Keith Mack
The first federal child labor law in the United States was the Keating-Owen Act, passed in 1916. The act restricted the working hours of children and prohibited the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. Despite this, child labor continued to be a prevalent issue, with employers circumventing state-level regulations and the lack of a centralized federal law. It wasn't until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that a comprehensive federal law was established, addressing the employment and abuse of child workers and setting restrictions on working hours and hazardous occupations.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of the law | Keating-Owen Child Labor Act |
| Year passed | 1916 |
| Interstate commerce | Outlawed commerce involving goods produced by employees under the ages of 14, 15, or 16, depending on the type of work |
| Working hours | Limited working hours for children |
| Sale of goods | Prohibited the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor |
| Supreme Court ruling | Ruled unconstitutional |
| Reversal | Supreme Court reversed its opinion in 1941 |
| Federal protection | Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 provided federal protection for children |
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What You'll Learn
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (1916)
The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, also known as Wick's Bill, was the first federal child labor law in the United States. The Act sought to reduce child labor by prohibiting the interstate sale of goods produced by factories that employed children under specific age limits. These age limits depended on the type of work and the nature of the workplace. For instance, children under the age of 14 were banned from working in factories, shops, or canneries, while mines were prohibited from employing children under 16. The Act also restricted children under 16 from working at night or for more than eight hours a day in any facility.
The Keating-Owen Act was based on a 1906 proposal by Senator Albert J. Beveridge, which aimed to address the widespread issue of child labor in the country. The 1900 census revealed that approximately 2 million children were working in dangerous and unhealthy conditions across the United States, in mills, mines, fields, factories, stores, and even on city streets. To expose these harsh realities, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) hired photographer Lewis Hine in 1907 to document the working conditions of children. Hine's photographs had a profound impact, influencing Congress to pass the Keating-Owen Act in 1916.
The Act was a significant step towards protecting children from exploitative labor practices. It utilized the government's ability to regulate interstate commerce to curb child labor. Despite its good intentions, the Keating-Owen Act faced legal challenges. In 1918, the Supreme Court ruled that the Act was unconstitutional in Hammer v. Dagenhart, arguing that it overstepped the government's powers to regulate interstate commerce. This setback led to subsequent attempts to address child labor through different legislative approaches, such as the Child Labor Tax Law in 1919, which was also struck down by the Supreme Court.
The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act represented a pivotal moment in the history of child labor legislation in the United States. Despite its short-lived nature due to legal challenges, it marked the federal government's initial effort to address the issue. It sparked a national movement to end child labor and laid the groundwork for future legislation aimed at protecting children from exploitative labor and safeguarding their educational opportunities, health, and welfare. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, eventually provided federal protection for children and remains in force today.
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Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 was the first federal law in the United States to set nationwide compulsory standards for wages and hours. Sponsored by Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York, the Act was signed on June 14, 1938, and came into effect on October 24 of that year.
The FLSA was designed to prevent the abuse of workers and protect the educational opportunities of youth. It set a federal minimum wage, required overtime pay for certain workers, and restricted the employment of children in certain occupations and during school hours. The Act also restricted the hours that youth under 16 years of age could work and listed hazardous occupations too dangerous for young workers. For non-agricultural jobs, children under 14 could not be employed, while children between 14 and 16 could only be employed in allowed occupations during limited hours. Children under 18 were prohibited from performing certain dangerous jobs, and children under 16 were prohibited from working in manufacturing or mining.
The FLSA was originally drafted in 1932 by Senator Hugo Black, who proposed a thirty-hour workweek. This proposal was fiercely resisted, and a revised version was passed in 1938, adopting an eight-hour day and a forty-hour workweek. The revised proposal allowed workers to earn a wage for up to four hours of overtime, with overtime pay set at one-and-a-half times the regular pay rate. The Act also established rules to prevent the abuse of workers, such as requiring that all hours spent at work, including idle time, be considered "work time" and thus compensated.
While the 1938 Act placed limits on many forms of child labor, agricultural labor was excluded. As a result, even today, approximately 500,000 children pick almost a quarter of the food produced in the United States. The full effect of the FLSA was also delayed by the wartime inflation of the 1940s, which increased wages above the level specified in the Act. In 1949, President Truman signed the Fair Labor Standards Amendment Act, which increased the minimum wage and prohibited oppressive child labor in commerce or the production of goods for commerce.
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Child Labor Tax Law (1919)
The Child Labor Tax Law, also known as the Revenue Act of 1919, was passed as a bill in December 1918. It was the second federal child labor bill in the United States, following the Keating-Owen Act of 1916.
The Keating-Owen Act had restricted child labor by limiting children's working hours and prohibiting the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. However, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), on the grounds that it regulated commerce that did not cross state lines.
In response, Congress passed the Child Labor Tax Law, which took an indirect approach to regulating child labor by imposing a 10% tax on the net profits of companies that employed children in certain industries, such as mining and manufacturing. This approach was based on the government's power to levy taxes.
The Child Labor Tax Law was also challenged in the courts, in the case of Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Company (1922). The Supreme Court again ruled that the law was unconstitutional, reasoning that Congress could not use its power to tax to regulate the behavior of local citizens, such as child labor, as this was a power reserved for the states under the 10th Amendment.
Despite these setbacks, the campaign for federal laws against child labor continued. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 finally addressed child labor at the federal level, and the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality.
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The Beveridge proposal (1906)
In 1906, Republican Senator Albert J. Beveridge introduced the first child labour bill at the national level, bringing heightened attention to the issue. The bill was later turned down by President Theodore Roosevelt.
The Beveridge proposal, also known as the Beveridge Report, was a government report published in 1942 that influenced the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It was drafted by the Liberal economist and politician William Beveridge, with research and publicity by his future wife, mathematician Janet Philip. The report identified "five giants on the road to reconstruction": Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. It proposed widespread reforms to the system of social welfare to address these issues.
Beveridge's proposal was for a flat-rate universal contribution in exchange for a flat-rate universal benefit. He believed that policies of social security must be achieved through cooperation between the state and the individual, with the state securing services and contributions. He was opposed to means-tested benefits and wanted to give room for voluntary action by individuals to provide for themselves and their families.
Beveridge's ideas on idleness were influenced by Keynesian economics and he believed in extending the powers of central government to regulate industry and labour. He proposed a national scheme of unemployment insurance with flat-rate contributions and benefits, centralized state administration, and labour exchanges to rationalize the labour market and improve economic performance.
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State-level laws
The history of child labor in the United States is long and extensive. Children have always worked, and in the 18th century, newborns were viewed by parents as future beneficial laborers. In the agrarian lifestyle common in America, children as young as five were expected to help with farm work and other household chores.
The first state-level laws regarding child labor were enacted in the early 19th century. In 1813, the Connecticut legislature passed a law requiring that children working in factories be educated in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This was despite arguments that such laws were contrary to parents' rights to raise their children as they pleased.
The movement for child labor legislation gained momentum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1904, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was formed, dedicated to the abolition of all child labor. The NCLC published information on the lives and working conditions of young workers, helping to mobilize support for state-level child labor laws. In 1906, Republican Senator Albert J. Beveridge introduced the first child labor bill at the national level, which brought heightened attention to the topic. However, this bill was later turned down by President Theodore Roosevelt.
The first federal child labor law was passed in 1916, with the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act. This law limited the working hours of children and forbade the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. However, it was later struck down by the Supreme Court in 1918 as unconstitutional. Despite setbacks, the movement against child labor continued, and in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, regulating the employment of those under 16 or 18 years of age. This law was upheld by the Supreme Court and remains the primary federal law dealing with child labor.
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Frequently asked questions
The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 was the first federal attempt to regulate child labor. It restricted children's working hours and prohibited the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor.
The Keating-Owen Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, but the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. However, in 1941, the Supreme Court reversed its opinion, upholding the constitutionality of child labor laws.
In 1906, Republican Senator Albert J. Beveridge introduced the first child labor bill at the national level, which was turned down by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1907, Congress chartered the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), a group founded by progressive reformers concerned with the plight of child workers. The NCLC hired photographer Lewis Hine to document the working conditions of children, and his photos influenced the passage of the Keating-Owen Act.
