Hammer v. Dagenhart - Child Labor Act

In part of the federal government's efforts to restrict and eliminate worker exploitation--especially the exploitation of children--in the early part of the twentieth century, Congress passed the Keating-Owen Act of 1916, commonly called the Child Labor Act. This act sought to stop children from working long hours for low wages in hazardous conditions by outlawing interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children. The Child Labor Act's legal foundation stemmed from the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which empowered Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

In Hammer v. Dagenhart the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Child Labor Act, arguing that harmless manufactured goods were not part of the commerce regulated by the federal government and that Congress had overstepped its boundary. The Court felt that regulating commerce was up to states and that the Child Labor Act undermined the system of government set forth in the Constitution.