Addie Card, 1910, Library of Congress
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In the early 1900s, census figures revealed that more than two million children, many of them under fourteen, were employed in manufacturing, agriculture, and mining. Photographer Lewis Hines documented the dangerous conditions under which these children worked, and presented the results to Congress. Facing this evidence, Edward Keating and Robert Owen sponsored a bill that outlawed the employment of children under fourteen in manufacturing, and under sixteen in mining. The bill was passed in 1916. Just two years later, it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Despite its repeal, the Keating-Owen Act set the stage for future child labor regulations.
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