Name_______________________________________________________ Block________

Child Labor Web Assignment

Go to https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/child-labor and answer

the following questions on the topic of child labor during the Industrial Revolution.

1. Describe the three reasons that factory owners/managers would want to hire
children as workers.
Children could be paid less and were less likely to organize into unions. Working children were typically
unable to attend school, creating a cycle of poverty that was difficult to break.

2. What important part of a child’s life did these child laborers have to forgo?
How can it be said that this actually made the problem worse?

Their schooling years and not being able to go to school effects their learning abilities.

3. What is the connection between the Great Depression and child labor? Be
sure to explain fully.
The Great Depression left thousands of Americans without jobs and led to sweeping reforms under the
New Deal programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

4. How was child labor viewed during colonial times? What types of things did
child laborers do during that time?

hard work over idleness

Working children were often hurt due to industrial accidents
on unsafe machinery
5. In 1900, what percentage of American workers were under the age of 16? Is
this higher or lower than expected. Why?

18% higher then they expected

6. What were two reasons why the educational reforms pushed in the mid-
1800s ultimately failed to have a big impact?
lack of funding

7. Which group was the leader in the push to eliminate child labor?

National Child Labor Committee

8. Why did the child labor laws passed in 1916 and 1918 not solve the
problem?
it overstepped the purpose of the government's powers to regulate interstate commerce.

9. What did the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 do?

provided for a 40-cent-an-hour minimum wage, a 40-hour maximum workweek, and a minimum working age
of 16 except in certain industries outside of mining and manufacturing.

10.Other than laws, what were some other factors that led to the decline of child
labor?

adult workers competed for jobs that children were doing for much lower wages