Chapter 22: The Early Industrial Revolution, 1760-1851
Causes of the Industrial Revolution
Population Growth – Columbian exchange, younger marriages, more kids
The Agricultural Revolution – new foods, new methods, new tools
(all equal more food)
 Potatoes & Corn – more food per acre & feed for livestock
 Enclosure – consolidated and enclosed, tenant farmers looking for work; move to cities
 More workers than there are jobs
 Technology – increases efficiency, decreases need for human labor
Britain & Continental Europe
 Rise of Industrialization in Britain – put inventions into practice more quickly than others
 British Advantages over Europe
Fast flowing rivers
Large amts iron ore and coal
Natural harbors
Large merchant fleet and navy
1789-1815 Revolutions & Wars (helped Britain to
protect technologies)
*Brits pass laws forbidding anyone who
manufactures and/or repairs textiles
machines to leave country w/o permission
- Samuel Slater
Causes of the Industrial Revolution… continued
 Rise of Industrialization in Europe
Continental Europe attempts to follow Britain’s lead
Encouraged private investors (joint-stock companies)
Politics favorable to businesses
Money to be made off increased trade
Abundant coal & iron-ore throughout Europe
Impetus for industrialization:
Cottage Industry - mass production through division of labor
(China – Song dynasty; iron prod – 11th century)
New machines & mechanization
Flying shuttle, Spinning Jenny, Water frame, Mule, etc
Cotton gin – cotton prod and replaceable parts
Why so important?
Increase in the manufacture of iron (China – Song dynasty)
1) Machines, tools, etc
2) Steam Engine – more reliable consistent source of pwr
- no longer confined to being near river
3) Electric telegraph
http://inventors.about.com/od/indrevolution/ss/Industrial_Revo_5.htm
Mass Production: Pottery – making identical items by breaking the process into simple tasks
 Wedgwood Pottery
Increase in tea/coffee drinking – vessels that would not contaminate flavor
Josiah Wedgewood imitated China’s porcelain
 Becomes member of the Royal Society
Division of labor – increased productivity, lowered costs
Used a steam engine in his factory (purchased from two other members of Royal Society)
Mechanization: The Cotton Industry – application of machines to manufacturing
Whitney’s Cotton Gin
 Innovations in Cotton Manufacturing
Flying shuttle – greatly sped up weaving of threads to make textiles
Spinning Jenny – greatly sped up spinning of cotton threads (downside was
threads were soft and irregular; had to be used with linen – flax)
Richard Arkwright: Water Frame (initially powered by water) – stronger thread
Samuel Crompton: Mule – finer, more even thread
British textiles able to compete successfully with high quality textiles
(handmade) from India
Inventions spurred on more mechanization
1) Increased manufacturer productivity
2) Lower prices for the consumer
Luddites (1811-2) – backlash against technology (some serious machine bashing)
Why were textiles
a sure winner?
Innovations in Iron Making
Often assoc w/Deforestation (expensive & restricted)
Darby’s coke – coal w/impurities removed = cheaper; albeit lower grade iron
Darby’s grandson built a bridge of iron
Crystal Palace – showcase greenhouse for 1851 Great Exhibition
The Steam Engine
 The Newcomen and Watt Engines
Newcomen – used to pump H2O out of mines
Watt improves on it with condenser & allowed rotary
motion
 Steamboats and ships
US – a nation moved by steam (1st water, then land)
1838 – cross the Atlantic by steam
Railroads – cheaper, faster, opens up travel
 1829 – Liverpool to Manchester – Rocket approx 30 mph
 Railroads in America – opened up farm lands to markets
 Could now transport large amt of prod over land
 Railroads in Europe – satisfied need for transportation
Communication over wires
 Electric Telegraph (1837)
Samuel Morse – transmitted on a single wire
Strung along railroads
Increased speed of communication
Impact of the early Industrial Revolution
New Industrial cities – towns grew too fast (urbanization)
 sewage out the window, cheap/quick buildings, fire hazards, no bldg/safety codes
Rural Environments
 North America - nature as an obstacle to be conquered
 Europe – population up, land scarce, woodlands denuded, national transportation networks
 Industry & Slavery – sugar/coffee/cotton demand = more slaves
Working Conditions
 Unskilled, repetitive, unsafe
 Accidents frequent
 Phossy Jaw
 Women & Children in Industry
Initially domestic servants or work @ home
Women earned 1/3 to 2/3 less then men
No family life, stress on marriage
No time for childhood or school
children 14-16 hours a day just like adults
Workers had no rights
No health/safety codes in factories
No overtime, vacation time, holidays, etc
(Typical work week 84-96 hr)
Owners could use whatever means they deemed necessary to motivate workers
Typically one 30-60 min break once a day
Sometimes paid in scrip
Changes in Society
 Handloom Weavers vs. Factory Workers
 Improvements and setbacks
1792-1815 – price of food rose faster than wages
1820’s – food prices fell, wages rose
1845-51 – Irish potato famine, min of ¼ died, ¼ left
(reliance on lumbar – over 90% of crop destroyed)
Irish eat potatos at every meal
- more emigrate to America than any other country
Worst famine in history (proportionally)
English exploit famine
“Irish Holocaust”
 The New Middle Class = beneficiaries, “nouveau riche”
 Middle-Class Women and middle-class attitudes
“Cult of domesticity” – a woman's place is in the home
Olympe de Gouges, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman (September 1791)
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/293/
1792 – Mary Wollstonecraft “Vindication of the Rights of Women” English, argues
for the rights of women to an education and opportunities equal to a man’s.
1848 – Resolutions passed at the Seneca Falls Conference to increase the rights of
women.
 When do all women finally get the right to vote in England and America (after what major event)?
http://etext.virginia.edu/t
oc/modeng/public/WolVi
nd.html
Vindication of the Rights
of Women
New economic and political belief systems
Laissez Faire
 Adam Smith
 Wealth of Nations – government - stay out of business (Laissez Faire)
those seeking personal gain will promote general welfare by providing products that
will benefit society.
Prices will be determined by “Invisible Hand” of the market
Invisible Hand - ?
Promoted free-market capitalism, believed in private ownership
Challenged mercantilism – (govt control)
 Other thinkers
Thomas Malthus – population will out grow ability of agriculture to feed
Believed war and famine were natural checks on population growth
Humans should practice artificial population control (delay marriage,
abstinence, etc)
Jeremy Bentham – Utilitarianism (govt should look out for all citizens)
Advocated for govt regulation of business and society
Fredrich List (German) – argued for tariffs; disagreed with Laissez Faire trade
Fledgingly industrial societies could not compete with Britiain (Zollverein)
 Positivism – scientific method applied to society, three stages of society
Believed Sci Method could solve social problems
Workers form communities under guidance of caring owners/businessmen
 Other unrealistic ideas included utopian socialism
Sadler Commission – Commission to examine conditions during Ind Rev; focused
mainly on issue of child labor
Reform Bill 1832 – reforms to voting system; concentrated lessening corruption
(most citizens were dissappointed with result – minimum income or property requirement still in place)
Factory Act of 1833 – limits to child labor & working hours A young person (1318) no more than 12 hrs, and a child (9-13) no more than 9 hrs
Mines Act of 1842 – no women or children (under 10) underground
Corn Law tariffs repealed in 1846
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IR1833.htm
Workers Organizations – Chartism = universal male suffrage, secret ballots, pay for
representatives, and annual elections.
“Sun never set on the British Empire”
Egypt – Britain took steps to ensure a weak Egypt – effectively killing Egyptian industrialization
efforts (Suez Canal & Egyptian cotton)
India – “Jewel in the Crown” of the British empire – discouraged domestic industry
Opium Wars - Nemesis
China – “Spheres of influence” – Western industrialized nations begin to divide China up
Nemesis
Letter to Queen Victoria
British supplant India as world’s leading producer of textiles
Sepoy Rebellion - Ethnocentrism
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/opiumwars/nemesis.htm