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The Industrial Revolution began
in England in the 1780s with the
invention of new tools and
manufacturing techniques. The
English went to great lengths to
keep this new knowledge a secret
and passed laws restricting the
travel of engineers who knew the
secrets of industrialization. The
English knew if other countries
learned this knowledge, they
would face competition from
Europe and the United States.
An early English loom
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The Slater Mill in Pawtucket,
Rhode Island
Samuel Slater and Moses Brown
Samuel Slater was born in Derbyshire, England,
in 1768. As a young man, he was apprenticed to
Jedediah Strutt who operated a textile mill in
Belper. Slater learned the manufacturing secrets
of the English textile mills. To protect English
manufacturing, British law prohibited anyone
possessing manufacturing secrets from leaving
England. American businessmen were offering
cash rewards to anyone who could sneak this
knowledge out of England and bring it to
America. Hearing this, 22-year-old Slater
disguised himself as a farmer and made his way
to America. When he arrived in the United
States, Slater contacted a Quaker merchant,
Moses Brown, who wanted to build a textile
mill.
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Most of the fast-moving streams in New
England were where the first American
water-powered mills were constructed.
Because there was an excess of farm
laborers, these factories were ideal for
unemployed people looking for work.
At the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution, the only real source of power
came from using water. Early factories
needed to be located on swiftly moving
streams or rivers to turn the large water
wheels which powered the factories
through a series of belts and pulleys.
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The Lowell Mills were the home of
Francis Cabot Lowell’s Boston
Manufacturing Company. The mills
were located along the Merrimack
River in Massachusetts. These mills
combined many different processes
of the manufacturing of textile
products in one central location. By
utilizing a multitude of spinning and
weaving methods in one facility, the
entire cloth-making process could be
done in one place. The Lowell Mills
helped to create the American
Industrial Revolution. The mills
employed large numbers of women.
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Later, the Lowell Girls were female
textile workers employed by Lowell
Mills. They worked at the factory and
even published the Lowell Offering, a
monthly publication that featured
articles about the women who worked
in the mills. They also formed the
Lowell Female Labor Reform
Association in an attempt to gain a
ten-hour workday. This was done
after two separate strikes in 1834 and
1836 when Lowell Mills executives
attempted to cut employee pay by
fifteen percent.
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Interchangeable parts were universal
machine parts. Each part was
compatible, which made production
and repair of the product easier. Eli
Whitney believed developing
interchangeable parts could aid the
production of muskets for the United
States military. Whitney’s
demonstration of assembling a gun
made of interchangeable parts
impressed government officials, and the
United States ordered mass production
of interchangeable parts for other
military weapons. This concept later
would be applied to the development of
other machine tools.
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Eli Whitney
Standardization was the process of
establishing a uniform method of
production. Standardization would provide
business with the best way to accomplish a
task and then they could apply this method
to other areas. Eli Whitney also was
credited with originating the idea of
standardization. Whitney used his concept
of interchangeable parts to benefit the rifle
market in 1797. Standardization
revolutionized many labor markets. It
provided for a growth of labor.
Standardization also created set values the
product must have before it was marketed.
This meant each product had to meet an
established standard of production.
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Division of labor was the
predecessor to the assembly line.
Workers were given specific
tasks to accomplish during a
workday to increase a factory’s
production. Division of Labor
led to advances in production
and trade. Some, including Karl
Marx, spoke out against the
division of labor. Marx stated
this manufacturing process
would become repetitive and
cause workers to be alienated
from one another and from the
work they were doing.
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The assembly line was necessary for the
production of interchangeable parts. By
utilizing many workers in a line, each
had a particular task when assembling a
product. This way products would not
only be produced effectively but also
produced in a timely manner. There have
been many examples of assembly lines
over the years, including ones for
firearms and watches. The most wellknown version of the assembly line was
used in the production of automobiles by
the Ford Motor Company. The assembly
line ensured consumers who purchased a
Model T Ford were guaranteed a
standardized, reliable, and predictable
product at a reasonable price.
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Mass Production
Mass production is the production
of large amounts of standardized
products, including and especially
on assembly lines. It allows
businesses to produce a large
amount of goods while making
efficient use of all resources,
including time. Each good
produced is identical and not
unique in anyway.
Child Labor
The use of children as factory
workers was a common practice
during the early industrial
revolution. During the time there
was little or no public education so it
was seen as a way to make children
productive members of society and
contribute to the family. Children
often worked the most dangerous
jobs, worked in bad conditions, and
were beaten when they made
mistakes at work.
Transportation
In order to ship the massive
amounts of goods being produced
in the factories massive investment
in transportation improvements
began. Steam engines powered
boats and later trains. Eventually
the automobile was developed.
The improvements allowed for
greater trade and movement for
the people. Transportation
however lead to greater levels of
pollution and traffic.
Urbanization
The creation of factories meant
that people had to live close to
them in order to get to work.
Urbanization occurred as
Americans left the rural farms
they once worked and moved to
centralized locations. Towns
grew to become cities which
contained housing, stores, and
entertainment. Early cities were
often poorly planned and were
crowded and often unsanitary.