1700 - 1900

Industrial Revolution (I.R.) defined – The greatly increased output of machine made goods that began in England in the 18 th century.
Before the I.R., people wove textiles by hand.
Began in England in the textile industry

What needs to be in place before a nation can be industrialized?
• Large population of workers ( labor)
• Natural resources – water, power and coal, iron ore to construct new machines, tools & buildings, and rivers and harbors to transport finished goods (land)
• Capital ($$)

• Wealthy farmers bought up the land of small village farmers and surrounded their larger fields with fences or hedges called enclosures. This created two important results.
1. Landowners experimented with new agricultural methods.
2. Small farmers forced to become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities.

England’s cotton came from the American south. With the need for more cotton, production skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in
1810.

• John Kay invented the flying shuttle which doubled the work a weaver could do
• James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny (named after his daughter) which used eight threads instead of one
• Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule which combined the features of the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny and used water power

John Kay (above) and his Flying shuttle (left)
James Hargreaves (below) and his
Spinning Jenny (above)

Samuel Crompton (below) and his Spinning Mule (above )
Eli Whitney
(right) and his
Cotton Gin) The
Cotton Gin separates the cotton from its seeds.

• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which multiplied the amount of cotton that could be cleaned
• Robert Fulton invented the steam boat which improved transportation
• James Watt invented the steam engine which revolutionized the railroad.

• Gave manufacturers an inexpensive way to transport materials and finished products
• Created jobs
• Boosted agricultural and fishing industries, which could now transport goods to distant cities
• Encouraged country people to take distant city jobs

James Watts’ Steam Engine

Industrialization changed lives – more people could afford to heat their homes, dine out on Scottish beef, and wear better clothing that cost less
Industrialization also caused an immense human suffering

• Most European cities doubled in population
• Largest industrial city was London – population exploded providing a vast labor pool and market for manufactured goods

• No plans, no sanitary codes, no building codes
• Inadequate housing, education and police protection
• No running water or indoor plumbing
• Unpaved roads, no drains, lots of garbage
• Workers lived in dark, dirty shelters, families lived in one room
• Epidemics and diseases swept through slum s

• The average worker – 14 hours a day, 6 days a week
• Factories dark and dirty
• Machines injured workers in countless ways
• Coal mines were the worst

Despite its problems, the I.R. had several positive effects
• Created jobs
• Brought wealth to the nation
• Fostered technological progress and inventions
• Greatly increased production of goods
• Raised standard of living
• Provided hope of improvement to people’s lives
• Expanded educational opportunities with a demand for clerical and professional workers
• Lives of middle and upper classes prospered immediately. Workers lives gradually improved, eventually winning higher wages, shorter working hours, and better working conditions.

• U.S had all the necessary resources England had – land, labor, and capital
• Also began in textiles
• Samuel Slater in 1789 emigrated and built a spinning machine from memory.
• In 1813, Francis Lowell, along with four other investors, revolutionized the American textile industry by mechanizing the entire process of the manufacturing of cloth
• Thousands of workers, mostly young unmarried women went to work as mill girls in factory towns

• In the late 1800’s, the U.S. experienced a technological boom
• Wealth of natural resources – oil, coal, and iron
• Invention of the light bulb and telephone
• Large urban population that consumed manufactured good
• Rapid expansion of the railroad lines

• Europe’s industrialization proceeded by region rather than by country
• The social structure of some countries delayed the adoption of new methods of production
• Geography held back others – mountains prevented railroads from being built, poor roads and waterways prevented transportation of goods.

• Progress opened up a gap between the rich and the poor
• Different views on government involvement clashed with one another
• Laissez faire (“Let the people do as they please”)Let owners of industry and business set working conditions without interferences a free economy unregulated by government (capitalism )

Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and David
Ricardo opposed government efforts to help poor workers. They believed that creating wage laws and better working conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits, and undermine the production of wealth in society

Socialism – opposite of laissez. Government should play an active role to improve people’s lives
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill believed in utilitarianism – judge ideas, institutions and actions upon their usefullness. Government should promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Government should actively plan the economy, control factories, mines, and railroads. Only then, would poverty be abolished and equality happen.
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifest and believe in
Marxism, the most radical theory of socialism

Comparison of Capitalism vs Marxism
Capitalism Marxism
Progress results when individuals follow own self-interest
All great movements in history are the result of an economic class struggle
Business follow own self-interest when they compete with one another for the consumer’s money
The “haves” take advantage of the “have nots”
Each producer tries to provide goods and services that are better and less expensive than those of competitors
The I.R. intensified the class struggle
Consumers compete with one another to purchase the best goods at the lowest price
Workers exploited by employers
Market economy aims to produce the best product and lowest price
The labors workers creates profit for employers
Government should not interfere in the economy
The capitalist system will eventually destroy itself. The government will wither away as a classless society develops

• Unions form to bargain for better working conditions and higher pay
• American Federation of Labor (AFL) is a joint creation of several unions with more power
• Factory Act of 1833 – Child labor law
Cannot hire children under 9 years
Ages 9 – 12 can only work 8 hours/day
Ages 13 – 17 can only work 12/day

• Mines Act of 1847 – prohibited women and children from working underground
• 10 Hour Act of 1847 – Limited work day of women and children to 10 hours
• Slavery was abolished
• Women’s rights movement
• Public education
Horace Mann was quoted as saying “If we do not prepare children to become good citizens…if we do not enrich their minds with knowledge, then our republic must go down.”
• Prison reform