19 1 The Industrial Revolution Industrial Revolution Began

19 -1 The Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution • Began in Great Britain 1780 s Causes 1. Expansion of farmland, good weather, improved transportation, and new crops = increased food supply • More people can be fed at lower price w/less labor 2. With more food = bigger population. Enclosure movement (fenced off common land) = more people moving to the city to work in factories

Cont. 3. Britain had ready supply of money to invest in new machines and factories. • Laissez-faire market economy controlled by supply and demand, not gov’t 4. Britain had plentiful natural resources. • Rivers for transportation, coal and iron ore. 5. Britain had supply of market; had vast colonial empire.

Changes in Cotton Production • Cotton was woven into cloth by independent people in their own homes or cottages - “cottage industry” • Technological innovations make spinning cloth faster and cheaper – Spinning Jenny (1764) – James Hargreaves – Water -powered loom (1787) – Edmund Cartwright – Steam-powered loom/engine (1782) – James Watt (steam engines fired by coal, not water)

• Great Britain went from importing 2. 5 million lbs. of raw cotton in 1760 to 22 million in 1787 • By 1840, Great Britain was importing 366 million pounds of cotton a year. Cotton became Britain’s most valuable product. Spinning Jenny Steam-powered engine

New Industries • Coal and Iron – Rise in steam engine led to increase in coal/coal related industry production – Improved quality of iron using a process called “puddling” (burn out impurities from iron) • Factories – Used workers in shifts to complete repetitive tasks – Little regulation of working conditions/punishment – Harsh treatment of children

• Railroads – Iron/steam engine had biggest impact on railroad industry – First steam locomotive (1804) – Richard Trevithick – Expansion of railroads caused a “ripple effect” throughout all other industries: jobs, factories, production, raw materials, etc. – Less expensive transportation led to lower priced goods

The Spread of Industrialization • World’s first industrial nation, Great Britain, became the richest Europe • Spread at different times and speed • Belgium, France, and German states were 1 st North America • 1800 – 6/7 people were farmers. 1860 – 50% • 1 st Paddle-wheel steamboat (1807) – Robert Fulton • Most important development was railroad

Social Impact in Europe • Cities grew and 2 new social classes: industrial middle class and industrial working class • Industrial middle class: people who built the factories, bought the machines, and developed the markets. • Industrial working class: workers who faced wretched working conditions and no employment security • Death rates declined b/c better fed people were more resistant to diseases • Famine and poverty were 2 factors in global migration and urbanization

Bad working conditions (coal mines) • Dangerous conditions cave-ins, explosions, gas fumes • Cramped conditions and constant dampness led to workers’ deformed bodies and ruined lungs (cotton mills) • Dirty, dusty, dangerous, unhealthy • Socialism: in this economic system, societies, usually in the form of the gov’t, owns and controls some means of production such as factories and utilities; would allow for wealth distribution