Working in the Late 1800s

Paper Summary:

Many historians have celebrated the positive side effects of rapid industrialization, citing such favorable consequences as medicinal advancements, housing advancements, steam engines, electrical engines, gas powered engines, automobiles and planes. This paper shows, however, that what lay in the shadows of industrialization was a story of heart wrenching poverty, 16-hour workdays, physical beatings, starvation, unsafe and unhealthy factories, child labor, increased mortality rates, disease and low wages. Few realize the hardships that new urban families had to endure in order to survive. The paper argues that while political leaders and the wealthy upper class drenched themselves in the profits of industrialization, the lower class was forced to carry out the backbreaking work that paid so little.

Paper Outline:
Introduction
Women
Children
The Impact and Today
Conclusion
Bibliography

From the Paper:

"Families had little choice but to place their children in the factories, the family required the income to make ends meet. Realizing the growing problem of child labor during the Industrial Revolution, Britain's Michael Sadler headed a parliamentary investigation in 1832 which showed similar results to the plight in American factories. The investigation found that children were woken as early as four in the morning by their parents, and were at work by five a.m., at which time they would work until they received a 40-minute break at noontime. After this break the child was expected to work until dusk, usually seven or eight p.m., at which point they were allowed to go home."

More papers on Working in the Late 1800s:

• Essay # 11203 : "A Woman's Role in the Late 1800's"
• Analytical Essay # 5719 : "The Changing Role of Women in the Late 1800s."

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