Name:______________
Period:______________
Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution
Notes
1) What is a Revolution?
a. “A _________ and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one
made suddenly and often accompanied by violence”
2) Why Britain?
a. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in England?
b. Hint: Think about Location and Place
3) What Changes Came About during the Agricultural Revolution?
a. __________ landowners buy land
b. Improve ________ methods
c. __________ movement
d. Allowed for experimentation while forcing small farmers to the city
e. Seed Drill – Jethro Tull
4) How Did Crop Rotation Improve Farming?
a. Crop rotation
i. Alternative crops that _________ soil nutrients with crops that restored
nutrients
b. Food supplies increased
c. Living conditions improved
i. How would this affect the population?
ii. How does population affect what kind of goods are produced?
5) Why Did Britain Have an Advantage over other Countries?
a. Large Population
b. Extensive Natural Resources
c. Expanding economy
d. Political Stability
e. ______, ________, ________
f. What is “capital”?
6) Britain’s Natural Resources
a. Extensive natural resources:
i. ________ and coal
ii. Iron ore
iii. _______
iv. Harbors
b. Why would these natural resources be important?
c. Industrialization – the process of developing machine production of goods – required
such resources
Part II: “The Children Who Built Victorian Britain” Video Worksheet
1.) What was the “raw material found in plentiful supply?”
2.) According to Robert Blincoe, what were the children taught when they arrived at the Cotton
Mill?
3.) “Work was a substitute for social welfare.” What does this mean?
4.) How long would children often work? Did the children benefit at all from the work experience?
5.) Why were children more preferable workers than adults?
Part II: Interact with History
You are a 15-year-old living in England where the
Industrial Revolution has spurred the growth of thousands
of factories. Cheap labor is in great demand. Like millions of
other teenagers, you do not go to school. Instead you work
in a factory six days a week, 14 hours a day. The small pay
you receive is needed to help support your family. You
trudge to work before dawn every day and work until after sundown. The dangerous machines injure
your fellow workers. Minding the machines is exhausting, dirty, and dangerous. Inside the factory the air
is foul, and it is so dark it is hard to see.
What would you do to change your situation?
Examining the issues:
1.) What factory conditions concern you the most?
2.) Would you attempt to change conditions in the factory? Why or why not?
3.) Would you join a union, go to school, or run away?
Part III: Practice Questions
1.) What were some of the effects of enclosure and crop rotation?
2.) How did the population growth spur the Industrial Revolution?
3.) List the four natural resources needed for industrialization and how each is used
Britain’s Natural Resources
Uses
4.) Show the causes and effects of the agricultural revolution and the Industrial Revolution
Causes
Effects
Agricultural Revolution
Industrial Revolution
5.) Even through years of social reform movement pushing for the freedoms of individuals, child
labor still persists in the world today. Identify a specific country where child labor still exists.
Answer the following questions:
a. Describe the conditions of child labor in that country.
i. How did it begin?
ii. Who’s responsible?
iii. In what ways are the children being forced to work?
iv. Is anything being done to stop it?
b. What is your reaction to the existence of child labor today? What can we do to help
change it?