1843 Massachusetts Legislature Passes First Child Labor Law

In 1832 the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, and Other Working Men created a committee to investigate the use of child labor. The committee found that in most textile mills children were required to work thirteen to fourteen hours a day. These were often the children of parents whose poverty has made them dependent on the income their kids brought in. As a result, children were rarely taken from the mills and given an education. The committee recommended that union members petition the state legislature for a ten-hour workday as well as regulations that would encourage more children to attend school. The committee as well as all other members of the Association feared not only for the welfare of the children, but of the state as a whole. If children of the working class were not given a proper education, they would not grow into responsible citizens. As a result, when these children became adults they would be unable to defend their independence against upper-class manipulation.

Despite the efforts of union members, it would take eleven years before the legislature would address the problems of child labor. In 1943, Massachusetts became the first state to pass a law limiting the use of child labor. The law decreased the maximum length of a child laborer’s workday to ten hours. After Massachusetts passed its law, many other states followed suit. Unfortunately, these laws were poorly enforced and often ignored; however, they represented true progress on the road to eliminating child labor.