intense heat and clam breakers would have cut on their hands from the tough shells.
Factory Working Working in the 1800’s was hard and was very dangerous, by the mid 1800’s America was using machines to produce most things such as clothing, shoes, watches, , guns, and farming machines. The workers would work an average of 11.4 hours a day. The workers were very tired. The factories were very rugged and dangerous, there were fast rapidly moving parts exposed and that cuased many accidents with adults and children.
This was at a time when there were no laws for child labor. Child labor was treacherous and some important people stepped in to stop it. These working conditions were hazardous and the kids were not safe. Child labor affects the child’s mental and physical health and it keeps children from struggling in school.(Doc. 7) Also, the reason why there were so many accidents in factories is because there were no safety regulations and requirements for uniforms.(Doc. 2)
After people noticed the treacherous working conditions for kids in the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many individuals took action to address this dreadful problem. During this time, the working conditions were dreadful. For example, Syble Filter had his finger cut off at the age of 17 when a machine started unexpectedly (Doc. 3). Another example of these terrible conditions is when very young children (boys especially) got caught in the machine or fell into a moving machine (Doc.2).
Children would start work in coal mines and factories as young as 5 years old to 18 years of age. A child would work 18 hour days. Work days typically ran from early morning to late at night, and winter usually made longer hours, from 68 to 72 hours per week. Because of laissez faire businesses were allowed to pay an extremely low amount of money and to allow children to work in horrible working conditions. This is why children were often forced into labor, it also was to help their families bring in more
Factory owners sought to control and discipline their workforce through a system of long working hours, fines and low wages. In the early 1800’s, injuries were very common textile mills (Mill Children). Due to bad working conditions mill workers suffered from a lot of sicknesses (Cotton Dust & OSHA).The mill girl’s “normal shifts were usually 12-14 hours a day, with extra time required during busy periods. Workers were often required to clean their machines during their mealtimes” (Factory Life). In the 1840’s, workers experienced bad working conditions; in the novel Lyddie, Lyddie responds to these problems by ignoring them at first, but eventually speaking up.
Child Labor Imagine you wake up and you have to walk all the way to work a couple of miles to work, then you have to work eleven to twelve hours a day, six days a week, and every day you have an easy risk of dying or getting your fingers chopped off. That is what children had to do from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Children were put through many hard jobs, such as using dangerous machinery. Children had to go through extremely hard labor. They worked long hard hours, six days a week.
The United States of American workforce in the late 1800s and early 1900s was very unfair. Due to the unfairness, workers banded together to form Unions. Owners and bosses hated Unions and would fight against them, which would start strikes against the Unions. Unions only wanted fairness and the major problems they faced when they first formed were, fighting for equal wages, fighting for safe work conditions, and the fight for better working hours. Better wages was one of the key things all Unions wanted.
In the mid 1800’s there were many things made by machines, such as clothing,shoes,watches,and guns. Conditions in the factory were very harsh the average work day was 11.4 hours the workers became very tired and they were more likely to have accidents. Children were more often hurt by the machines. Children worked in the factories six days a week and 12 hours long. They worked underground in coal mines, and they also operated machines.
The course material for this class was an eye-opener for me. I learned the history taught in classrooms is different from the true history. I wasn’t aware that authors and publishers of history textbooks have altered the information to make it appealing to their target audience (Loewen Ch. 1). I have always believed that the information in history textbooks were be true. Target audiences would purchase history texts if they are satisfied with how the text portrays the nation as a whole.
In the early 1800s working for wages started to become a problem in America. Many people thought that working for wages kept people dependent. If people did not own their own business then they were ultimately under the rule of a boss or master. Thomas Jefferson mentions that freedom is destroyed by dependence when it comes to people working for someone else and they do not produce or own their own property. There was also a social stigma for those who worked for wages.
During the late 1800s the differences between the wealthy industrialists and the average American worker were enormous. While successful businessman like Andrew Carnegie made millions, some factory workers made as little as six dollars a week. Poor families were living in filthy, overcrowded tenements and struggled to make a living because of unfair wages. This was a major problem in the late 1800’s and it is illustrated well by the political cartoon “The Protectors of Our Industries” by Bernhard Gillam.
Accidents: Various jobs had massive amounts of risks. Children were forced to crawl into dangerous, unguarded machinery that led to many accidents. 6. Health: The air in this era was full of dust, which led to chest and lung diseases and loud noise made by machines damaged workers' hearing. 7.
Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground,
