OUSD History/Social Studies
Harper Building
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Oakland, CA 94606
Preparing for the Fall, 2009 World History writing assessment:
Industrialization – “Was the pain worth the gain?”
Working With Historical Evidence
Background
In the 100 years between 1750 and 1850 profound economic changes took place in
Great Britain. This was the age of the Industrial Revolution, which witnessed a variety of
technical innovations, a major increase in industrial production and world trade, and
rapid growth of urban populations. Where historians and other observers clash is in the
interpretation of these great changes. Were they "good" or "bad"? Did they represent
improvement to the citizens, or did these events set them back? Perhaps no other issue
within this realm has generated more controversy than the one concerning the labor of
children. The documents below represent a variety of different perspectives written
during the time period, including opinions and observations of those who criticized
industrialization, testimony of those who experienced its impact firsthand, and those who
supported its benefits to society.
EXERCISE ONE: Primary Sources: How Trustworthy or Reliable?
Primary sources are records from the past. But this does NOT mean they can always
tell you exactly how life “really was” in the past. You need to evaluate such sources
carefully to be able to learn things from them. For example, one important question you
need to ask of every primary source is this:

How trustworthy or reliable is this source? In other words, can you depend on it
to give you information that you can use to answer the specific essay question
you have been given? Keep in mind that a reliable source need not be accurate
or truthful. An inaccurate report, for example, may still be reliable as evidence of
what people believed at the time.
This exercise will help you think about source reliability. Next to each document are
three statements about the document’s trustworthiness or reliability. For each
document, choose the one statement you agree with the most. Mark your choice in the
space provided. Discuss your choices in class.
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OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 1
Document One: The Necessity of Child Labor
Irish Writer William Cooke Taylor was a prominent opponent of legislation designed to
reform the factory system. In the following passage, he maintains that industrial work is
not the worst fate that could befall the children of the poor. W. Cooke Taylor, Factories
and the Factory System, 1844.
Persons enter a mill…they see the figures of the little piecers and cleaners
employed in their monotonous routine…and they think how much more delightful it
would be if the children could be playing on the hill-side, and breathing the fresh
breeze…! But they should compare this with other sights which they must have met in
the course of their experience, as we too often have in ours: we have seen children
perishing from sheer hunger in the mud-hovel, or in the ditch by the way-side… is a sad
confession to make, but…we would rather see boys and girls earning the means of
support in the mill than starving by the road-side.
A. This document is reliable because Mr. Cooke Taylor is an expert in child labor.
B. This document is reliable in proving that child labor was necessary in 19th c. Britain.
C. This document is reliable in showing that some people thought children working were
better than children starving.
Your choice________
Document Two: Andrew Ure - The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, 1835
Andrew Ure (1778-1857), a professor at the University of Glasgow, was an enthusiast
for the new manufacturing system. Here he represents the views of a new class: the
manufacturers whose wealth derived from ownership of factories. Andrew Ure, The
Philosophy of Manufactures (London: Chas. Knight 1835)
The main point of scientific improvement is philanthropic (trying to be nice to people) as
it tends to relieve the workmen from things which exhaust his mind and fatigue his eyes ,
or from painful repetition of efforts which diistort and wear out his body.
The principal of the factory system is to substitute mechanical science for hand skill…On
the handicraft plan, labor was usually the most expensive element of production…but on
the automatic plan skilled labor gets replaced by mere overlookers of machines.
It happens, that the more skillful the workman, the more self-willed and intractable
(stubborn) he is apt to become, and, of course, the less fit a componet of a mechanical
system where he may do great damage.
A. This document is reliable evidence that manufacturers were trying to be nice to
children.
B. This document is reliable evidence that some manufacturers wanted to cut labor
costs by hiring women and children.
C. This document is reliable evidence that workingmen were happier working on a
machine than doing labor without machinery.
Your choice_________
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 2
Document Three: The Physical Deterioration of the Textile Workers
The physical deterioration of the manufacturing class in England was still noticeable in
the 1930s, more than a century after the height of the Industrial Revolution. A medical
observer's description of what the work did to the worker follows. P. Gaskell, The
Manufacturing Population of England. London, 1833.
Factory labour is a species of work, in some respects singularly unfitted for children.
Cooped up in a heated atmosphere, not given the necessary exercise, remaining in one
position for a series of hours, one set or system of muscles alone called into activity, it
cannot be wondered at--that its effects are injurious to the physical growth of a
child…The spinal column bends beneath the weight of the head, or is dragged forward
by the weight of the parts composing the chest, the pelvis yields beneath the opposing
pressure downwards, and the legs curve, and the whole body loses height, in
consequence of this general yielding and bending of its parts.
A. This document is reliable evidence that all children suffered physically when they
worked in factories
B. This document is reliable evidence that older men and women didn’t suffer physically
when they worked in factories.
C. This document is reliable evidence that some medical observers were concerned
about the impact of factory work on children’s bodies.
Your choice________
Document Four: Andrew Ure - The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, 1835
Andrew Ure (1778-1857), a professor at the University of Glasgow, was an enthusiast
for the new manufacturing system. Here he represents the views of a new class: the
manufacturers whose wealth derived from ownership of factories. Andrew Ure, The
Philosophy of Manufactures (London: Chas. Knight 1835)
Steam engines call into employment multitudes of miners, engineers, shipbuilders and
ailors and cause the construction of canals and railways. Steam engines also, by the
cheapness and steadiness of their action, fabricate cheap goods and in return get a
large supply of necessaries and comforts of life produced in foreign lands.
Improvements in machinery have a three-fold advantage
1) They make it possible to fabricate some articles which, but for them, could not be
fabricated at all.
2) They allow a manufacturer to turn out a great quantity of work than he could before
3) They allow a substitution of unskilled labor for skilled labor.
A. This document is reliable evidence that Mr. Ure believes steam engines will help
improve British life.
B. This document is reliable evidence that steam engines make goods which couldn’t
be made without them.
C. This document is reliable evidence that no one liked steam engines.
Your choice________
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 3
Document Five: Testimony Gathered by Ashley's Mines Commission
Parliamentary Papers, 1842, vols. XV-XVII, Appendix I, pp. 252, 258, 439, 461; Appendix II, pp.
107, 122, 205. The second of the three great reports embodies the results of the investigation into
the conditions of labor in the mines made by Lord Ashley's Mines Commission of 1842. The
Mines Act of 1842 that resulted prohibited the employment in the mines of all women and of boys
under thirteen.]
Mary Barrett, 14 years old
I have worked down in pit five years; father is working in next pit; I have 12 brothers and
sisters--all of them but one live at home; they weave, and wind, and hurry, and one is a
counter, one of them can read and write; they never went to day-school, but three of
them go to Sunday-school; I hurry for my brother John, and come down at seven o'clock
about; I go up at six, sometimes seven; I do not like working in pit, but I am obliged to
get a living; I work always without stockings, or shoes, or trousers; I wear nothing but my
chemise; I have to go up to the headings with the men; they are all naked there; I am got
well used to that, and don't care now much about it; I was afraid at first, and did not like
it; they never behave rudely to me; I cannot read or write.
A. This document is reliable evidence that some children who had to work were unable
to get an education.
B. This document is reliable evidence that most children got accustomed to conditions
in the mines.
C. This document is reliable evidence that parents forced their children to work.
Your choice__________
Document Six: Evidence of Textile Workers in Wilson's Mill, Nottingham
Factory Inquiry Commission, Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, 1833. Found in Hellerstein,
Hume & Offen, Victorian Women: A Documentary Accounts of Women's Lives in NineteenthCentury England, France and the United States, Stanford University Press
Hannah Goode: "I work at Mr. Wilson's mill. I think the youngest child is about 7. I daresay there
are 20 under 9 years. It is about half past five by our clock at home when we go in....We come out
at seven by the mill. We never stop to take our meals, except at dinner.
William Crookes is overlooker in our room. He is cross-tempered sometimes. He does not beat
me; he beats the little children if they do not do their work right....I have sometimes seen the little
children drop asleep or so, but not lately. If they are catched asleep they get the strap. They are
always very tired at night....I can read a little; I can't write. I used to go to school before I went to
the mill; I have since I am sixteen."
Mrs. Smith: "I have three children working in Wilson's mill; one 11, one 13, and the other 14. They
work regular hours there. We don't complain. If they go to drop the hours, I don't know what poor
people will do. We have hard work to live as it is. ...My husband is of the same mind about it...last
summer my husband was 6 weeks ill; we pledged almost all our things to live; the things are not
all out of pawn yet. ...We complain of nothing but short wages...My children have been in the mill
three years. I have no complaint to make of their being beaten...I would rather they were beaten
than fined."
A. This document is reliable evidence of how all children were treated in textile factories.
B. This document is reliable evidence that poor people often relied on their children’s wages to
make ends meet.
C. This document is reliable evidence that all textile workers were children under 9 years of age.
Your choice________
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 4
Document Seven: William James, speech, House of Commons (16th March, 1832)
William James was M.P. for Carlisle until 1835. The following year he was elected as the
representative of Cumberland East in the House of Commons. He sat for this seat until
his retirement in 1847. William James died on 4th May 1861. [Spartacus Educational –
Encyclopaedia of British History – Child Labour 1750-1850]
Undoubtedly the system which is pursued in these manufactories relating to the working
of young children is a great evil; but it appears to me that the remedy which the
honourable gentleman proposes to apply is worse than the disease. There appears to
me to be only a choice of evils - the children must either work or starve. If the
manufacturer is prevented working his mill for more than a certain number of hours
together, he will often be unable to execute the orders which he may receive, and
consequently, the purchaser must go to foreign countries for a supply. The result will be
that you will drive the English capitalist to foreign countries, where there is no restrictions
upon the employment of labour and capital.
A. This document is reliable evidence that members of the House of Commons believed
it was evil for children to be working in the factories.
B. This document is reliable evidence that some members of Parliament believed that
without child labor, England manufacturers would lose business to foreign countries.
C. This document is reliable evidence that the English government did not favor labor
regulation.
Your choice________
Document Eight: John Birley interviewed in The Ashton Chronicle (19th May,
1849)
John Birley, a factory worker from Derbyshire, was interviewed by James Rayner
Stephens in the summer of 1849. John's account of his life as a child worker at
Cressbrook Mill appeared in The Ashton Chronicle on 19th May, 1849. [Spartacus
Educational – Encyclopaedia of British History – Child Labour 1750-1850]
I was born in Hare Street, Bethnal Green, London, in the year 1805. My father died when
I was two years old, leaving two children, myself and Sarah my sister. My mother kept us
both till I was about five years old, and then she took badly and was taken to the London
Hospital. My sister and I were taken to the Bethnal Green Workhouse. My mother died
and we stayed in the workhouse. We had good food, good beds and given liberty two or
three times a week. We were taught to read and in every respect were treated kindly.
The same year my mother died, I being between six and seven years of age, there came
a man looking for a number of parish apprentices. We were all ordered to come into the
board room, about forty of us. There were, I dare say, about twenty gentlemen seated at
a table, with pens and paper before them. Our names were called out one by one. We
were all standing before them in a row. My name was called and I stepped out in the
middle of the room. They said, "Well John, you are a fine lad, would you like to go into
the country?" I said "Yes sir".
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 5
We had often talked over amongst ourselves how we should like to be taken into the
country, Mr. Nicholls the old master, used to tell us what fine sport we should have
amongst the hills, what time we should have for play and pleasure. He said we should
have plenty of roast beef and get plenty of money, and come back gentlemen to see our
friends.
The committee picked out about twenty of us, all boys. In a day or two after this, two
coaches came up to the workhouse door. We were got ready. They gave us a shilling
piece to take our attention, and we set off. I can remember a crowd of women standing
by the coaches, at the workhouse door, crying "shame on them, to send poor little
children away from home in that fashion." Some of them were weeping. I heard one say,
"I would run away if I was them." They drove us to the Paddington Canal, where there
was a boat provided to take us.
A. This document is reliable evidence that by 1844 children only worked six hours a
day.
B. This document is reliable in showing the English Government responded to criticism
about child labor by passing protective laws.
C. This is document is reliable evidence that all factories complied with English labor
laws.
Your choice________
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 6
EXERCISE TWO: Making Inferences from Primary Sources
You often need to make inferences about primary sources. An “inference” is a belief you
come to accept based on other facts. Below are five statements about Document 8.
Some of the statements are reasonable inferences; others are not – that is, they are not
supported by Document 8. In the spaces provided, write “yes” or “no” for each
statement that is a reasonable inference about Document 8.
1. The document is a clear expression that John Birley was happy as a child.
A reasonable inference?________
2. The document proves that all workhouses treated children kindly.
A reasonable inference?________
3. The document is evidence that some mills did not make it clear what the children were
signing up for or what they would be doing.
A reasonable inference?________
4. The document is evidence that orphans in 19th c. Great Britain did not have anyone
protecting their interests.
A reasonable inference?________
5. The document is proof that many children were forced to work as children as a
result of their parents’ death.
A reasonable inference?________
OUSD 10th grade World History Writing Assessment / Fall, 2009 / support materials / page 7
EXERCISE THREE: When Primary Sources Conflict
Many primary sources conflict with one another. That is, they offer views or
evidence that lead to different or even opposing conclusions about a time period.
This is a problem every historian faces. Sources rarely all agree with one another.
This means that you need to make some decisions –about which source is more
reliable, more useful or more typical of the time period. It also means you must be
cautious in making sweeping statements about what the sources prove. (That’s
why historians usually say things such as, “For the most part, we know that…,”
instead of “We know for certain that…”)
From the documents for this lesson, choose two that you think conflict with one another
I choose Document ____ and Document ______
1. The first document I choose says
2. The other document I choose says
3. They conflict with each other because
4. Explain why these two sources, written in the same time period, conflict with each
other?
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