Children are treated too harshly

In the 1870’s the United States got new machines to make it easier and faster to produce clothing and other goods. Many people moved to the cities to work but the factory owners wanted to save money so they hired children. They paid the children less than adults. The factories pushed parents to let their children work by following the children home and telling their parents to sign the working papers. They look for kids that seven years of age or older to work, and they gave them dangerous jobs. Only seven states limited child labor and children over twelve can work without going to school. In 1886, the Factory Act was passed that stated that children under thirteen were to stop working but factory owners trained the children to hide when the inspectors came. In 1889 many Americans favored child labor. Many poor families needed to send their children to work to support the family.

          A progressive leader Mother Jones came to Pennsylvania to help six thousand children who were on strike. She organized a march from Philadelphia to New York called the Children’s Crusade; she wanted the children to tell President Roosevelt about their working conditions but he refused to see them.

          After the hardship the children went through working with dangerous machines, more people believed child labor was wrong. People realized the only way for child labor to stop congress had to pass a law. They did and named it Keating Owens Act. The law stated it was illegal for kids under fourteen to work, for more than eight hours a day or more than six days a week. The Supreme Court ruled the law was illegal. Then a child labor amendment was passed and the Supreme Court banned child labor.