13/01/15
Lesson 4: Reform-Parliamentary debates
Learning Objective: To examine and analyze parliamentary debates about child labor.
DA: Briefly explain the hardships which the "other half" experienced.
Historical Background:
- Child labor did not go unquestioned as some mill owner tried to take care of the workers who made them wealthy.
- Samuel Greg and Robert Peel were among them, employing over 1,000 children.
- 1802 Parliament passed a law which prohibited apprentices from working more than twelve hours a day.
- Ten hour working days were proposed but not received well by most mill owners. Advocates of the reduced hours compared the childrens' lives to that of African slaves, "little white slaves of factories".
- This gridlock between mill owners and workers forced the Parliament to create a Royal Commission to hear both sides.
Students will reenact the testimonies from workers, manufacturers and investigators.
Roles
Jury: 6 students
Commission Chair: Michael Sadler (1-4 students)
Witness A: Matthew Crabtree (2 students)
B: Elizabeth Bentley
C: Samuel Downe
D: Reverend Abercrombie Lockhart Gordon
Examiner: Dr. Hawkins
E: Robert Blincoe
F: Joesph Birley
G: Vernon Royles
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Reviewing what you have learned so far, write suggestions on the board of legislation you think is appropriate as well as what problem they would solve.