The Industrial
Revolution
Introduction
• Unlike the French Revolution, the industrial
Revolution was economic, having to do with
the production of wealth, the techniques of
manufacture, the exploitation of natural
resources, the development of new
technologies, the formation of capital, and the
distribution of products to consumers
• It would lead to the dominance of Britain, and
Europe in General
The Industrial Revolution in Britain
• The process of shifting from hand tools to
power machinery
The Agricultural Revolution
• The Glorious Revolution in England meant the
ascendency of Parliament
• In reality, this meant the landowning class would
control parliament
• This stability led to the Agricultural Revolution in
England
• This landowning class sought to increase profit through
improved cultivation and stock raising
• Example, the use of fertilizer such as manure, better
inventions such as the horse hoe, new crops such, and
included scientific ideas such as crop rotation
• Additionally, science was applied – better breeding to
produce larger cattle
Enclosure Acts
• Much of English land was still public, and was
controlled by common rights
• Since the landowners controlled parliament,
they passed a series of acts that fenced them,
and made them private
• Because of this, small tracts of land could be
gobbled up by large landowners, and it would
be leased out to small farmers
Labour Intensive vs Capital Intensive
• This system, compounded with new
inventions, freed up new labour, as farming
became more efficient
• Many farmers became wage earners, who
worked for big farmers, or other jobs like
weaving
• They were also mobile, able to go where the
work was because they were no longer
dependant on the land
Industrialism in Britain
• Because Britain was so strong after the Napoleonic wars,
they had the most colonies
• Consequently, they had the most markets all over the world
• The British merchant could sell as much as could be
produced
• They had to search for more rapid methods of production
• Example, cotton. The demand for cotton was exceptionally
high
• The market was endless if it could be produced by
machines
• What was needed was capital – money to be invested
• England had this because they were already wealthy from
commerce and agriculture
Key Inventions
• 1733 – John Kay invents the Fly
Shuttle
• Meant that only one person was
needed to weave cloth on a
loom
• Because output of weaving
increased, demand for yarn
increased
• 1760s, spinning jenny invented
• Steam engine invented for
spinning
• These machines were bigger, so Richard Arkwright set
up the first mills, or factories, and brought the workers
• Eli Whitney, 1793, invented the cotton Gin, which sped
up the removal of cotton seed
• This greatly increased the output of cotton
• By 1820, Cotton made up ½ of British exports
Steam Engine
• Britain was running out of
timber, so alternate sources of
energy where needed
• By 1780, Boulton and Watt
were manufacturing steam
engines for use
• The steam engine went from
use in factories, to
transportation
• Led to the development of
railways
• By 1840s, the era of railways
was underway in Europe and
the US
New Industrial Cities
• In population, Manchester grew from 25000 in
1772 to 455000 in 1851
• But incorporation of a new city was difficult
because it was unusual. Therefore, new cities had
difficulty with infrastructure, such as sewage
• New cities were dreadful places
• Blackened by the early coal age
• Housing for workers was hastily built
• And always in short supply
• Entire families lived in single rooms
Factories and Workers
• Most factories only required
unskilled labour
• Skilled workers, such as weavers,
had been displaced by machines,
and looked for any odd job
• Factories paid wages that were
too low to allow a man to
support his wife and children
• The work was so mechanical,
that the work of children was
often preferred
• Hours in factories were
long, 14 plus hours a day
• Not new to farmers, but the
conditions were more
repressive
• Unorganized, bargained
independently with
employers
• The owners, who were
small business people,
faced competition, and
them too were in debt
• They held wages to the lowest possible amount
• Some regulation was in motion, such as the first
Factory Act of 1802, which regulated the use of
pauper children
• But, there were no factory inspectors
• Mainly, the new industrialists wanted to be left
alone
Affects of Industrial Revolution
 The Industrial Revolution created a
new working class
 The new class of industrial workers
included all the men, women, and
children labouring in the textile
mills, pottery works, and mines
 Wages were low, hours were long,
and working conditions unpleasant
and dangerous
 Women and children regardless of
where they worked, had the most
exploitative working condition and
the lowest rates of pay.
Houses were built in
rows or in squares
with a common
courtyard, in which
there might be a water
tap and a common
toilet.
There was little access
to fresh air and little
provision for clean
water or removal of
refuse, including
human waste.
Classical Economics: Laissez Faire
• 1776, Adam Smith Publishes “Wealth of Nations”
• Criticized mercantilism
• Natural laws of production and exchange should be
allowed to rule
• Economics runs outside of government
• Natural laws of supply and demand
• People such use their rational thought because they
know their natural interests better than anyone else
• The natural interests will add up to the interests of all
• Government should provide laws and courts
• Iron law of Wages – workers should only be
paid at the subsistence level, because if they
make more, they have more children, and eat
up the extra money