The Industrial Revolution

Great Britain

• Industrialization- Process of developing machine production of goods

• First country to be industrialized, then spread to Continental Europe and North America

• Transformed the way people worked

• Machines began to do jobs that people used to do by hand

Agricultural Revolution

• Wealthy landowners bought up small farms and enclosed their land with fences or hedges- enclosures

• Enclosures led to two things:– 1) Landowners tried new agricultural methods– 2) Large landowners forced small farmers to

become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities

New Methods for Farmers

• Seed Drill- Invented by Jethro Tull and allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths

• Crop Rotation- Farmers would plant different crops each year

• Breeding- Farmers would only breed their best pigs, for example, so the food supply increased and people were healthier

Why It Began in Britain...

• Extensive natural resources

• Expanding economy

• Banking system

• Growing overseas trade

• Political stability

Natural Resources

• Water power and coal to fuel the new machines

• Iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings

• Rivers for inland transportation

• Harbors from which merchant ships set sail

Expanding Economy

• Businesspeople invested in the manufacture of new inventions

Banking System

• People were encouraged by the availability of bank loans to invest in new machinery and expand their operations

Trade

• Economic progress led to the increased demand for goods

• England is an island, so there are many routes to import and export

Political Stability

• Gave them a huge advantage over their neighbors

• Although Britain took part in many wars in the 1700s, none occurred on British soil

• Parliament passed laws to help encourage and protect business ventures

Factors of Production

• Land, labor, and capital (wealth)

• Only Britain had all of these factors, which is why industrialization began in Britain

Textile Industry

• First industry to be transformed by new inventions

• Flying Shuttle- invented by John Kay – Doubled the work a weaver could do in a day

• Spinning Jenny- invented by James Hargreaves– Necessary invention for spinners because they

could not keep up with weavers

Textile Industry, cont.

• Water Frame- invented by Richard Arkwright– Used waterpower from rapid streams to drive

spinning wheels

• Spinning Mule– Made thread that was stronger, finer, and more

consistent than earlier spinning machines

• Water-Powered Loom- invented by Edmund Cartwright– Sped up weaving, run by waterpower

Factories

• Water frame, the spinning mule, and the power loom were bulky and expensive machines

• They took the work of spinning and weaving out of the house

• Wealthy textile merchants set up the machines in large buildings called factories– Needed waterpower, so the first ones were built by

rivers and streams

Cotton Gin

• England’s cotton came from the American South in the 1790s

• Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney to speed up the chore of removing seeds from cotton (doing it by hand was hard work)

• American cotton production skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in 1810

Transportation

Steam Engine

• Improved by James Watt in 1765

• Watt was paid by an entrepreneur to build a better machine

Steamboat

• The Clermont was invented by Robert Fulton in 1807

Canals

• Human-made waterways that provided inland transportation

• Slashed the cost of transporting both raw materials and finished goods

Roads

• John McAdam improved roads by using large stones topped with a layer of crushed rock

• This prevented wagons from sinking in the mud

• Turnpikes- Travelers had to pay a toll before going farther

Liverpool-Manchester Railroad

• The Rocket- hauled a 13-ton load at 24 mph--an unheard-of speed

• Railway officially opened in 1830 and was an immediate success

Effects of the Railroad

• Spurred industrial growth by giving manufacturers a cheap way to transport materials and finished products

• Created hundreds of thousands of new jobs

• Boosted England’s agricultural and fishing industries

• Encouraged country people to take distant city jobs

Cities

Urbanization

• Mass movement of people to cities

• Between 1800-1850, most of Europe’s urban areas doubled or quadrupled

• London became the largest city in Europe– Population

• Reached 1 million by 1800, and the numbers exploded after that

Living Conditions

• Cities grew too rapidly• No development plans, sanitary codes, or

building codes• Lacked adequate housing, education, and

police protection• Diseases spread• Life span was only 17 years for working class

people

Working Conditions

• Average worker spent 14 hours a day on the job, 6 days a week

• Factories were dirty

• Machines injured workers

• Children joined the work force as young as 6 years old– They were often beaten by factory owners for

falling asleep on the job

The Middle Class

• Social class made up of skilled workers, professionals, businesspeople, and wealthy farmers

• Usually consisted of factory owners, shippers, and merchants

• Some became just as rich as the top class in society

The Working Class

• Unlike the middle class, they saw little improvement in their living and working conditions

• These people were slowly being replaced by machines and were being put out of work

• To protest, many would destroy the machines that were replacing them

Positive Effects of the IR

• Created jobs for workers• Contributed to the wealth of the nation• Fostered technological progress and invention• Greatly increased the production of goods• Raised the standard of living• Provided the hope of improvement in people’s

lives

Positive Effects, cont.

• Healthier diets

• Better housing

• Cheaper, mass-produced clothing

• Expanded educational opportunities

Factory Act of 1819

• Restricted working age and hours

• Many factories did not abide by this law

Negative Effects

• Polluted the natural environment

• Coal blackened the air

• Textile dyes and other wastes poisoned the rivers

Industrialization Spreads

U.S.

• The blockade during the War of 1812 forced the U.S. to use its own resources to develop independent industries

• Began in the textile industry

U.S., cont.

• Britain had forbidden engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers to leave the country

• Samuel Slater- British mill worker who emigrated to the U.S. and built a spinning machine from memory

• Moses Brown- Opened the first factory in Pawtucket, RI

• Francis Cabot Lowell- Mechanized every stage in the manufacture of cloth

Mill Girls

• Young women flocked from rural towns to the cities

• Worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week

• Although they went to gain independence, they were watched very closely by their employers inside and outside the factories

Rise of Corporations

• Corporation- Business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts

• Stock- Certain rights of ownership

Large Corporations in the U.S.

• Standard Oil – Founded by John D. Rockefeller

• Carnegie Steel Company– Founded by Andrew Carnegie

• Both of these businesses wanted to control all aspects of their own industries in order to make big profits

Rise of Global Inequality

• Industrialization widened the wealth gap between industrialized countries and non-industrialized countries

• Some wealthier countries did use less-developed nations for raw materials

• Imperialism- Policy of extending one country’s rule over many other lands– This gave industrialized nations even more power

and wealth

Transformation of Society

• Between 1700-1900, revolutions in agriculture, production, transportation, and communication changed the way people lived in Western Europe and the U.S.

• Affected everything from daily life to life expectancy

• Emergence of the middle class created great opportunities for education and democratic participation

Philosophers of Industrialization

Laissez Faire

• Economic policy of letting owners of industry and business set working conditions without interference

• Favors a free market unregulated by the government

• Stemmed from philosophers of the Enlightenment who believed that the economy would prosper from free trade

Adam Smith

• The Wealth of Nations– Economic liberty guaranteed economic progress

• Three Natural Laws of Economics– 1) self-interest- people work for their own good

– 2) competition- competition forces people to make a better product

– 3) supply and demand- enough goods would be produced at the lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy

Capitalism

• Economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit

Socialism

• The factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all

• Socialist philosophers thought that governmental control of factories, mines, railroads, and other key industries would end poverty and promote equality

• Workers would no longer be at the mercy of their employers

Karl Marx

• Radical type of socialism called Marxism• The Communist Manifesto

– Human societies have always been divided into warring classes (“haves” v. “have-nots”, employers v. workers, bourgeoisie v. proletariat)

– Believed the Industrial Revolution just made the wealth gap worse

– Predicted that workers would overthrow their owners

Communism

• All factors of production (land, mines, railroads, factories, and businesses) are owned by the people

• No private property

• All goods and services would be shared equally

• Marx defined this in The Communist Manifesto

Effects of The Communist Manifesto

• Marxism inspired revolutionaries such as Russia’s Lenin, China’s Mao Zedong, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro

• These leaders adapted Marx’s beliefs to their own specific situations and needs

Unions

• Voluntary labor associations that speak for all workers in a particular trade

• Collective bargaining- negotiations between workers and their employers

• Unions bargained for better working conditions and higher pay

• Strike- refusal to work if factory owners refused workers’ demands

British Reform Laws

• Factory Act of 1833- made it illegal to hire children under 9 years old; children ages 9-12 could not work more than 8 hours a day; young people ages 13-17 could not work more than 12 hours

• Mines Act- prevented women and children from working underground

• Ten Hours Act of 1847- limited the workday to ten hours for women and children who worked in factories

U.S. Reform Laws

• National Child Labor Committee- wanted to end child labor altogether– Argued that child labor lowered wages for all

workers– Persuaded union members to join the reformers– Pressured national and state politicians to ban

child labor and set maximum working hours

Reform Spreads

• Affected such areas as improving the workplace, extending the right to vote to working-class men, helping to end slavery, and promoting new rights for women and children

• Horace Mann- favored free public education to all children

• Alexis de Tocqueville- battled the brutal conditions under which prisoners lived