Hand Labor In The 1800s

Children were useful as laborers because their size allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines where adults couldn’t fit, children were easier to manage and control and perhaps most importantly, children could be paid less than adults." - History staff

In the 1800's, Factories began to appear everywhere in the United States, because of machines that could now replace the majority of hand labor jobs for making most manufactured items, the factory owners also had new people to run their machines. Children were favored over adults to work on or with machines in factories, rather than adults because operating the machines did not require much strength or skill, and since they were small they could easily fit between machines and other small spaces, and children could be hired more cheaply than adults.

A child's, Work environment
For example one common punishment for being tardy, or underperforming would be to be "weighted." "An overseer would tie a heavy weight to worker's neck, and have them walk up and down the factory aisles so the other children could see them and "take example." This could last up to an hour." - Source Weighting could lead, and did lead to neck and back injuries that were ignored because the employers took no consideration for the children's wellbeing, despite that the children were using, or near Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment. Many accidents occurred injuring or killing children on the job. Children worked long hours, sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break for near no pay, or no pay at all, because factory owners justified their nonexistent pay by auguring that they gave the orphans food, a bed, and workable clothes. The common hours were 12-14 with Occasional