Chapter 25: The Industrial Revolution, 1700-1900
The Beginnings of Industrialization


A new type of revolution transformed the way people worked.
Industrial Revolution—refers to the greatly increased output of machinemade goods that began in England in the mid-1700s.
 Prior to the Industrial Revolution people wove textiles by hand.
I. Industrial Revolution Begins in Britain
 Around 1700-wealthy landowners in England began buying up land and then
improved farming methods; this resulted in an agricultural revolution.
a) The Agricultural Revolution Paves the Way
 Wealthy landowners then enclosed their land with fences or hedges, thus
enabling them to cultivate larger fields called enclosures. With the extra land
they were able to experiment with seeding and harvesting methods in order
to produce more crops. Yielded 2 results:
o landowners tried new agricultural methods
o large landowners forced small farmers to become tenant farmers or to
give up farming and move to the cities
 Jethro Tull-one of 1st scientific farmers, 1701 invented a seed drill that
allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths—
boosted crop yields
b) Rotating Crops
 Crop rotation—one of the best developments by scientific farmers
 Livestock breeders also found new methods to breed better animals for
food which increased food supply, and as food and living conditions
improved, the population did too
 And as the population increased so did their demand for cloth—those
small farmers who lost their land to large enclosed farms became factory
workers
c) Why the Industrial Revolution Began in England
 Large population with lots of natural resources
 Industrialization—process of developing machine production of goods—
and it required resources
a. water and coal to fuel new machines
b. iron ore—construct machines, tools and buildings
c. rivers for inland transportation
d. harbors for merchant ships to set sail
 England had an expanding economy—business people invested in the
manufacturing of new inventions, had developed banking system too,
growing overseas trade, and an increased demand for goods
 England had political stability—no wars were on British soil during this
time, military success gave British people a positive attitude, Parliament
passed laws to encourage and protect businesses
 Other countries had some of these advantages, but Britain had all the
factors of production—the resources needed to produce goods and
services that the Industrial Revolution required—land, labor and capital
(or wealth)
II. Inventions Spur Industrialization
d) Changes in the Textile Industry
 Major inventions modernized the cotton industry
 John Kay-1733, machinist who made a shuttle that sped back and forth on
wheels, it doubled the work a weaver could do in a day
 1764, James Hargreaves-invented a spinning wheel, Spinning Jenny—
allowed a spinner to work 8 threads at a time
 Richard Arkwright-1769, invented the water frame that used waterpower
to drive spinning wheels
 1779-Samuel Crompton-combined spinning jenny and water frame to
produce spinning mule—made stronger, finer thread
 Edmund Cartwright-1787-invented the power loom which sped up
weaving
 All of these machines were bulky and expensive which took the work out
of the house into factories that wealthy textile merchants set up.
Factories needed waterpower so they were built near rivers and streams
 Cotton came from American South in 1790s, Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin which sped up production
III. Improvements in Transportation
 Progress in the textile industry spurred other industrial improvements
 The first such development, the steam engine, stemmed from the search for a
cheap, convenient source of power
e) Watt’s Steam Engine
 James Watt-steam engine, worked with Matthew Boulton (who was an
entrepreneur) to build better engines
 Robert Fulton-an American, realized steam could propel boats so he
ordered a steam engine from Watt and Boulton and used it to build a
steamboat called the Clermont which made its first successful trip in 1807
and opened up the interior waterways
 John McAdam-Scottish engineer began improving Britain’s roads by
putting down a layer of stone first to help improve drainage, then placed
a layer of crushed rock so the wagons could travel over the new
“macadam” roads without getting stuck. Other private investors formed
companies that built roads and required that travelers pay a toll before
traveling further—thus the turnpike was invented.
IV. The Railway Age Begins
 After 1820, steam engine on wheels—the railway locomotive began driving
English industry
f) Steam-Driven Locomotives
 1804-Richard Trevithick, an English engineer, began hauling iron with a
steam-driven locomotive and others began improving his invention
 George Stephenson-1821, began work on the world’s first railroad line,
opened in 1825
Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution affected every part of life in Great Britain, but it
proved to be a mixed blessing
 Rapid industrialization brought plentiful jobs, but it also caused unhealthy
working conditions, air and water pollution, child labor, and tensions among
social classes
V. Industrialization Changes Life
 By the 1800s, people could earn higher wages in factories than on farms
 With this money, people could afford to heat their homes with coal from
Wales and dine on Scottish beef
 People wore better clothing, too, woven on power looms in England’s
industrial cities; job seekers came from everywhere
g) Industrial Cities Rise
 For centuries, most Europeans had lived in rural areas; after 1800, the
balance shifted toward cities
 This caused the growth of the factory system, where the manufacturing of
goods was concentrated in a central location
 They called this period urbanization, which means city building and the
movement of people to cities; urban population doubled in size
 London became England’s most important city; one million people by
1800
 Population exploded creating a vast labor pool and market for new
industry; Europe’s largest city—twice the size of Paris
h) Living Conditions
 Because England’s cities grew rapidly, they had no development plans,
sanitary codes, or building codes
 Lacked adequate housing, education, and police protection for the people
who poured in from the countryside to seek jobs
 Most of the unpaved streets had no drains, and garbage collected in heaps
on them
 Workers lived in dark, dirty shelters, with whole families crowded into
one bedroom
 Sickness became widespread; epidemics of the deadly disease cholera
regularly swept through the slums of Great Britain’s industrial cities
 In 1842, a British government study showed an average life span to be 17
years for working class people in one large city, compared with 38 years
in a nearby rural area
 Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848), presented an accurate portrayal
of urban life experienced by many at the time; described dank cellar
dwellings, and miserable living
a) Working Conditions
 To increase production, factory owners wanted to keep their machines
running as many hours as possible
 Average worker spent 14 hours a day, 6 days a week on the job

Work stayed the same throughout the seasons never changing, week after
week, year after year
 Factories were seldom well lit or clean
 Machines injured workers; boilers might explode or a drive belt might
catch an arm
 No government programs were available to provide aid to those injured
 The most dangerous conditions were all found in the coal mines;
Accidents, damp conditions, and the breathing of coal dust shortened the
life span by ten years; women and children were the cheapest labor
VI. The Mills of Manchester
 Alexis de Tocqueville wrote after visiting Manchester in 1835, “From this
filthy sewer pure gold flows.”
 Manchester’s rapid, unplanned growth made it an unhealthy place for the
poor people who lived and worked there
 But wealth did flow; it went first to the mill owners and the new middle class,
then the working class saw an increase in standard of living
 To provide mill owners with the highest profits, workers labored under
terrible conditions
 Children as young as six joined their parents in the factories
 There for six days a week, they worked from 6 a.m. to 7-8 p.m. with only a
half an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner
 To keep children awake, mill supervisors beat them
 Tiny hands repaired broken threads in Manchester’s spinning machines,
replaced thread in the bobbins, or swept up cotton fluff
 The dangerous machinery injured many children
 The fluff would fill their lungs and make them cough
 Until the first Factory Act passed in 1819, the British government exerted
little control over child labor in Manchester or other factory cities
 Putting so much industry into one place polluted the natural environment
 The coal that powered the factories and warmed houses blackened the air;
textile dyes and other wastes poisoned Manchester’s Irwell River
 Still, Manchester produced consumer goods and created wealth on a grand
scale

Industrialization Spreads
Great Britain’s favorable geography and its financial systems, political
stability, and natural resources sparked industrialization
 British merchants built the first factories
 Once prosperous, more laborsaving machines and factories were built
 Eventually the Industrial Revolution spread to the United States
VII. Industrial Development in the United States
 The United States possessed the same resources that allowed Britain to
mechanize its industries
 Fast flowing rivers, rich deposits of coal, iron ore, and a supply of laborers
made of farmers and immigrants were at the countries disposal

During the War of 1812, Britain’s blockade of the U.S. forced the country to
use its own resources and develop independent industries
 It would manufacture the goods it could no longer import
b) Industrialization in the United States
 To keep its secrets of industrialization to its self, Britain had forbidden
engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers to leave the country
 In 1789, a young British mill worker named Samuel Slater emigrated to
the United States
 There, Slater built a spinning machine from memory and partial design;
the following year, Moses Brown opened the first factory in the U.S. to
house Slater’s machines in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
 This factory however, only produced the thread
 In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell of Boston and four other investors
revolutionized the American textile industry
 They mechanized every stage in the manufacture of cloth
 When Lowell died, his factory grew and Lowell, Massachusetts became a
booming manufacturing center and a model for other American towns
 Thousands of women left their rural homes and became mill girls in
factory towns; there they could have higher wages and independence;
worked 12 hrs/day, 6 days/wk
c) The Rise of Corporations
 Building large businesses required a great deal of money
 To raise the money, entrepreneurs sold shares of stock, or certain rights
of ownership; thus people who bought stock became part owners of these
businesses
 These businesses were called corporations—business owned by
stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible
for its debts
 Corporations were able to raise the large amounts of capital needed to
invest in industrial equipment
 In the late 1800s, large corporations such as Standard Oil (founded by
John D. Rockefeller) and the Carnegie Steel Company (founded by Andrew
Carnegie) sprang up
 The goal of these corporations was to control every aspect of their own
industries in order to make big profits
 Big business, also made big profits by reducing the cost of producing
goods
 Workers like everywhere else, earned low wages and worked long, hard
hours while stockholders got rich
VIII. The Impact of Industrialization
d) Rise of Global Inequality
 The Industrial Revolution shifted the world balance of power; increased
competition in industrialized nations
 Industrialization widened the wealth gap between industrialized and
non-industrialized countries

Industrialized countries required a steady supply of raw materials from
less developed lands
 Viewed poor countries as markets for their manufactured products
 Britain led in exploiting its overseas colonies for resources and markets
 Soon, the U.S., Russia, and Japan followed Britain’s lead seizing colonies
for their economic resources
 Imperialism, the policy of extending one country’s rule over many other
lands, gave even more power and wealth to these already wealthy nations
 Imperialism was born out of the cycle of industrialization, the need for
resources to supply the factories of Europe, and the development of new
markets around the world
e) Transformation of Society
 Industrialization revolutionized every aspect of society, from daily life to
life expectancy
 Despite the hardships early urban workers suffered, population, health,
and wealth eventually rose dramatically in all industrialized countries
 The development of a middle class created great opportunities for
education and democratic participation; this later fueled a powerful
movement for social reform
Reforming the Industrial World

In industrialized countries in the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution
opened a wide gap between the rich and the poor
 Business leaders believed that governments should stay out of business and
economic affairs
 Reformers, however, believed that government should play an active role to
improve conditions for the poor
 Workers also demanded more rights and protection
 Formation of labor unions created to spread influence
IX. The Philosophers of Industrialization
 The term laissez-faire refers to the economic policy of letting owners of
industry and business set working conditions without interference
 This policy favors a free market unregulated by the government
 The term is French for “let people do as they please.” –to let alone
f) Laissez-faire Economics
 Laissez-faire economics stemmed from the French economic
philosophers of the Enlightenment
 They argued that government regulations only interfered with the
production of wealth
 Believed that if government allowed free trade, the flow of commerce
without government regulation, the economy would prosper
 Adam Smith, a professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland defended
the idea of a free economy or free markets in his 1776 book, The Wealth
of Nations

According to Smith, economic liberty guaranteed economic progress,
therefore government should not interfere
 Smith’s arguments rested on what he called the three natural laws of
economics:
1. The law of self-interest—people work for their own good
2. The law of competition—competition forces people to make a better
product
3. The law of supply and demand—enough goods would be produced at
the lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy
X. The Economists of Capitalism
 Smith’s basic ideas were supported by other economists
 Like Smith, they believed that natural laws governed economic life; these
ideas were the foundation of laissez-faire capitalism
 Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of production are
privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit;
ideas helped bring along the Industrial Revolution
 Laissez-faire thinkers opposed government efforts to help poor workers
 They thought that creating minimum wage laws and better working
conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits, and undermine
the production of wealth in society
g) The Rise of Socialism
 In contrast to laissez-faire philosophy, other theorists believed that
governments should intervene
 These thinkers believed that wealthy people or the government must take
action to improve people’s lives
h) Utilitarianism
 English philosopher Jeremy Bentham modified the ideas of Adam Smith
 In the late 1700s, Bentham introduced the idea of Utilitarianism
 According to Bentham’s theory, people should judge ideas, institutions,
and actions on the basis of their utility or usefulness
 He argued that the government should try to promote the greatest good
for the greatest number of people; government policy was only useful if it
promoted this goal
i) Socialism
 French reformers sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with a
new economic system called socialism
 In socialism, the factors of production are owned by the public and
operate for the welfare of all
 Argued that government control of factories, mines, railroads, and other
key industries would end poverty and promote equality; public
ownership would help workers, who were at the mercy of their
employers
j) Marxism: Radical Socialism
 The writings of a German journalist named Karl Marx introduced the
world to a radical type of socialism called Marxism

Marx and Friedrich Engels outlined their ideas in a 23 page pamphlet
called The Communist Manifesto
k) The Communist Manifesto
 In the manifesto, Marx argued that human societies have always been
divided into warring classes
 The middle class “haves” or employers called the bourgeoisie and the
“have-nots” or workers, called the proletariat
 While the wealthy controlled the means of producing goods, the poor
performed back breaking labor under terrible conditions; conflict created
 According to Marx, the Industrial Revolution had enriched the wealthy
and impoverished the poor
 Marx predicted that the workers would overthrow the owners because
they have nothing to lose, and the world to gain; workers will unite
l) The Future According to Marx
 Marx believed that the capitalist system, which brought forth the
Industrial Revolution, would eventually destroy itself in the following
way
 Factories would drive small artisans out of business, leaving a small
number of manufacturers to control all the wealth
 The large proletariat would revolt, seize all the factories and mills from
the capitalists, and produce what society needed
 Workers, sharing in the profits, would bring about economic equality for
all people
 The workers would control the government in a “dictatorship of the
proletariat”
 After a period of cooperative living, the state or government would
wither away as a classless society developed
 Marx called his final phase pure communism
 Marx described communism as a form of complete socialism in which
the means of production—all land, mines, factories, railroads, and
businesses, would be owned by the people
 Private property would in effect cease to exist
 All goods and services would be shared equally
 Marxism inspired many revolutionaries such as Russia’s Lenin, China’s
Mao Zedong, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro
XI. Labor Unions and Reform Laws
 Factory workers faced long hours, dirty and dangerous working conditions,
and the threat of being laid off
 By the 1800s, working people became more active in politics
 To press for reforms, workers joined together in voluntary labor associations
called unions
m) Unionization
 A union speaks for all the workers in a particular trade
 Unions engaged in collective bargaining, negotiations between workers
and their employers

They bargained for better working conditions and higher pay; If factory
owners refused these demands, union members could strike, or refuse to
work
 Skilled workers led the way in forming unions because their special skills
gave them extra bargaining power; companies had trouble replacing such
skilled workers
n) Reform Laws
 Eventually reformers and unions forced political leaders to look into the
abuses caused by industrialization
 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; 13-17 year
olds could not work more than 12 hours
 Mines Act of 1842 prevented women and children from working
underground
 The Ten Hours Act of 1847 limited the work day to ten hours for women
and children who worked in factories
 In the United States, progressive reformers in 1904, organized the
National Child Labor Committee to end child labor
 Argued that child labor lowered wages for all workers
o) The Abolition of Slavery
 William Wilberforce, was a religious man and member of Parliament who
led the fight for abolition.
 Passed a bill in 1807 to end slavery in the British West Indies
 Abolished slavery in its Empire in 1833
 Some people were morally against slavery; others were industrialists
who supported cheap labor but not slave labor; saw it as an economic
threat
 American slavery finally ended in 1865, years after the Declaration of
Independence promised that all men were created equal
 Enslavement in the Americas persisted until Puerto Rico (1873), Cuba
(1886), and Brazil (1888) ended it in the later 1800s