Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution: a time of change and excitement. Inventions changed the working world forever and allowed, for those who had the opportunity, great wealth. In this period, inventions such as the cotton gin and spinning jenny changed textile mills forever, which in turn shaped the cities of England and the people who lived in them. Yet in this time of great wealth and prosperity for some came about many evils for the working class, including unfair pay and work hours from very young ages on. The government attempted to deal with these evils by passing legislation to protect workers, but failed in many respects.
During the Industrial Revolution, many members of the lower class began working in factories in hope of a better life. These
The English government addressed this child labor, though they did not fully solve it, in 1802 when they passed the Health and Morals Act, which reads, “The minimum age of employment shall be nine years. The working day for children under fourteen shall be limited to twelve hours,”(3). This is much better than it had been before, as children as young as five or six would be working fifteen hour days. The English government made this better by changing the minimum age and working time, which was helpful, but still not excellent. Today the minimum working age in Connecticut is 16, and hours is 8 a day, 48 a week, which is much less than it was in England in this time (U.S. Department of Labor). England was, in comparison to other nations at the time, ahead on dealing with child labor and the evils of taking away the rights of the working class. But they also did not address all the problems there were for working class members of English society. The Combination Act of 1800 reads, “every workman… who shall… enter into any combination [union]... shall be committed [to jail],” (1). While the English attempted to deal with child labor in a reasonable way,