THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• Began in Great Britain in the late 1700s– Changes in technology led to the switch from human

and animal power to machines doing the work

Contributing Factors• Increase in the food supply– This was due mainly to the Agricultural Revolution,

where new inventions and better livestock breeding methods led to more food being produced with less amounts of labor

– Poor farmers now moved to the cities looking for jobs• Population grew and created a large workforce• Had a ready supply of money (capital) to invest in

industrial machines and factories– Capital = money available for investment– Entrepreneur = a person interested in finding new

business opportunities and new ways of making profits

• Lots of natural resources: coal, iron ore• Large supply of materials and markets from

colonies–Huge empire and the largest and most

powerful navy in the world• Great Britain was politically stable• Factors of production–Capital, Entrepreneur, Land, Labor

Changes in Textile Production• Textile = cloth-making, mostly from wool or

cotton• Two-step process– Spinners made cotton thread from raw cotton– Weavers wove the thread into cloth on looms

• Cottage Industry– Prior to the Industrial Revolution, work such as

textile production was done by individuals in their rural homes

– Merchants would drop off the raw materials and then come back later for the finished product

• Series of Technological Advances– “flying shuttle” was invented by John Kay, and made

weaving faster, doubled the speed at which a weaver could do his job

– Spinning jenny created by James Hargreaves which produced thread faster

– Water-powered loom invented by Edmund Cartwright– These new machines were becoming too big to be put

into a cottage and Richard Arkwright built the first factory with 200 workers to house his water frame• More efficient to bring workers to the new machines

and have them work in factories near rivers

• Finally James Watt improved the steam engine, which used steam to drive machinery – Coal was used to heat water to produce steam– Factories no longer had to be located near water• Many factories were now built in cities and

near roads and ports–Other uses for the steam engine• Robert Fulton developed the steamship• Steam engines also used to power locomotives

• Imported more and more raw cotton and cotton cloth became Britain’s most valuable product

Coal and Iron Industries• The success of the steam engine increased the need for

coal and led to an expansion in coal production– Steam engines required immense amounts of fuel to

heat water– By 1800 Britain produced 80% of Europe’s coal– New processes using coal led to the iron industry

• Henry Cort developed a process called puddling – coal used to burn away impurities in crude iron– High quality iron used to build new machines and

transportation– Produced more iron than the rest of the world

combined

Railroads• Important to the success of the Industrial

Revolution–More efficient means of transporting goods and

resources– Less expensive transportation led to lower-priced

goods– Entrepreneurs could reinvest profits into new

equipment – ongoing economic growth• Created new jobs – both on the trains themselves,

building the railroads, and rest stops

Spread of Industrialization• First to be industrialized in continental Europe was

Belgium– Belgium was followed later by France and

Germany– Their gov’ts were active in encouraging the

development of industrialization• The United States also began to industrialize after a

young mill worker from Great Britain named Samuel Slater migrated to the U.S. and built the first factory in Rhode Island

Working in Factories• The factory created a new labor system– Factory owners wanted to use their new machines

constantly• Workers forced to work in shifts

– Had to create a system of work discipline• Factory work was divided into several separate parts

and each worker was assigned one task that was easy to learn– Even children could easily learn it

• Factory work was dangerous– No safety protection from the massive machines, no

worker’s compensation

• Long work hours – from 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week, only lunch break (no other breaks)

• Bad conditions, no minimum wage, no job security, noisy, and poor sanitation– If you don’t like it, there are many people who

will take your place since they need the money

Factory Towns• Whole towns grew up around the factories– Families lived in shoddy, crowded buildings with

cramped quarters• Some neighborhoods in Manchester had only two

toilets for every 250 people– Lots of pollution – soot filled the air from burning

coal, the smoke also contained other poisonous chemicals• Destroyed lungs and nature

• Factory towns were highly unsanitary, disease spread rapidly, and many died– Six out of every ten children died before the age of 5

Social Impact• Growth of cities– People moved from farms to cities for jobs– Pitiful living conditions – cholera, tuberculosis

• Two new social classes – growth of the middle class– Industrial middle class = people who own the

factories– Industrial working class = people who work in the

factories• Most of the workers were women and children– They were cheaper to pay then men– Factory work seen as “women’s work”

Process of Mass Production• In the U.S., one change that occurred to the factory

system was the development of mass production– Mass production = the system of manufacturing large

numbers of identical items– Elements of mass production include interchangeable

parts and the assembly line• Interchangeable parts = identical machine-made

parts• Assembly line = the product moves from worker to

worker, as each one performs a step in the manufacturing process

• With this new division of labor system, workers can make many items quickly at a more affordable cost

Responses to the Industrial Revolution• Weavers and other cottage industry workers were being

put out of work thanks to the new machines– In the early 1800s, a group called the Luddites began

to break into factories to destroy the machines– They blamed the machines for their problems• They burned factories and smashed machines, but

overall they were not successful• Socialism– The horrible working conditions created by the

Industrial Revolution led to a movement known as socialism

– Socialists, such as Robert Owen, believed that for the good of all, society or the gov’t should own property and control industry• Socialists believed in the equality of all people and

wanted to get rid of economic cooperation• Owen built a mill complex in New Lanark,

Scotland, where he clothed and fed his workers and they enjoyed good working conditions along with free education for their children

– Another socialist was Karl Marx, who viewed Owen as a “utopian” socialist

• Karl Marx and Communism– Communism = a system of social organization in

which all property is held in common

• Hated capitalism and against private property– Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848• He believed that all of world history was a “history

of class struggles”• The bourgeoisie (middle class) owned all the

means of production and oppressed the proletariat (working class)–The bourgeoisie were getting richer and the

proletariat poorer• Marx believed that the proletariat would rise up

and overthrow the bourgeoisie in a violent revolution• This would lead ultimately to a classless society in

which gov’t would no longer be needed and capitalism would collapse

• Labor Unions– People formed unions to try to gain better working

conditions, less hours, and higher pay• Labor union = organizations representing workers’

interests– Unions were illegal at first, but eventually gained

acceptance – Britain was the first to recognize unions– Unions won the right to strike in the 1870s• A strike is where members of a union refuse to

work in order to pressure an employer into meeting their demands

– Unions will make considerable progress in making the living and working conditions better

• In 1832 the British Parliament produced the Sadler Report– It described the abuses in factories and coal

mines• Parliament also passed laws that limited work hours

for adults and children– Factory Act of 1833 – children had to be older

than nine to be able to work in factories