After its original failure to be enacted, the bill was revised and re-introduced to Congress, where it was finally accepted.

To enforce the Act, the Secretary of Labor would assign inspectors to perform inspections of workplaces that produce goods for commerce.

The inspectors would have the authority to make unannounced visits and would be given full access to the facility in question.

The work of Alexander McKelway and the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC),[2][full citation needed] it was signed into law in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson, who had lobbied heavily for its passage, and went into effect on September 1, 1917.

However, nine months later, in Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251 (1918),[3] it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States (see also Lochner era).