I'd like to add one more issue to the discussion. The Industrial Revolution changed the concept of work in America on several levels. First, as productivity advanced, so did the need for more workers and more work hours. More people entered the workforce than ever before, actually causing a nationwide shift in polulation from the rural to the more urban areas, where the jobs were.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, was established by the federal government ten years ago to provide health insurance to children in families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line.
At its creation in 1997, SCHIP was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since Lyndon Johnson established Medicaid in 1965. The statutory authority for CHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act.