socsg

Child Labor

Fourth Grade

Social Studies—DBQ

Standard 7:

Urbanization: economic, political, and social impacts

Sub-Standard 4:

Study about the labor movement and child labor

Task:

Why was child labor unfair during the Industrial Revolution?

Historical Background:

When the industrial revolution first came to Britain and the U.S., there was a high demand for labor. Families quickly migrated from the rural farm areas to the newly industrialized cities to find work. Once they got there, things did not look as bright as they did. To survive in even the lowest level of poverty, families had to have every able member of the family go to work. This led to the high rise in child labor in factories. Children were not treated well, overworked, and underpaid for a long time before anyone tried to change things for them.

Directions:

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1. Read the task and ask yourself, “What do I already know about child labor and the impact it had on the history of the United States?

2. Underline or highlight any important information that will help you answer the document based questions (DBQ). Study each document and ask yourself, “How does this help me answer the question?”

3. Each document in Part A is followed by 1 to 3 questions. Write a short answer to each of these questions on the blanks that follow.

4. When you are finished studying all the documents, go on to Part B and complete the planning page where you can organize your thoughts for the document based questions (DBQ).

5. Use your thoughts from the planning page to answer the final DBQ.

PART A

THE DOCUMENTS

Document 1

Base your answers to questions 1 and 2 on the picture and reading passage below.

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Working family

A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. or later. On the left is Mary, age 7, and 10 year old Sam, and next to the mother is a 12 year old boy. On the right are Sarah, age 7, next is her 11 year old sister, 13 year old brother. Father is out of work and also helps make garters. New York City.

1. What is this family doing?

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2. How late do the youngest children work?

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Document 2

Base your answers to questions 3 through 5 on the picture and reading passage below.

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Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay. Children sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break. This was a little bit on the extreme; it was common for children who worked in factories to work 12-14 hours with the same minimal breaks.

The conditions were horrible: large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for many children to be using or working near. Many accidents occurred, injuring or killing children on the job.

The children who did get paid were paid very little. One boy explained this payment system:

"They [boys of eight years] used to get 3d [d is the abbreviation for pence] or 4d a day. Now a man's wages is divided into eight eighths; at eleven, two eighths; at thirteen, three eighths; at fifteen, four eighths; at twenty, a man's wages: About 15s [shillings]."

3. How many hours per day did many of the children work?

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4. Did the children get paid more as they got older?

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5. How were the conditions unsafe for the children?

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Document 3

Base your answer to question 6 on the picture below.

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6. Why are these people protesting?

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Document 4

Base your answers to questions 7 through 10 on the reading passages below.

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William Hutton, The Life of William Hutton (1816)

“In the Christmas holidays of 1731 snow was followed by a sharp frost. A thaw came on in the afternoon of the 27th, but in the night the ground was again caught by a frost, which glazed the streets. I did not awake, the next morning, till daylight seemed to appear. I rose in tears, for fear of punishment, and went to my father's bedside, to ask the time. He believed six; I darted out in agonies, and from the bottom of Full Street, to the top of Silk mill Lane, not 200 yards, I fell nine times! Observing no lights in the mill, I knew it was an early hour, and the reflection of the snow had deceived me. Returning, the town clock struck two.”

Elizabeth Bentley, interviewed by Michael Sadler's Parliamentary Committee on 4th June, 1832.

“I worked from five in the morning till nine at night. I lived two miles from the mill. We had no clock. If I had been too late at the mill, I would have been quartered. I mean that if I had been a quarter of an hour too late, a half an hour would have been taken off. I only got a penny an hour, and they would have taken a halfpenny.”

7. Why did William Hutton wake in tears?

8. What time of day was William Hutton going to the factory?

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9. How long was Elizabeth Bentley’s work day?

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10. What happened if Elizabeth Bentley was late to work?

PART B

DOCUMENT-BASED ESSAY

Part B

Planning Page

Why was child labor unfair during the Industrial Revolution?

http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us//cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRtime.htm

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/

http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/lyddie/