• Child labor has existed in one form or another throughout U.S. history. Even before the Industrial Revolution, children were subject to such harsh practices as child slavery and indentured servitude. After industrialization, child labor became much harder than working on the family farm. Factory owners needed a cheap source of labor and children provided it. This practice outraged many groups and individuals who fought for laws to regulate it. It took a long time, but this struggle culminated in laws that regulated child labor and removed many of the harsh conditions that existed earlier.
  
  

Early State Laws

• According to the Child Labor Education Project, Massachusetts passed the first child labor law in 1836. This law required children under the age of 15 working in factories to attend school at least three months a year. Six years later, Massachusetts passed a law limiting children to a 10-hour work day, and other states soon followed, but these law were not consistently enforced.
  
  

First Federal Laws

• Congress passed a law in 1916 banning the movement of goods manufactured by child labor in interstate commerce. It was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two years later, revised and passed and then held unconstitutional again. In 1924, Congress passed a constitutional amendment banning child labor, but it failed to gain ratification from a sufficient number of states.
  
  

National Industrial Recovery Act

• This 1933 law banned child labor in most industries except agriculture and domestic work. However, in 1935 the Supreme Court declared the National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional. In 1936, the Walsh-Healey Act was passed. This law prevented the federal government from buying goods made by child labor. The following year, Congress repassed the constitutional amendment banning child labor; it fell just short of being ratified by the states. That same year, Congress made sugar beet growers ineligible for farm subsidies if they violated state child labor laws.
  
  

Fair Labor Standards Act

• In 1938, this law set minimum ages and regulated hours of work for children.