Post-colonialism refers to the effects on any given culture after their civilization has been colonized by a separate cultural group. Throughout history, England has been known to colonize many parts of the world in order to benefit from unique resources. In the Victorian era, England had few rivals and insignificant competition for maintaining strongholds in many parts of the world since Napoleon had been defeated. England held land and processed resources as if it were part of England in parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

In the 19^th century, child labor was not a new invention. Poor families have always influenced children to enter the workforce as soon as they were able bring in income. Additionally, children often made practical and cheap employees for big businesses. By the mid-1800s, it was the norm for children to work a dozen hours a day doing hard labor, often in coal mines. Around the same time, the working conditions had become so bad that legislature and literature used their influence to improve working circumstances for child workers.