The Early Industrial Revolution, 1760 – 1851

“The normal working day begins at all seasons at 6 A.M. precisely and ends, after the usual break of half an hour for breakfast, an hour for

dinner and half an hour for tea, at 7 P.M… Workers arriving 2 minutes late shall lose half an hour’s wages; whoever is more than 2 minutes late

may not start work until after the next break, or at least shall lose his wages until then… No worker may leave his place of work otherwise than

for reasons connected with his work… All conversations will fellow workers is prohibited”

Write for the next 3-5 minutes on how you would feel if this was your everyday life.

What caused the Industrial Revolution and why did it begin in England?

• Agricultural practices in the 18th century had changed– Expansion of farmland, good weather, improved transportation and

new crops led to a dramatic increase in the food supply

• With more abundant food supplies, the population grew

• Britain had a ready supply of money to invest in the new industrial machines and the factories needed to house them

• Natural resources were plentiful in Britain– Many rivers for water power and transportation, coal, iron ore

• Supply of markets gave British manufacturers a ready outlet for their goods

– Colonial empire allowed for vast trading

Causes of the Industrial RevolutionPopulation Growth

• Population of Europe rose in the 18th century– More reliable food supplies– Earlier marriage– High birthrates– More widespread resistance to

disease

• High birthrate led to a high proportion of youth – 40% of the population of Britain was under 15

Agricultural Revolution

• Innovations in manufacturing could only have taken place alongside a simultaneous revolution in farming

• Agricultural Revolution began long before the 18th century

• Potatoes– Yielded 2 or 3 times more food per acre than the wheat,

rye, and oats they replaced

• Only wealthy landowners could afford to invest in new crops and new farming methods

– Rich landowners fenced off their own land and common land to apply new scientific farming methods thus forcing their former tenants to seek other work in cities or emigrate

Causes of the Industrial RevolutionBritain and Continental Europe

• Characteristics that help to explain Britain’s role in the Industrial Revolution– Economic growth– Population growth– People who were willing to put new ideas into practice– Strong mining and metal industries– World’s largest merchant marine– Fluid social structure– Good water transportation system – Unified market– Highly developed commercial sector

Causes of the Industrial RevolutionTrade and Inventiveness

• Increasing demand = Increasing production– Roads were improved– Manufacturers trained additional craftsmen– Putting-out system

• Technology and innovation fascinated educated people throughout Europe and eastern N. America– Offered prizes to anyone who could find a method of

determining longitude of ships – Experiments with electricity– Invention of hot-air balloon– Proposed making guns with interchangeable parts– Machine tools (machines capable of making other

machines)

Causes of the Industrial RevolutionBritain and Continental Europe

• How did the rest of Europe respond? - European governments took action

- Created technical schools- Eliminated internal tariff barriers, tolls, and other hindrances to trade- Encouraged formation of joint-stock companies and banks

- By the 1850’s, France, Belgium, and the German states were in the middle of an industrial boom like that of Britain, based on iron, cotton, steam engines, and railroads

The Technological Revolution

• Five innovations that spurred industrialization– Mass production – high quality and quantity with low cost due to…– New machines and mechanization that is more efficient, quicker, &

more reliable – Iron – improvements allow it to be used for new applications: bridges,

machinery, etc.– The steam engine expands the output of any work – i.e.

transportation, factories, etc.– The electric telegraph – beginnings of a global communications

network

MASS PRODUCTION• Beginning of producing goods through division of labor• Creates goods at lower cost while increasing output for producer

– First seen in pottery– Revolutionized in automobile production

MECHANIZATION• Use of machines to do work previously done by hand• Leads to greater efficiency and lower prices

– Begins in textile – weaving cotton• Made cotton America’s most valuable crop and led to increase in slavery

From the … Spinning jenny - 1764

To the… Water frame - 1769

MECHANIZATION• To …

– Modern spinning

The Iron industry• Iron was rare and valuable outside China before the 18th century• Iron had been used before but new inventions made it cheaper to

produce in large quantities• Cheap iron made the mass production of guns, hardware and tools

appealing but fitting together parts of these products was labor intensive so…

• … the idea of interchangeable parts was adopted by the 19th century in firearms, farm equipment and sewing machines

The Steam Engine• Most revolutionary invention –

Sets the Industrial Revolution apart from all previous periods of growth and innovation

• First machine to transform fossil fuel into mechanical energy

• Substitute for human and animal power as well for wind and water power

• Used in steamboats and railroads• Delivers good and people at

phenomenal rate

Railroads

• Triggered the industrialization of Europe

Communication over Wires

• Railroad companies were among first users of the new electric telegraph

• World was rapidly shrinking to the applause of Europeans and Americans

• Speed was a clear measure of progress

• Communications were no longer limited to the speed of a sailing ship, a galloping horse, or a fast-moving train

Impact of the Early Industrial Revolution

• Led to profound changes in society, politics, and the economy

• Local – some people became wealthy and built beautiful mansions, other lived in slum neighborhoods with polluted water and air

• National – labor conflicts and transformation of entire regions into industrial landscapes

• Global – industrialization empowered the nations of western Europe and North America at the expense of the rest of the world

Impact of the Early Industrial Revolution on Cities

•Most dramatic environmental changes occurred in the towns

•Sudden population growth, overcrowding and inadequate municipal services made problems more serious

•Big difference between living conditions of rich and poor

•Led to municipal reforms that began to alleviate problems

Impact of the Early Industrial Revolution

FACTORIES

Work in Factories

• People needed to make a living since the enclosure method and new farm machinery had pushed many to the cities and factories

• Factory with long hours and poor working conditions proved to be even harsher than farm work

Working Conditions• Most industrial jobs were unskilled, repetitive, and boring

• Industrial accidents were common and could ruin a family

• Little job satisfaction because workers had no control over their work

• Dramatic change for family life– Young unmarried women worked to support themselves – Married women took factory jobs when their husbands were unable to

support the family

Even Women and Children?

They were preferred because…• they could be paid lower wages• children were typically more docile than adults• children were better able to tie broken threads or crawl under machines to sweep the dust• less likely to protest and more willing to accept orders

They worked in the mines…

Societal Changes

• Industrialization accentuated the polarization of society and income disparities

• Real beneficiary of the early Industrial Revolution was the middle class

• Middle class people believed in individual responsibility; if some people could not succeed through hard work, thrift, and temperance, then those who did not succeed had no one but themselves to blame

New Economic and Political Ideas

• Laissez faire - let them do”– Adam Smith– Government should not

interfere with business except to protect private property. (refer back to Ch. 23 for more information on this)

– Challenged the earlier idea of mercantilism (argued that governments should regulate trade in order to maximize their hoard of precious metals)

• British businesspeople eagerly adopted laissez-faire ideas that justified their actions and kept the government away

• Not everyone accepted it…

• Critics argued the state should take action to manage economy and address social problems

• Robert Owen– Believed industry could provide prosperity

for all– Experimented with this idea at his own

mill and testified in Parliament against child labor and for government inspection of working conditions – angered his fellow industrialists but helped bring about long-overdue reforms

Protests and Reforms• Workers resisted harsh conditions in their own way

– Changed jobs frequently– Often absent– Quality of work was poor– Rioted or went on strike– Broke into factories and destroyed equipment

• Not until workers acted together could they hope to have much influence

• Despite laissez-faire philosophy in Britain, Parliament began investigating conditions in factories and mines

Protests and Reforms• Factory Act of 1833 – prohibited employment of children younger than

nine in textile mills & limited working hours of children• Mines Act of 1842 – prohibited employment of women and boys under

age 10 underground

• British learned to seek reform through accommodation

• On the European continent, the revolutions of 1848 revealed widespread discontent with repressive governments but failed to soften the hardships of industrialization

Global Changes

• 1850’s sees Western Europe and the U.S. take control over areas like China and the Ottomans

• These powerful nations will demand more and more resources and thus turn to other places to find them and the markets for their finished goods