Objective: To review the Industrial Revolution and the working conditions in factories.

interchangeable parts

Do Now: Use the glossary in your text to define the following terms.

textile - woven cloth

- identical parts of a tool or instrument that are made by machine

Video: The Industrial Revolution (2:31)Beginning in the 19th century, advances in manufacturing revolutionize the American way of life.

Industrial Revolution

• British inventors began to make textiles with machines.

• A British textile worker, Samuel Slater, set up a textile factory in Rhode Island in 1790.

• This was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S.!

Student made video on the life of Samuel Slater.

Samuel Slater

Havgreaves Spinning Jenny, 1861

Francis Lowell

• In 1814, Francis Lowell opened a textile factory in Waltham, MA.

* As a result, the U.S. no longer had to buy finished textile products from Europe.

Francis Cabot Lowell (1775-1817); Credited with establishing the first integrated textile mill in the United States at Waltham, Massachusetts in 1813. The city of Lowell, Massachusetts was named in his honor. This profile is the only known representation of his likeness.

View the inside of a 19th century textile mill. (Lowell, MA )

Lowell Girls (2:07)

• Lowell’s company began to hire young women, known as “Lowell girls”, to work in the textile factories.

• To reassure wary parents, the company built boardinghouses and provided matrons to look after the girls.

Boston Manufacturing Company mill complex on the Charles River, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. Also called the Francis Cabot Lowell Mill. Earliest portions built in 1814 and 1816.

The Lowell Offering (1840-1845) was written and published by working women of Lowell, Massachusetts.  This monthly magazine was organized by the Reverend Abel Charles Thomas (1807-1880) pastor of the First Universalist Church. 

Eli Whitney

• Eli Whitney popularized interchangeable parts in America.

• Products could now be put together and repaired easier than if they were completely hand made.

• Whitney was hired to build guns for the U.S. Army in the early 1800’s through the use of interchangeable parts.

First contract of inventor Eli Whitney as a gun manufacturer (June 14, 1786)

Factory Workers• Women were paid half as much as men.• Working hours were long, and wages were low.

Ex.) 12-15 hour work days

Earnings: men - $5 per week

women - $2 per week

children - $1 per week

• Cities developed as farmers and immigrants took available factory jobs.

Characteristics of Early Factory Girls (2:04)Marissa Tomei performs the words of a young factory girl preparing to strike.