The Rights Of Children In The 19th Century

Children are often times not seen as functioning members of society, but, in reality, children are the future of not only America, but every other country in the world as well. Therefore, it is important that children have rights in our society too. As of now, according to Esther Suson, is this: “presently, children’s rights are the legal, social, economic, political, physical and spiritual rights bestowed upon them by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child” (Suson). These rights have definitely evolved over time. How do our current rights for children compare to how they used to be? In the past children were seen as “small adults” (Children’s). This means that children had essentially the same rights and working conditions as adults, but how has that changed? Prior to the nineteenth century, no specific laws were set in place to
Especially during the industrial revolution, it was extremely common to see an entire family working in a factory no matter their age. This is even shown in novels written at that time like Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. This was one of the first instances of lack of child rights in literature. At the start of the nineteenth century, it was finally declared that children can not be treated in the same way as adults. Laws and regulations were put in place that ensured that children received an education and restrictions were put in place in regards to child labor. These advances were mostly localized in Europe as other countries did not see it as necessary to take action towards children’s rights. Countries like France and Italy were participating in this advance in children’s rights by mandating education to attempt to take children out of the work force. This action was not appealing to