Child Labor In The Industrial Revolution By Ethan Stahl

Child Labor

By Ethan Stahl

Child labor in the industrial revolution was asinine. Just one of the many reasons was just simply conditions that perfectly good kids worked in. Thank god for the great people and movements challenging these absurd factories. Finally, child labor laws have improved drastically and kids were treated like proper human beings.

In the heat of the industrial revolution child labor was preposterous. Firstly, Innocent children often worked for more than 15 hours a day with just a half hour break. Second, Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for children to be using or working near. Many accidents occurred injuring or killing children on the job. These conditions were absolutely incongruous. Lastly, The atrocious people who the children served would beat them, verbally abuse them, and take no consideration for their safety. These are children. The thought of doing these things to them is most definitely overwhelming to say the least.  

Finally, bold men and women stood up for these poor children. The owners of factories, of course, loved children working for them because they could get away with under paying these kids and giving them conditions that were not even close to being up to par. Then in 1833, the factory act passed by parliament. This added laws such as  Children ages 9–13 must not work more than 8 hours with an hour lunch break. It also Outlawed the employment of children under 9 in the textile industry and it added the law that Children under 18 must not work at night.

Nowadays, Child Labor is a bit more tolerable. In general, for non-agricultural jobs, children under 12 may not be employed, although it differs in states and children between 12 and 16 may be employed in allowed occupations during limited hours. Lastly, children between 16 and 18 may be employed for unlimited hours in non-hazardous occupations. But, Hundreds of thousands of children are employed as farm workers in the United States, often working 10 or more hours a day. They are often exposed to dangerous pesticides, experience high rates of injury, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of other working youth. So child labor is better nowadays but still not quite superb. 

Child labor has definitely improved since the dark days of the industrial revolution. Yet, it is not perfect and I believe it should be vital to protect the children because they are the future of this country. I think it is important we remember the great movements and people that took a stand for what it right due to the awful conditions these kids worked in back then like the factory act of 1833. All in all. We simply need to protect the future. Which in this case, is the innocent children. 

Sources: 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution
 http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html
 http://eiu.edu/eiutps/childhood.php

Glass blowing

Glass Blowing

Emily Livingstone

I recently went to a museum entirely focused on the makings of glass and different glass art pieces. It was incredible what people made with glass and how the process was completed. As I watched the professionals mold the glass, I was in awe at what they were dealing with. Glass makers have come such a far way from what they started with.The way I see anything made of glass is from a completely different perspective now that I know how it’s made. When I see a wine glass, for example, I never used to stop and think how much time, effort, and money went into making such a simple object.

The history of glass blowing dates back to approximately 3500 years ago, as a art brought to us from the Romans. The art of glass blowing built up from different techniques of making glass pieces. It started out with a mold made out of clay. Roman glass makers would shape the mold to what they wanted to make. The objects that were made out of glass were called vessels. Although at the time, glass making was not very popular in a variety of places, there were a lot of glass fusing in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In these areas, the glass was very hard and expensive to make, so only members of the higher classes could own such a beautiful item. Trade started to expand the knowledge of glass making throughout the world.

Finally, the process of glass blowing was invented when someone discovered that you were able to blow into the glass to make the shape of the vessel you wanted in 50 BC. Because of this fascinating new discovery, glass blowers had a much wider range on what they had the ability to make with glass. Glass vessels became more of a household object, and because glass blowers could just blow into the glass, making these vessels became easier to do, and easier to handle financially. In effect to glass becoming easier to make, there were more glass pieces to give out, which meant more of the lower class members could have glass vessels as well as the upper class.

The population and demand of glass vessels quickly increased when the industrial revolution started. people made factories, so that the glass blowing again became easier for people to make. Still, the process took a lot of work. Otto Schott, a german scientist, and Ernst Abbe studied the chemical makings of glass, and contributed immensely on the mass production of glass blowing from their research. Soon people started inventing new things to help the process of glass blowing, such as the tank furnace which was invented by Friedrich Siemens. This made Friedrich Siemens very famous, replaced the old pot furnace, and helped keep the glass at a high enough temperature that it stayed as molten. Then there was the invention of kerosene lamps, and suddenly the demand on glass lamps went up instantaneously.

Until the Glass lamps were made, glass was pretty much only used to make things such as different shaped vessels and bottles. Glass started being used for so much more, that glass started to be part of everyone's daily routine. Once there was more population of coal, people had the fuel in order to maintain glass factories in more areas around the cities. Soon after, there was the invention of the glass bottle blowing machine which was made by Michael Owens. After he invented this, there were many other machines inspired by it. All these machines made glass blowing more and more easier and helped make the process cheaper.

There is more to it than just the history, like the actual step by step making of all the different things made out of glass. When I take one good look at something made out of glass, I couldn't see how something of such simplicity, could be made.

After studying about the history and process at glass blowing I was all the more amazed at what glass blowers had the skill to do.

SOURCES:

http://www.glassblowing.com/hotglass/history.php
http://mirakkulglassware.com/blog/history-of-glass/industrial-revolution-and-glass-making/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1xb48Y6EdA

The Power of Mindsets

Mindset is a state of mind. Mind sets can make a huge difference, because they make things easier or harder depending on how you use them. They might affect whether you can get the Snickers challenge, how many pirouettes you can do, or what score you get on a test. When someone thinks“I can’t do that,” he or she normally can’t do it. An example of a good mind set, where you think to yourself, “I can do it,” appears in one of my little brother’s books, The Little Engine That Could “Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine. ‘I think I can- I think I can- I think I can- I think I can- I think I can- I think I can - I think I can -I think I can- I think I can’ Up,up,up. Faster and faster and faster the little engine climbed, until at last they reached the top of the mountain.”

Carol Dweck, who discovered mindsets, teaches psychology at Stanford University. She wrote a book called Mindset. Mindset describes and demonstrates mindsets in sports, education, and relationships . Dweck’s book is the product of a decade of research on how people learn and perform. She identified two types of mindsets.

The two mindsets are growth mindsets and fixed mindsets. If you have a growth mindset you understand that abilities are things that can be developed. Fixed mindsets , by contrast, are a static idea of what can be achieved. Growth mindsets have been proven better for learning and achieving hard goals. A study with 7th graders showed that the ones with growth mindsets were more motivated than the others. After the period of two years a significant gap in math scores developed between the children with growth mindsets and the children with fixed mindsets.

           In PE, John had us do a Snickers challenge for hockey. A Snickers challenge is when we are presented with a challenge, if we can do it, everyone in the class gets a Snickers. This Snickers challenge was to hit the hockey ball into the soccer goal on the other side of the gym. The people who were more confident seemed to hit it in more often. At the end of that class John talked about mindsets and how important they are. John’s comments are what gave me the idea for this blog.

In ballet, I use mindsets all the time: when I’m about to do a pirouette, when I’m learning a new step, or even when my feet hurt. It’s helpful to picture the ballet step being done perfectly. One of the company artists at OBT is my idol. Trying to picture her doing a step and then telling myself I can do the same thing, normally makes ballet easier.

Mindsets can also help with school. Studying is important but it is not enough. Mindsets are vital, because they can make you more or less confident. Fixed mindsets can make it hard to think. Growth mindsets help with learning.

These examples demonstrate how mindsets can change lives. By helping sports, arts, and education, growth mindsets have a huge influence on performance.  Fixed mindsets, however, only make learning harder. I hope after reading this blog you will be more aware of how you think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

works cited:

http://www.mindsetworks.com/webnav/whatismindset.aspx, http://mindsetonline.com/,http://en.wikipedia.org, http://community.mindsetworks.com/blog-page/home-blogs/entry/carol-dweck-receives-distinguished-scientific-contribution-article-award, http://www.thoughtfullearning.com/blog/cat/Creative%20Thinking

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind-set

Evolution of the Telephone

by: Maggie Craven

A major breakthrough during the industrial revolution was Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone. Bell's mother and and wife were both deaf so that encouraged his research in hearing and speech. He first invented was the microphone which later turned into the "speech machine" more commonly known nowadays as the telephone. Bell was awarded the first ever patent for the telephone in 1876. Thomas Watson worked alongside Bell throughout the invention. They used reeds, vibration, magnets, currents, and more to make the invention possible.

After they had made the first ever practical telephone Bell and Watson started their own telephone business. They kept advancing their business with inventions like the rotary-dial telephone (the one where you rotate the circular dial to put in the number you wish to call). Bell died August 2nd, 1922 at the age of 75, but his invention lives on and continues to evolve. 

Telephone Timeline

                                   

 In the 1940's cellular telephone started being put into action. Inventors started with the "hand-held radio transceivers" and continued with devices people could use in their automobiles. In 1947 AT&T commercialized the MTS (mobile telephone services). This service however was nothing like what we have now. The equipment itself weighed about 80 pounds and customers were a rarity. 

The advancements in telephones is probably one of the most astonishing inventions of all time! It's amazing to see what our phones can do now compared to back when they first started. Also the popularity of phones has increased tremendously and so has the need. We use our phones for social purposes and many work purposes as well.  I wouldn't doubt that about 99% percent of the people in america know someone who owns an iPhone or smartphone never the less probably owning one themselves. 

sources

http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/telephone.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone
http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/bell.html

http://www.history.com/photos/inventions-communication/photo5

http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-graham-bell-9205497

http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3625

Child Labor in the Industrial Revolution

Child Labor in the Industrial Revolution

Have you ever worked in a factory with almost no breaks for 12 hours a day, and it was a possibility you wouldn’t be paid? These are just some of the the horrible working conditions child laborers faced during the Industrial Revolution. In England in 1750, 14% of factory workers were children. If child workers failed to reach the quota required by their supervisors, they would be punished severely, and their supervisors would make sure their fellow child workers saw what happened. It was very surprising to me that children under the age of nine were allowed to work in factories in Britain until 1833, when Parliament passed the Factory Act which banned them from working. Factory owners could opt to not pay their child laborers if they provided essentials such as shelter, clothing, food, and water. Children were sometimes dragged semi-conscious and naked from their ragtag bedding early in the morning as to assure they wouldn’t be late. Some children working in the fields instead of factories would work 14 hour days in extreme temperatures. Perhaps the strangest fact to me is that the labor laws stopping such maniacal behavior were not supported by many parents of the child workers, and this was true because the children received barely ample supplies for living. Many orphaned children were siphoned into factory jobs, and therefore government funds wouldn't be used on orphanage supplies. The children working in factories for a few extra coins for their families were labeled "free labour children", and factory owners were eager to employ them. Multiple child workers have testified over the years, and one 8 year old testified that he once tried to run away from the mill he worked at, but his parents had sold him to the mill owner for 15 shillings for six years. He stated that he tried to run away twice, and both times one of the supervisors whipped him without mercy. Some of the causes to limit child labor came from doctors, and they said that epidemics could easily spread through children miners working dirtily in close quarters. The Ten Hours Bill of 1847 stated that children over nine and women could only work ten hours, and another act called the Regulation of Child Labor Law paid inspectors to patrol mainly the textile factories in search of underage workers or children and women working more than 10 hours. These were eventually compiled under the Factory Act. This picture 

shows just how hard the laboring was back then. When asked, the mill owners justified their malevolent actions by saying that they were "building the children's character". The newspapers and news outlets always found a way to avoid blaming the wealthy mill owners, and by doing this they extended the period of time over which child labor was allowed. In the United States, wages and working conditions were only barely better than the environment facing the children of Britain. The United States children were paid anywhere from 40 cents to 2 dollars. Unlike the British, laws of the United States and Europe on child labor did not change until the 1900's! That's over 70 years after the British made a major change. During the Industrial Revolution, many families came to the cities because they heard of many job opportunities, and higher pay. When they realized these were empty promises, they scrambled for money whenever they could. This made it even easier for the selfish mill and factory owners to manipulate those lower class families into putting their kids to work. On the other hand, commoners argued that it gave young men and women valuable skills they could use for future jobs. They stated this although many children ruined their futures by injuring themselves on the job. The Industrial Revolution had many changed many aspects of common living for the better, but Child Labor is certainly not one of them.

Works Cited:

"Child Labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution." Child Labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

"Child Labour." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

"Eastern Illinois University Homepage." Childhood Lost. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

"Industrial Revolution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

"Child Labour." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

For my blog post I will be writing about the declaration of rights of man. This was written by a man named Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert (Zhill-bear) du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The declaration of rights of man is not to be confused with the declaration of independents, they are very similar because the rights of man was based off the declaration of independents.

The writer Lafayette went to join george washington's army when he was 19. After a while he became very close friends with george and they became almost father and son. While in the States he grew very fond of the declaration of independents and decided to make his own with the help of his friend Jefferson. They worked long evenings secretly to make the Independence of Rights of Man.

When it was finished Lafayette first called it The “First European Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens,” On July 7th, 1787, Lafayette proposed his "Declaration of the Rights of Man," and it got approved on August 26th to be the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100113201158AAarXF8
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Human%20Rights%20Documents/French_RightsofMan.html

 Tea party? More like tea war declaration!

Written by Silas Godlee-Campbell 

           "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American!"
 This statement was made by Patrick Henry (an orator during the movement for independence) shortly after the Boston Tea Party.

          The reason  that this "tea party" was so historically  important was not that Mr. beary actually showed up (he didn't)  it was that during the Boston Tea Party  English settlers dumped 12 million dollars worth of tea into the Boston harbor. That's 27,180,000 cups! Now the English settlers didn't do this out of celebration or boredom they did this to get back on England, because England was taxing them for things that they didn't tax the rest of England for such as tea or beans. Now the English settlers were a little ticked by this but what really got their knickers in a twist was that they didn't get a say in how they were taxed and they couldn't try to change the previous taxes, this is called taxing without representation.

           This event was one of the major turning points in American history. If the English settlers didn't get so fed up the country might be a completely different place maybe we would all be English or maybe our land would be sold and America would be controlled by 17 different countries. So next time you're enjoying the hearty taste of a Big Mac be thankful that the English settlers had the back bone to fight back against their English depressors.

 Sources
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_came_first_Boston_massacre_or_Boston_tea_party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_taxation_without_representation
https://docs.google.com/a/catlin.edu/document/d/1L2IsJucS_2BMw8Bb8B_jP7rcF6SW-tZIhPX3JAZxD4g/edit?pli=1

     “Extending the land of freedom” spoke Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States,  about the Manifest Destiny. For many people in the nineteenth century it felt good to move west to find new land. They wanted a new start and a fresh beginning. When The Louisiana Purchase was made people packed their bags, hopped on a train, and left.  Many Americans felt that god had blessed them on the expansion of the American nation. Anyone who did not agree with god and christianity needed to be changed.  In the eyes of the settlers Native Americans were demons that had no grace and culture. They thought by christianizing tribes that they could help their souls. The Native Americans did not want to be a part of it for a second.

   Today there are many opinions if the ends did justify the means.

  The United States offered a proposal to move a Native American tribe more westward but after declining they were forced out or killed because the Americans wanted the land and to expand further west.  Pushing Native Americans off their land or slaughtering them for the expansion of The United States was completely unreasonable. The U.S had no right to take over because it was the Native Americans land first and that was their only home, they didn't like the idea of moving west as much as the settlers did. What we have today was not worth killing so many people, there could have been another way of doing things. Yes, today there are Reservations but it is nowhere near the land that they once had.

     On the other hand, The United States is one of the most developed and wealthiest countries in the world. If we had let the Native Americans stay in their land then the U.S might be a third world country today.  Our land would be smaller, groundbreaking inventions would not have been made. If this country is so important that a pregnant tourist will visit our country just so they can give birth to an American citizen then there is nothing that should have been done differently. The American visa is one of the most valuable and cherished items from the eyes of an immigrant. People risk their lives every day just to cross the border and to live here.

      In the heart of the Manifest destiny was a belief of cultural and racial superiority. The Native Americans had been a trouble to the settlers and trying to “civilize” them was not working. Americans also saw the Hispanics from Texas to be not proper, which led to the annexation of Texas and taking of Oregon and California. If the ends did justify the means then there were sacrifices that were made in order to put us here today.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny

www.ushistory.org/us/29.asp

Johannes Kepler

We learned many things from the Scientific Revolution, including space science. Johannes Kepler was one of the few people that made immense discoveries about space. Kepler discovered laws of planetary motion and how planets rotated around the sun.

Kepler was a German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (1571 - 1630). Kepler was also Tycho Brahe’s assistant, and later he asked Kepler to study Mars. Kepler tried to make a negotiation to make a more formal employment, but it turned into an argument which made Kepler move to a city named Prague in April 6, 1600. In June, Brahe and Kepler reached an agreement to give Kepler a better salary.
Kepler also supported the theory of the earth rotates around the sun, or that our solar system was heliocentric. He didn’t agree with Tycho Brahe’s geocentric theories even though he was a student of Brahe. He agreed with Copernicus who came up with the idea of a heliocentric solar system, but modified his idea (orbital path). Later in history, this helped Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. Gravity was the reason why planets stayed in orbit.

Later in his studies, he observed the planets and discovered these three laws of planetary motion:

His first law states that the orbit of each planet is an ellipse with the Sun at a focus.

His second law is states a line between a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Planets travel faster when they are closer to the sun (perihelion), and slower when they are further from the sun (aphelion).

Kepler’s third and last law states that the square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit. That means if you know the year of the revolving object, you square the year (yr2) and you cube root yr2 .That will get you the distance to the sun in AU (Astronomical Units). This doesn’t only work for planets; it also works for moons, dwarf planets, satellites, etc. This equation can also be expressed as P2=A3. P represents the orbital period, and A represents the semi-major axis of the orbit (distance to the sun).

In brief, Kepler gave an enormous contribution to the Scientific Revolution. He discovered laws about our solar system, and even helped Isaac Newton create the theory of gravity. Without Kepler, we would know very little about our solar system. We might also think that Nicolaus Copernicus was right and the orbit around the sun was a perfect circle. Kepler cleared things up for us and helped modern science. The Scientific Revolution has influenced modern space science in a wonderful way. All of the scientist worked on theories for a long time and it was then completed. Copernicus gave the correct heliocentric idea, Kepler modified his idea to make the orbits ellipses, and Newton found gravity to explain why the planets are in orbit. These intelligent scientists discovered how our solar system works and now we can look back at their theories for modern science.

Food during the Industrial Revolution

During the industrial revolution, food was a problem, a social status symbol, and even a right. The fancier the food, the richer people assumed that one was. People who worked in factories got very little time to eat, while people in higher social classes got all the time they needed. Most classes got food, but their meals were as basic as porridge because of money. Even good water was hard to find, because of the contamination. Higher social classes would receive fancy cakes and tea, while lower classes would be stuck eating gruel, and basic breads.

People working in factories would have little time to eat during the day. Usually, even children only had half an hour for breakfast and lunch, so their meals needed to be quick and nutritious. It was pretty much the same for adults too. They tried to pack as many carbs and protein into their meals as they could. Here are two quotes, about the short breaks, found from the factory workers during the industrial revolution:

'The hours of labour at that mill were from five in a morning till eight at night, with an interval for refreshments of thirty minutes at noon.'

'I have been in the mills at all hours and I have never in my life seen the machinery stopped at mealtimes in any of the mills…'
(Evidence given to the Factory Inquiry Commission 1833)

Like in all cultures and time periods, there were common, and uncommon foods in the industrial revolution. These were most of the foods that you could find almost anywhere during this time: mutton, bacon, potatoes, oatcakes, porridge, bread and soups, gruel - a thin soup made from oats or potatoes mixed with milk and water, apples, pears and berries depending on the season, beer – even for children, and tea.
The most uncommon foods all have a reason to be uncommon, and most of the causes involve money. The top three foods, drinks, and food groups that were very uncommon in the industrial revolution were tropical fruits, milk and other dairy products, and good water. Tropical fruits were rare because they weren’t available in most parts of the USA, and it was too expensive and not worth it to ship them in. The reason that milk and dairy products were uncommon is very simple, they were too expensive. It cost a lot for farmers to even keep their cows, so they asked for more money for their products. The issue with water was, that it was polluted. Obviously, people couldn’t drink really contaminated water, so they did their best to clean it. It was unfortunate that all of these foods were forced to be rare because of money, but, that was what people had to learn to except.
During the industrial revolutions, there were no supermarkets, or grocery stores that sold more than one thing. This meant that people would have to go to several different shops to get what they needed for their daily life. These stores mostly included greengrocers and butchers. There were also traveling milkmen, grocers, and other pedalers.

People started to go hungry duringthe revolution. The typical life expectancy at this time really depended on the country, but was around 35- 50 years. This soon became a huge problem.

As one might see, money played a huge role in the typical food in the industrial revolution. Also, people who worked in the factories of that time had very little time to eat, so they had to pack as much hearty food into their meal as possible. There was a pattern that the cheaper food was often much more common than the expensive food. People started dying much more often because they couldn’t afford necessary nutrients. Food, or lack there of, played a huge role in a typical day during the industrial revolution.   

Sources:
http://www.mylearning.org/everyday-life-in-the-industrial-revolution/p-2355/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution#Food_and_nutrition

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html

http://www.enotes.com/agriculture-since-industrial-revolution-reference/agriculture-since-industrial-revolution