Child Labor in the U.S. and
Britain during the Industrial
Revolution
Parallels and Contrasts
In the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, child labor was used
throughout the world, particularly in
industrializing countries.
• Britain was the first country to be industrialized. Child labor
there was primarily used in the textile industry.
• The U.S. borrowed many ideas from the British during the
Industrial Revolution.
Britain
USA
1769
1793
1816
1833
1878
1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
In Britain, the first rural
textile mills were built, and
children were a major part
of the workforce.
http://www.michellehenry.fr/childlabour.jpg
Manchester and Lancashire were the first towns to establish a factory system.
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2009
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1793
1833
1878
1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
2009
In the U.S., Samuel Slater
opened the first mill in
Pawtucket, RI
www.ou.edu/.../ Old%20slater%20mill.jpg
Samuel Slater, a British immigrant, is considered the “Father of American Industrial Revolution,”
because he built the first water powered textile mill in the U.S.. He modeled his factory system on the
British system.
Britain
USA
1769
1793
1816
1833
1878
2009
1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
In Britain, 51.2% of children
under the age of eighteen worked
in the textile mills and 20% of
children under the age of thirteen.
Photographed by Lewis Hine: http://www.galenet.com/servlet/SRC/
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
2009
In the U.S., in 1830, 55 % of mill
workers in Rhode Island
were children.
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1778376-mill_town_on_the_river-Lowell.jpg
The Lowell mills employed mostly young women with an average age of fifteen to eighteen.
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
In the U.S., people started to
question child labor, but laws
were not established until
much later.
4.bp.blogspot.com/.../ Child+Labor+Coal+Mines.jpg
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Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
In Britain:
1.
Until the Factory Act of
1833, the factory owners
decided how long the
children had to work.
2.
The Act prohibited the
employment of children
under nine in all textile
mills powered by steam
and water.
3.
It also limited the working
hours to nine hours per
day and mandated
schooling.
“Parliament passed five Labour Laws between 1802 and 1833, but was
shrewd enough not to vote a penny for their carrying out. . .”
(Karl Marx)
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Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
In the U.S., the first state child
labor law was established in
Massachusetts.
Photographed by Lewis Hine:
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/picturing-the-century-photos/sweeperand-doffer-in-cotton-mill.jpg
Children in Massachusetts under the age of fifteen had to attend school for three months.
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2009
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
In the U.S., states began
limiting children to a tenhour workday. . .
. . . but the laws were not
always enforced!
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2009
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843
1878
1892 1904 1916 1937
The British Factory Acts
were applied to all trades.
The Acts prohibited the employment of children under ten,
and children aged ten to fourteen could only be employed
half days.
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Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
2009
In the U.S., the American
Federation of Labor recommended
banning factory employment for
children under fifteen years of age
but not banning it altogether. The
AFL also recommended a law limiting
women and children to a maximum
eight-hour workday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AFL-CIO.png
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
2009
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
In the U.S. the National Labor
Law Committee forms, and
child labor law reform
begins.
Photographed by Lewis Hine:
www.ymca.org.au/ about/Pages/History.aspx
Child working as a spinner.
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
2009
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
In the U.S., a new federal
child labor law sets a
minimum age for
employment . . .
Photograph by Lewis Hine:
online-history.org/ Wc2.htm
. . . but it was declared
unconstitutional after just two years.
Britain
1769
USA
1816
1833
1878
2009
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
Opinions of Child Labor
2009
In the U.S., minimum
ages of employment and
hours for children
laborers are regulated by
federal law.
Economy?
Free Choice?
Skill for Trade?
“They [factory
reformers] believed
that families could not
give up the wages of
children.
. . . Observers
believed that textile
factories could not run
without child labor”
(Clark Nardinelli,
Historian, 1990).
“No one, not parents,
employers, or government
should be able to coerce
children into or prohibit
them from entering work
situations. Children old
enough to be supporting
themselves are old
enough to make their own
decisions” (Wendy
McElroy, Feminist, 2001).
Critics argue that
children who work in
the factories learn
valuable skills such as
a trade and endurance.
Domestic work same as
factory work?
“The work was often more
difficult because [of] pressure . . .
and the oppressive conditions of
the factories. . . . Tasks were
harder and required
concentration and strength.
. . . Children were [watched] by
an overseer which created fear”
(Carolyn Tuttle, Historian, 1999).
Factory Conditions for Children in Britain
and the U.S. in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries
• Factory owners preferred using children for some tasks
because of their small size.
• It was more profitable for factory owners to employ
children than skilled adults. British factory owners profited
by purchasing orphans who worked for very low wages.
• Lack of sleep and an averaged eighteen-hour work day in
Britain and in the U.S. contributed to mistakes and injuries.
• Some children in Britain and in the U.S. were mentally and
physically abused by their supervisors, and their safety
was neglected by factory owners who cared more about
profit than well-being.
Britain
USA
1769
1816
1833
1878
2009
1793 1830 1832 1837 1843 1892 1904 1916 1937
2009
Child labor still exists today.
http://thisteensweightlossplan.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/dri
ve-thru1231521992.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/15/timestopics/2childlabor_395.jpg
Do you know any children who work?
Do you think there is any difference between child labor today and during the Industrial
Revolution?
Works Cited
Cruickshank, Marjorie. Children and Industry. Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1981.
Marx, Karl. Das Kapital. Vol. I. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr &
Company, 1909.
Nardinelli, Clark. Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
---."Were Children Exploited During the Industrial Revolution?"
Research in Economic History 2 (1988): 243-276.
Rule, John. The Experience of Labour in Eighteenth Century
English Industry. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.
Tuttle, Carolyn. "A Revival of the Pessimist View: Child Labor
and the Industrial Revolution." Research in Economic
History 18 (1998): 53-82.