hard times brought pollution, poverty, and prejudice. Along with these corruption’s brought one

of the darkest sides of the industrial revolution and America’s past, child labor.

The industrial revolution brought many social evils. One of possibly the most worse of the

social issues happens to be the unfair treatment of children in labor. Child Labor was a scandal of

Child Labor is the employment of children working under the age of physical maturity

(Hine, index). Children would start work in mills, coal mines, and factories as young as 5 years

old, to 18 years of age. An average child would work 18 hour days. Work days typically ran

from dawn to sunset, and winter usually brought longer hours, from 68 to 72 hours per week.

The average pay for a child in labor was around $ 3.25 a week (Green, p 13).

After the Civil War, the industrial revolution took off. Businesses soared. Along with

new businesses, labor was needed. As the number of factories started to grow in the United

States, so did the number of people required to tend them. Immigrants came to the U.S. to make a

children to work in horrible, hazardous working conditions. This is why children were often

factories. Employers did not look at these children as human beings, merely pawns in their

132). Public felt that child labor was both beneficial to the children and also to the community.

brought widespread publicity to the situation (Hines, 1999). Things began to change.

enacted laws restricting or prohibiting the employment of young children in the work place.

Some topics in this essay:
Child Labor, Immigrants America, Wage Law, United Child, , Lewis Hine, child labor, Board Health, Labor Committee, Supreme Court, Civil War, coal mines, conditions children, industrial revolution, child labor 132, labor 132, supreme court, hine 1998, factories children, children coal, education children, children coal mines, concept child labor, worst conditions children, federal wage law,