![]() In effect, the employment of children under sixteen years of age was prohibited in manufacturing and mining. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set a national minimum wage for the first time and a maximum number of hour for workers in interstate commerce-and also placed limitations on child labor. The Great Depression left thousands of Americans without jobs, and led to sweeping reforms under Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal that focused on increasing federal oversight of the workplace and giving out-of-work adults jobs…thereby creating a powerful motive to remove children from the workforce.Īlmost all of the codes developed under the National Industrial Recovery Act served to reduce child labor. The opponents of child labor sought a constitutional amendment authorizing federal child labor legislation and it passed in 1924, though states were not keen to ratify it the conservative political climate of the 1920s, together with opposition from farm and church organizations fearing increased federal power over children, acted as roadblocks. While Congress passed such laws in 19, the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional. But many southern states resisted, leading to the decision to work for a federal child labor law. Many laws restricting child labor were passed as part of the progressive reform movement of this period. To learn a trade, boys began their apprenticeships between the ages of ten and fourteen.įrom 1902 to 1915, child labor committees emphasized reform through state legislatures. Children worked on family farms and as indentured servants for others. With the invention of the home sewing machine in 1846, home production of bespoke clothing remained a thriving industry well into the. This was common before the industrial revolution as a means to produce textiles, clothing, furniture and housewares. Through the first half of the 1800s, child labor was an essential part of the agricultural and handicraft economy of the United States. Historically, cottage industry was a system of subcontracting manufacturing work to families. The Puritan work ethic of the 13 colonies and their founders valued hard work over idleness, and this ethos applied to children as well. Nineteenth century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor and improve working conditions to uplift the masses, but it took the Great Depression-a time when Americans were desperate for employment-to shake long-held practices of child labor in the United States. Working children were unable to attend school-creating a cycle of poverty that was difficult to break. Crucially, children could be paid less, were less likely to organize into unions and their small stature enabled them to complete tasks in factories or mines that would be challenging for adults. ![]() Miserable working conditions including crowded and unclean factories, a lack of safety codes or legislation and long hours were the norm. Child labor, or the use of children as servants and apprentices, has been practiced throughout most of human history, but reached a zenith during the Industrial Revolution.
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