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Child Labor Reform in America
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New England Unions Condemn Child Labor
The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen resolve that “Children should not be allowed to labor in the factories from morning till night, without any time for healthy recreation and mental culture,” for it “endangers their . . . well-being and health”. -
National Trades' Union Convention
Union members at the National Trades’ Union Convention make the first formal, public proposal recommending that states establish minimum ages for factory work -
First State Child Labor Law
Massachusetts creates the first state child labor law requiring factory children under 15 to go to school a minimum of 3 months per year. -
States Begin Limiting Children's' Workday
Massachusetts limits children’s workdays to 10 hours; other states soon pass similar laws—but most of these laws are not consistently enforced -
Labor Movement Urges Minimum Age Law
Working Man's Party proposes banning the employment ofchildren under the age of 14 -
AFL Supports State Minimum Age Laws
The first national convention of the American Federation of Labor passes a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from wage labor. -
New York Labor Movement
The New York labor movement, under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, attempts to end child labor in the cigar industry by successfully sponsoring legislation that bans production in tenements, where many of young children work in the trade. -
National Child Labor Committe Forms
Organized on April 25, 1904 at a mass meeting at Carnegie Hall in New York City attended by men and women concerned with the plight of working children. An aggressive national campaign for federal child labor reform begins -
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
A short lived act that limited the working hours of children and forbade the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. The Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional in 1918 because it overstepped the purpose of the government’s powers to regulate interstate commerce. -
Federal Purchasing Law Passes
Walsh-Healey Act states U.S. government will not purchase goods made by underage children -
FDR Signs Fair Labor Standards Act
Federal regulation of child labor achieved in Fair Labor Standards Act For the first time, minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children are regulated by federal law. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs this.