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 wellspaced 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...
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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.
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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 nonindustrialized countries
• Some wealthier countries did use lessdeveloped 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