ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT “REVEALED: INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WAS POWERED BY CHILD SLAVES”

The essay published by Cambridge University Press is about children labour during the Industrial Revolution. The first paragraph of the text expresses the thesis as a function to introducing the problem. The thesis of the article is that “child labour was the crucial ingredient which allowed Britain’s Industrial Revolution to succeed”.

The journalist uses the words of a professor to discuss the thesis. Moreover the argumentations are expressed by data and information drawn from autobiographies. First of all the body of the article is characterized by the statistic about children labour: since 19^th century England had more than a million child workers accounting for 15 per cent of the total labour force. Then the work of professor Humphries focus on the 18^th century in which the number of child workers is around 35 per cent and it increases to 60 per cent during the 19^th century. The last body’s paragraph is about the explanation of the data and how the Industrial Revolution had change the way of living. The industrialization it isn’t only the mistreatment of children, but also the increase of family size due early marriage and the distinction between agrarian family and industrial family. In fact the role of the women is different in those types of family: in the first the women has to work with her husband and children while in the second the dimension of the family drove them into house.

The last paragraph draws the conclusion of the article: children labour is principally caused by the death of father. The words of professor Humphries are also about the relationship between the family and the economy: the labour force is given by families’ components that create the economy.

I think that the growth of Britain during the Industrial Revolution is made by workers. This article carries out the causes and consequence of children work in society: they represent the main labour force. The Industrial Revolution helped change life: it creates large families, so it means lot of children that can become workers to increase the economy. In conclusion the growth of Britain during the Industrial revolution is largely realized by children.