Child Labor in the Progressive Era - Essay Example

The paper "Child Labor in the Progressive Era" is a great example of an essay on history. The progressive error was indeed the time that American got rid of most of its problems that had been brought by the industrial era such as child labor. Children were servants and apprentices throughout most of human history, they worked long hours and in extremely dangerous factory conditions, but with little pay. Children worked to support their families and as a result, never went to school. Child labor was not the issue that brought controversy in colonial America, earlier families hired out their children to work on other farms. Furthermore, industries, later on, provided a new opportunity before child labor finally declined in the 19th century. The thesis is sound, and the evidence present is overwhelming.

If there were no child labor that is attributed to the industrial error, there would not have been activists to speak out and condemn the vicious act that the children were going through in their lives. Activists such as Grace Abbott, who joined the labor department and assigned to the children’s bureau in 1917 and later 1921 headed the office leading the campaign for a constitutional amendment limiting child labor. Jane Addams and Lewis Hine were also early advocates of children in Industrial America.
The new supply of child labor was matched with the significant increase in industries that needed cheap labor for statistics putting it at 25% of employees in 1900. Education reformists were able to convince a considerable number of America’s population on the importance of primary schooling for both personal fulfillment and the betterment of the country. Furthermore, challenges were posed by the influx of immigrants, for instance, the Irish in the 1840s that provided a new pool of child workers. Read More