Child Labour Dbq Research Paper

With these troubled economic times ahead, it might be good to look back on a time when this country had actual economic power. The Industrial Revolution, happening some time around the late 1700s-mid 1800s, marked Americas move from a country of handcrafters and farmers to an economic powerhouse of a country backed by the massive production of it’s factories. While some might argue that industrialization had primarily negative effects because of the excessive use of and the lack of limits on child labour, it was actually a positive thing for society. Industrialization 's positive effects were things getting easier to make, and as a result becoming cheaper/more accessible, and economic growth plus an increase in trade, and by extension better …show more content…
Some chdren may have bad experiences with factories, yes, but that doesn’t mean that EVERY child got overworked and abused while working for the factories. For example, a letter sent from a Lowell Mill girl, Mary Paul to her father, states: “The overseer tells me that he never had a girl get along better than I do” and “The girls are all kind and obliging” (Document #1). This shoilws us that she very easily got along with her peers and had a somewhat friendly work environment. Also, her letter states, “I have a very good boarding place, have enough to eat” (Document #1). This shows that her bosses provided her and presumably her peers filled their needs more than sufficiently. Finally, her letter concludes with, “if any girl wants employment, I advise them to come to Lowell.” (Document #1). Now, if Lowell was the horror story like the other documents state it was, why would she recommend it to everyone? The factories were not the horror stories the documents made them out to be, and the sheer amount of them meant that items became a lot more accessable and