Ch. 25 Industrial Revolution

Chapter 25: The Industrial Revolution, 1700-1900 The Beginnings of Industrialization

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A new type of revolution transformed the way people worked. Industrial Revolution—refers to the greatly increased output of machinemade goods that began in England in the mid-1700s.  Prior to the Industrial Revolution people wove textiles by hand. I. Industrial Revolution Begins in Britain  Around 1700-wealthy landowners in England began buying up land and then improved farming methods; this resulted in an agricultural revolution. a) The Agricultural Revolution Paves the Way  Wealthy landowners then enclosed their land with fences or hedges, thus enabling them to cultivate larger fields called enclosures. With the extra land they were able to experiment with seeding and harvesting methods in order to produce more crops. Yielded 2 results: o landowners tried new agricultural methods o large landowners forced small farmers to become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities  Jethro Tull-one of 1st scientific farmers, 1701 invented a seed drill that allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths— boosted crop yields b) Rotating Crops  Crop rotation—one of the best developments by scientific farmers  Livestock breeders also found new methods to breed better animals for food which increased food supply, and as food and living conditions improved, the population did too  And as the population increased so did their demand for cloth—those small farmers who lost their land to large enclosed farms became factory workers c) Why the Industrial Revolution Began in England  Large population with lots of natural resources  Industrialization—process of developing machine production of goods— and it required resources a. water and coal to fuel new machines b. iron ore—construct machines, tools and buildings c. rivers for inland transportation d. harbors for merchant ships to set sail  England had an expanding economy—business people invested in the manufacturing of new inventions, had developed banking system too, growing overseas trade, and an increased demand for goods  England had political stability—no wars were on British soil during this time, military success gave British people a positive attitude, Parliament passed laws to encourage and protect businesses  Other countries had some of these advantages, but Britain had all the factors of production—the resources needed to produce goods and

services that the Industrial Revolution required—land, labor and capital (or wealth) II. Inventions Spur Industrialization d) Changes in the Textile Industry  Major inventions modernized the cotton industry  John Kay-1733, machinist who made a shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels, it doubled the work a weaver could do in a day  1764, James Hargreaves-invented a spinning wheel, Spinning Jenny— allowed a spinner to work 8 threads at a time  Richard Arkwright-1769, invented the water frame that used waterpower to drive spinning wheels  1779-Samuel Crompton-combined spinning jenny and water frame to produce spinning mule—made stronger, finer thread  Edmund Cartwright-1787-invented the power loom which sped up weaving  All of these machines were bulky and expensive which took the work out of the house into factories that wealthy textile merchants set up. Factories needed waterpower so they were built near rivers and streams  Cotton came from American South in 1790s, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which sped up production III. Improvements in Transportation  Progress in the textile industry spurred other industrial improvements  The first such development, the steam engine, stemmed from the search for a cheap, convenient source of power e) Watt’s Steam Engine  James Watt-steam engine, worked with Matthew Boulton (who was an entrepreneur) to build better engines  Robert Fulton-an American, realized steam could propel boats so he ordered a steam engine from Watt and Boulton and used it to build a steamboat called the Clermont which made its first successful trip in 1807 and opened up the interior waterways  John McAdam-Scottish engineer began improving Britain’s roads by putting down a layer of stone first to help improve drainage, then placed a layer of crushed rock so the wagons could travel over the new “macadam” roads without getting stuck. Other private investors formed companies that built roads and required that travelers pay a toll before traveling further—thus the turnpike was invented. IV. The Railway Age Begins  After 1820, steam engine on wheels—the railway locomotive began driving English industry f) Steam-Driven Locomotives  1804-Richard Trevithick, an English engineer, began hauling iron with a steam-driven locomotive and others began improving his invention  George Stephenson-1821, began work on the world’s first railroad line, opened in 1825

Industrialization 

The Industrial Revolution affected every part of life in Great Britain, but it proved to be a mixed blessing  Rapid industrialization brought plentiful jobs, but it also caused unhealthy working conditions, air and water pollution, child labor, and tensions among social classes V. Industrialization Changes Life  By the 1800s, people could earn higher wages in factories than on farms  With this money, people could afford to heat their homes with coal from Wales and dine on Scottish beef  People wore better clothing, too, woven on power looms in England’s industrial cities; job seekers came from everywhere g) Industrial Cities Rise  For centuries, most Europeans had lived in rural areas; after 1800, the balance shifted toward cities  This caused the growth of the factory system, where the manufacturing of goods was concentrated in a central location  They called this period urbanization, which means city building and the movement of people to cities; urban population doubled in size  London became England’s most important city; one million people by 1800  Population exploded creating a vast labor pool and market for new industry; Europe’s largest city—twice the size of Paris h) Living Conditions  Because England’s cities grew rapidly, they had no development plans, sanitary codes, or building codes  Lacked adequate housing, education, and police protection for the people who poured in from the countryside to seek jobs  Most of the unpaved streets had no drains, and garbage collected in heaps on them  Workers lived in dark, dirty shelters, with whole families crowded into one bedroom  Sickness became widespread; epidemics of the deadly disease cholera regularly swept through the slums of Great Britain’s industrial cities  In 1842, a British government study showed an average life span to be 17 years for working class people in one large city, compared with 38 years in a nearby rural area  Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848), presented an accurate portrayal of urban life experienced by many at the time; described dank cellar dwellings, and miserable living a) Working Conditions  To increase production, factory owners wanted to keep their machines running as many hours as possible  Average worker spent 14 hours a day, 6 days a week on the job

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Work stayed the same throughout the seasons never changing, week after week, year after year  Factories were seldom well lit or clean  Machines injured workers; boilers might explode or a drive belt might catch an arm  No government programs were available to provide aid to those injured  The most dangerous conditions were all found in the coal mines; Accidents, damp conditions, and the breathing of coal dust shortened the life span by ten years; women and children were the cheapest labor VI. The Mills of Manchester  Alexis de Tocqueville wrote after visiting Manchester in 1835, “From this filthy sewer pure gold flows.”  Manchester’s rapid, unplanned growth made it an unhealthy place for the poor people who lived and worked there  But wealth did flow; it went first to the mill owners and the new middle class, then the working class saw an increase in standard of living  To provide mill owners with the highest profits, workers labored under terrible conditions  Children as young as six joined their parents in the factories  There for six days a week, they worked from 6 a.m. to 7-8 p.m. with only a half an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner  To keep children awake, mill supervisors beat them  Tiny hands repaired broken threads in Manchester’s spinning machines, replaced thread in the bobbins, or swept up cotton fluff  The dangerous machinery injured many children  The fluff would fill their lungs and make them cough  Until the first Factory Act passed in 1819, the British government exerted little control over child labor in Manchester or other factory cities  Putting so much industry into one place polluted the natural environment  The coal that powered the factories and warmed houses blackened the air; textile dyes and other wastes poisoned Manchester’s Irwell River  Still, Manchester produced consumer goods and created wealth on a grand scale 

Industrialization Spreads

Great Britain’s favorable geography and its financial systems, political stability, and natural resources sparked industrialization  British merchants built the first factories  Once prosperous, more laborsaving machines and factories were built  Eventually the Industrial Revolution spread to the United States VII. Industrial Development in the United States  The United States possessed the same resources that allowed Britain to mechanize its industries  Fast flowing rivers, rich deposits of coal, iron ore, and a supply of laborers made of farmers and immigrants were at the countries disposal

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During the War of 1812, Britain’s blockade of the U.S. forced the country to use its own resources and develop independent industries  It would manufacture the goods it could no longer import b) Industrialization in the United States  To keep its secrets of industrialization to its self, Britain had forbidden engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers to leave the country  In 1789, a young British mill worker named Samuel Slater emigrated to the United States  There, Slater built a spinning machine from memory and partial design; the following year, Moses Brown opened the first factory in the U.S. to house Slater’s machines in Pawtucket, Rhode Island  This factory however, only produced the thread  In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell of Boston and four other investors revolutionized the American textile industry  They mechanized every stage in the manufacture of cloth  When Lowell died, his factory grew and Lowell, Massachusetts became a booming manufacturing center and a model for other American towns  Thousands of women left their rural homes and became mill girls in factory towns; there they could have higher wages and independence; worked 12 hrs/day, 6 days/wk c) The Rise of Corporations  Building large businesses required a great deal of money  To raise the money, entrepreneurs sold shares of stock, or certain rights of ownership; thus people who bought stock became part owners of these businesses  These businesses were called corporations—business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts  Corporations were able to raise the large amounts of capital needed to invest in industrial equipment  In the late 1800s, large corporations such as Standard Oil (founded by John D. Rockefeller) and the Carnegie Steel Company (founded by Andrew Carnegie) sprang up  The goal of these corporations was to control every aspect of their own industries in order to make big profits  Big business, also made big profits by reducing the cost of producing goods  Workers like everywhere else, earned low wages and worked long, hard hours while stockholders got rich VIII. The Impact of Industrialization d) Rise of Global Inequality  The Industrial Revolution shifted the world balance of power; increased competition in industrialized nations  Industrialization widened the wealth gap between industrialized and non-industrialized countries

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Industrialized countries required a steady supply of raw materials from less developed lands  Viewed poor countries as markets for their manufactured products  Britain led in exploiting its overseas colonies for resources and markets  Soon, the U.S., Russia, and Japan followed Britain’s lead seizing colonies for their economic resources  Imperialism, the policy of extending one country’s rule over many other lands, gave even more power and wealth to these already wealthy nations  Imperialism was born out of the cycle of industrialization, the need for resources to supply the factories of Europe, and the development of new markets around the world e) Transformation of Society  Industrialization revolutionized every aspect of society, from daily life to life expectancy  Despite the hardships early urban workers suffered, population, health, and wealth eventually rose dramatically in all industrialized countries  The development of a middle class created great opportunities for education and democratic participation; this later fueled a powerful movement for social reform

Reforming the Industrial World

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In industrialized countries in the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution opened a wide gap between the rich and the poor  Business leaders believed that governments should stay out of business and economic affairs  Reformers, however, believed that government should play an active role to improve conditions for the poor  Workers also demanded more rights and protection  Formation of labor unions created to spread influence IX. The Philosophers of Industrialization  The term laissez-faire refers to the economic policy of letting owners of industry and business set working conditions without interference  This policy favors a free market unregulated by the government  The term is French for “let people do as they please.” –to let alone f) Laissez-faire Economics  Laissez-faire economics stemmed from the French economic philosophers of the Enlightenment  They argued that government regulations only interfered with the production of wealth  Believed that if government allowed free trade, the flow of commerce without government regulation, the economy would prosper  Adam Smith, a professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland defended the idea of a free economy or free markets in his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations

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According to Smith, economic liberty guaranteed economic progress, therefore government should not interfere  Smith’s arguments rested on what he called the three natural laws of economics: 1. The law of self-interest—people work for their own good 2. The law of competition—competition forces people to make a better product 3. The law of supply and demand—enough goods would be produced at the lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy X. The Economists of Capitalism  Smith’s basic ideas were supported by other economists  Like Smith, they believed that natural laws governed economic life; these ideas were the foundation of laissez-faire capitalism  Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit; ideas helped bring along the Industrial Revolution  Laissez-faire thinkers opposed government efforts to help poor workers  They thought that creating minimum wage laws and better working conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits, and undermine the production of wealth in society g) The Rise of Socialism  In contrast to laissez-faire philosophy, other theorists believed that governments should intervene  These thinkers believed that wealthy people or the government must take action to improve people’s lives h) Utilitarianism  English philosopher Jeremy Bentham modified the ideas of Adam Smith  In the late 1700s, Bentham introduced the idea of Utilitarianism  According to Bentham’s theory, people should judge ideas, institutions, and actions on the basis of their utility or usefulness  He argued that the government should try to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people; government policy was only useful if it promoted this goal i) Socialism  French reformers sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with a new economic system called socialism  In socialism, the factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all  Argued that government control of factories, mines, railroads, and other key industries would end poverty and promote equality; public ownership would help workers, who were at the mercy of their employers j) Marxism: Radical Socialism  The writings of a German journalist named Karl Marx introduced the world to a radical type of socialism called Marxism

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Marx and Friedrich Engels outlined their ideas in a 23 page pamphlet called The Communist Manifesto k) The Communist Manifesto  In the manifesto, Marx argued that human societies have always been divided into warring classes  The middle class “haves” or employers called the bourgeoisie and the “have-nots” or workers, called the proletariat  While the wealthy controlled the means of producing goods, the poor performed back breaking labor under terrible conditions; conflict created  According to Marx, the Industrial Revolution had enriched the wealthy and impoverished the poor  Marx predicted that the workers would overthrow the owners because they have nothing to lose, and the world to gain; workers will unite l) The Future According to Marx  Marx believed that the capitalist system, which brought forth the Industrial Revolution, would eventually destroy itself in the following way  Factories would drive small artisans out of business, leaving a small number of manufacturers to control all the wealth  The large proletariat would revolt, seize all the factories and mills from the capitalists, and produce what society needed  Workers, sharing in the profits, would bring about economic equality for all people  The workers would control the government in a “dictatorship of the proletariat”  After a period of cooperative living, the state or government would wither away as a classless society developed  Marx called his final phase pure communism  Marx described communism as a form of complete socialism in which the means of production—all land, mines, factories, railroads, and businesses, would be owned by the people  Private property would in effect cease to exist  All goods and services would be shared equally  Marxism inspired many revolutionaries such as Russia’s Lenin, China’s Mao Zedong, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro XI. Labor Unions and Reform Laws  Factory workers faced long hours, dirty and dangerous working conditions, and the threat of being laid off  By the 1800s, working people became more active in politics  To press for reforms, workers joined together in voluntary labor associations called unions m) Unionization  A union speaks for all the workers in a particular trade  Unions engaged in collective bargaining, negotiations between workers and their employers

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They bargained for better working conditions and higher pay; If factory owners refused these demands, union members could strike, or refuse to work  Skilled workers led the way in forming unions because their special skills gave them extra bargaining power; companies had trouble replacing such skilled workers n) Reform Laws  Eventually reformers and unions forced political leaders to look into the abuses caused by industrialization  Factory Act of 1833 made it illegal to hire children under 9 years old  Children ages 9-12 could not work more than 8 hours a day; 13-17 year olds could not work more than 12 hours  Mines Act of 1842 prevented women and children from working underground  The Ten Hours Act of 1847 limited the work day to ten hours for women and children who worked in factories  In the United States, progressive reformers in 1904, organized the National Child Labor Committee to end child labor  Argued that child labor lowered wages for all workers o) The Abolition of Slavery  William Wilberforce, was a religious man and member of Parliament who led the fight for abolition.  Passed a bill in 1807 to end slavery in the British West Indies  Abolished slavery in its Empire in 1833  Some people were morally against slavery; others were industrialists who supported cheap labor but not slave labor; saw it as an economic threat  American slavery finally ended in 1865, years after the Declaration of Independence promised that all men were created equal  Enslavement in the Americas persisted until Puerto Rico (1873), Cuba (1886), and Brazil (1888) ended it in the later 1800s