The Industrial Revolution
What is it?
•  The shift from an
economy based on
agriculture and
handcrafted goods to
an economy based on
manufacturing by
machines in factories.
–  Starts in late 1700’s.
Why does it start?
•  Remember Adam Smith?
–  Enlightenment Economist
•  “Father of Capitalism”
–  If individuals were free to
pursue their own economic
self-interest, then all
society would benefit.
“No society can surely be
happy, of which the far
greater part of the members
are poor and miserable.”
•  If individuals are allowed
to do whatever they want
to make money, how will
they respond?
Governments in Europe
Adopt Policies of
Capitalism
Citizens are now free to
pursuit own economic
self-interests
People want
wealth!
So…
People develop innovations in
order to accumulate more
wealth as fast as they can.
Where is it happening?
•
Began in Great Britain
–
•
First nation to settle down
after crises of the 16th and
17th centuries.
Why?
1.  Increased food supply
-
-
Food is cheap
Money to buy other things
2.  Population growth
3.  Overall wealth
4.  Natural resources
-
Colonies?
5.  Lots of markets to sell
goods.
-
Colonies?
The Textile Industry
•  The textile industry is the
first industry to
industrialize.
–  New inventions speed up
the spinning of thread and
the weaving of clothes.
James Hargreaves – Spinning Jenny
Edmund Cartwright – Water-powered loom
Add more power…
•  Machinery could now
be connected to steam
engines for power.
James Watt – Steam Engine
Increase in Production
1760
2.5 million pounds of cotton
-Cottage Industry
1787
22 million pounds of cotton
-Begin use of water- and
steam-powered looms
1840
366 million pounds of cotton
And a fuel for that power…
•  More coal had to be
produced to power the
steam engines.
Better Building Materials
•  Better quality iron
could be produced by
using coke.
Puddling Furnace – Henry Cort
Better Way to Transport Goods
•  Railroads become
a more efficient
way to move
resources and
goods.
Stockton & Darlington
rail-line: First true
railroad
The Factory System
•  These new machines
could be worked
constantly.
•  So, factory owners
wanted them to be
worked constantly.
–  Forced workers to
work in shifts to
keep machines
producing at a
steady rate.
The Factory System
•  Factory owners now
wanted their
workers to work
without stopping.
–  “Make the men into
machines that
cannot err.”
•  Highly disciplined
and repetitive.