The timeline of young peoples' rights in the United States, including children and youth rights, includes a variety of events ranging from youth activism to mass demonstrations. There is no "golden age" in the American children's rights movement.Guggenheim, M. (2005) What's wrong with children's rights. Harvard University Press. p 1.
Pre-19th century The history of youth rights in the United States ranges from the earliest years of European settlements on North America. Poor children were routinely and legally indentured in colonial New England by the "poor laws." In 1676 Nathan Knight, an eight-year-old boy, was apprenticed to a mason, "bound... to serve and abide the full space and term of twelve years and five months." Provided food, shelter and clothes in exchange for his labor, the boy was not allowed to leave his master until he was 21 years old."History of apprenticeship", Washington State Department of Labor and Industry. Retrieved 4/23/08.
19th century By the end of the 19th century, American children worked in large numbers in mines, glass factories, textiles, agriculture, canneries, home industries, and as newsboys, messengers, bootblacks and peddlers.
Timeline of 19th century events related to Children's Rights in the U.S. in chronological order Date Parties Event 1800 Organizations There are eight institutions for abused and neglected children in the U.S.Burns, M. (1977) I Am Not a Short Adult! Getting good at being a kid. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 100. 1832 New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen condemn child labor.Child Labor Public Education Project. (2007). Child labor in US history. University of Iowa. Retrieved 7/6/08. 1836 Massachusetts Massachusetts creates the first state child labor law where children under 15 working in factories have to attend school for at least 3 months per year. 1836 Trade unions Early trade unions at the National Trades' Union Convention propose state minimum age laws for factory work. 1840s Day nurseries Day nurseries began in Boston for low-income working wives and widows of merchant seamen. Day care "was founded as a social service to alleviate the child care problems of parents who had to work, and to prevent young children from suicidal acts from thinking of being unloved ."Scarr, A. and Weinberg, C. (1986). "The Early Childhood enterprise: Care and education of the young," American Psychologist. 41. p 1140. 1842 Massachusetts Massachusetts limits children to working 10 hours per day. Several states follow suit, but do not consistently enforce their laws. 1850 Organizations There are ninety institutions for abused and neglected children in the U.S.Burns, M. (1977) I Am Not a Short Adult! Getting good at being a kid. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p 100. 1851 Massachusetts The first modern adoption law (1851 Adoption of Children Act) in the U.S. was passed in Massachusetts. It recognized adoption as a social and legal operation based on child welfare rather than adult interests and directed judges to ensure that adoption decrees were "fit and proper.""Timeline of adoption history", Adoption History Project at the University of Oregon. Retrieved 7/5/08. 1853 Children's Aid Society Charles Loring Brace founded the Children's Aid Society to take in children living on the street. 1854 Orphan Trains In 1854 Charles Loring Brace led the Children's Aid Society to start the Orphan Train with stops across the West, where they were adopted and often given work. 1869 Samuel Fletcher, Jr. In one of the first such court rulings, the parents of Samuel Fletcher, Jr. are found guilty of child abuse. Fletcher, who was born blind, was locked into the cellar of his family's house for several days by his parents. Upon escaping he notified authorities and his parents were arrested. They were fined $300 in one of the first court rulings that recognized children's right to be protected by law against abuse and cruelty.Cooley, R.W. and Tiffany, W.C. (1913) "Fletcher v. People", Illustrative Cases on Persons and Domestic Relations. West Company. p 181. 1874 Mary Ellen Wilson Mary Ellen Wilson was not allowed to go outside, except at night in her own yard, and was regularly beaten by her adopted parents. Police rescue the eight-year-old after the head of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals calls them on Mary Ellen's behalf. Mrs. Connelly was sentenced to jail for one year. That year the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded, the first organization of its kind."Mary Ellen Wilson", American Humane. Retrieved 4/23/08. 1876 Workingmen's Party of the United States Workingmen's Party proposes banning the employment of children under the age of 14. 1877 American Humane Association The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and several Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals across the U.S. joined together to form the American Humane Association. 1881 American Federation of Labor The first National Convention of the American Federation of Labor passes a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from all gainful employment. 1883 Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers leads the New York Labor Movement targets the end of child labor in cigar making by successfully sponsoring legislation that bans the practice in tenements, where thousands of young children work in the trade. 1889 Hull House Hull House became one of the first organizations in the United States to provide after school programs for children and youth.Johnson, M.A., "Hull House," in eds. Grossman, J.R., Keating, A.D. and Reiff, J.L. (2004) The Encyclopedia of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press. p. 402. 1892 Democratic Party The Democratic Party adopts platform plank with recommendations to ban factory employment for children under 15. 1898 New York School of Applied Philanthropy The New York School of Philanthropy was the first higher education program to train people who wanted to work in the field of charity, including child development and youth work, in the United States. It was established with a six-week summer program in 1898, and expanded to a full-year program in 1904.Schaefer, J.K. () "New York School of Philanthropy" , LearningToGive. Retrieved 7/5/08. 1899 John Dewey John Dewey becomes president of the American Psychological Association, openly advocates for children's rights, and later writes several books about progressive education that emphasize the necessity for children's rights in education and throughout democratic society. He is acknowledged as one of the heroes of the children's rights movement in the United States.Rosenheim, M.K., Zimring, F.E. and Tanenhaus, D.S. (eds) (2002) A Century of Juvenile Justice. University Of Chicago Press.
20th century Before the 1930s children were routinely exploited in a variety of settings throughout American society. Frequently beginning their working lives before their tenth birthday, children worked in hazardous jobs at mines, mills, factories, sweatshops, and on farms, with little or no wages. Labor laws did not exist, and the common perception of the ease with which children were manipulated made them targets for a variety of rights violations.
In the 1980s the United States provided global leadership by acting as the "Tip of The Spear" among nations in crafting the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC. After the United Nations adopted the CRC in 1989, the United States became a signatory nation in 1994. However, to date the country has refused to ratify the Convention, joining only one other nation in the world with that status. Among the reasons the United States has failed to ratify the Convention is the fact that the Convention clearly states that anyone under the age of 18 is a child. The U.S. government has reservations about how that would affect matters when a 16- or 17-year-old commits a crime; currently, in certain instances, such a person can be tried as an adult in the U.S. courts. Several politicians have said that many of the declarations included in the document are not issues for which the federal government is in charge. There is currently no apparent effort within the federal government to adopt the CRC.Yurchyk, B. (2008) "The United States’ Compliance Decisions with Regards to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Two Optional Protocols: Reflections on the Theories of International Law," Ohio State University. Retrieved 7/6/08.