Labor Reforms
What was the main goal of labor unions during the Industrial Revolution?
To improve working conditions and wages for factory workers.
Who were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
Prominent women’s rights activists who helped organize the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls.
What were tenements?
Crowded and often poorly constructed apartment buildings that housed many urban workers.
Who was Joseph Bazalgette, and what was his contribution to public health?
He designed a sewer system in London to prevent the spread of diseases like cholera.
What was the Factory Act of 1833, and what did it regulate?
It regulated child labor in factories, limiting the number of hours children could work.
Who were the Luddites, and what were they known for?
A secret society of artisans who destroyed industrial machines, fearing they would replace skilled labor.
What experience led Mott and Stanton to focus on women’s rights?
They were denied the right to speak at an anti-slavery convention in London.
What did Jacob Riis’ book How the Other Half Lives expose?
The poor living conditions in New York City’s tenements.
Which New York physician linked unsanitary conditions to the spread of typhus and cholera?
Stephen Smith.
Why did many children work in factories during the Industrial Revolution?
Families needed the extra income to afford food and rent due to low wages.
Which event in 1911 led to the creation of the Factory Investigation Commission?
The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.
What document was adopted at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention?
The “Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments,” which called for political and economic rights for women.
What law was passed in New York as a result of Riis’ work?
The Tenement House Law, which set higher standards for safety and sanitation in tenements.
What type of system did Thomas Hawksley build in British cities during the 1870s?
Urban clean water systems that kept water safe and prevented contamination.
By the 1880s, what change had been made in education in both Britain and the United States?
Education was made mandatory for all children.
What did Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, reveal about American factories?
It revealed the dangerous and unsanitary conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry.
Which biblical passages did abolitionists use to support both anti-slavery and women's equality?
Passages that argued for the equality of all people before God.
What city was one of the first to have large tenements?
Glasgow, Scotland.
What was one of the earliest health reforms in Britain during the Industrial Revolution?
The building of sewers and clean water systems to prevent diseases.
When did the U.S. pass its first federal law restricting child labor?
1916.
Which two acts were passed as a result of the public outcry following the publication of The Jungle?
The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
How long did it take for women to gain the right to vote in the United States after the Seneca Falls Convention?
70 years.
What improvement did the Tenement House Law require for buildings?
Better construction materials, mandatory fire escapes, and more windows for ventilation.
What was the Public Health Act of 1875 responsible for in the United States?
Ensuring the government managed drinking water, sewage waste, and contagious diseases.
What significant development in education occurred in the United States alongside child labor reforms?
The establishment of free elementary education in every state.