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TheIndustrial Revolution
• Prior to the IR most people lived in small country villages
• Land was UNFENCED• Wealthy controlled land;
peasant families rented land
Village Farming
• Small families because of high infant death rate
• Harsh working conditions
• LOW life expectancy (40 years)
Village Farming
Domestic System• Early industries in Europe:
coal, glass, iron, clothing (textiles)
• Mid 1700s; wool became extremely popular in Europe
• Increase in DEMAND
• Merchants hired farming families to produce woolens in their homes
Domestic System
• Depended on a network of workers
• Each did a segment of the work
• Provided income during hard times
Domestic System
Why Great Britain?
• In Britain, wealthy landowners started the Enclosure Movement
Why Great Britain?
Why Great Britain?• The Enclosure Movement:• Landowners fenced off lands• Led to greater efficiency &
more successful farming practices
• Forces small farmers to move into the cities
Why Great Britain?
• The Industrial Revolution begins in Great Britain because it had the Factors of Production
Why Great Britain?
• Capital $$$/wealth to invest in labor, machines & raw materials
• Natural Resources harbors, rivers, iron and coal
Why Great Britain?• Large Labor Supply better
farming techniques led to more food which led to population growth
• Entrepreneurs risk takers who started new businesses
• Also, Britain’s gov’t was supportive
Why Great Britain?• The textile industry was one
of the first to become mechanized (powered by machines) in Britain
• This created a huge demand for cotton imports from Britain
Why Great Britain?Inventions like flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, and Eli Whitney’s cotton gin helped to meet this demand
• Machines were too LARGE & too COSTLY for the domestic system
• Required more space & more workers
Factory System
• Production needed to be centralized
• Thus, the Factory System (brings workers and machines together under the control of managers) was introduced
Factory System
The Spread of the Industrial Revolution
• Industrialization spread out of England to the United States in the early to mid 1800s
• Spread to continental Europe; Belgium and Germany industrialize first
Industrialization Spreads
Industrialization Changes Life
• Technology in textile industry spurred progress in other industries
• Improvements in transportation like the steam engine and the railroad system allowed for more efficient transportation of people and materials
Transportation
• Growth of factory system caused urbanization – city building and the movement of people to cities
• Most urban areas doubled in size, some even more!
Living Conditions
• Because cities grew rapidly, they were not well planned and living conditions were poor
• Not sanitary or safe• Sickness was widespread
Living Conditions
• To increase production, factory owners tried to keep their machines running as many hours as possible
• The average worker spent at least 14 hours a day at their job, 6 days a week
Working Conditions
• Women and children were employed because they were the cheapest source of labor
• Factories and coal mines were very dangerous
Working Conditions
• Social mobility caused the emergence of the middle class (factory owners, merchants, bankers)
• Middle class lifestyle: domestic servants, men work, women stay at home
Social Class
• The laborers made up the working class
• Saw little improvement in living and working conditions between 1800-1850
Social Class
