Industrial Revolution Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, figures, inventions, and societal impacts of the Industrial Revolution across Britain and America.

Industrial Revolution

A major historical event occurring approximately between 1750 and 1850 (and spanning 1700 to 1900) that involved the rise of the factory system and a shift from handcrafted home-based production to machine-aided assembly lines in factories.

Capitalism

An economic system that favors less government intervention and more individual freedom, for which Adam Smith laid the theoretical foundation.

Adam Smith

An economist who laid the foundation for modern capitalist theory and laissez-faire economics in his work 'The Wealth of Nations'.

Coal

An easily accessible natural resource used to fuel steam engines in trains, ships, and industrial manufacturing processes during the Industrial Revolution.

Agricultural Revolution

A period marked by new farming techniques, machinery, and private land ownership that boosted farm output, causing workers to move from rural farms to urban cities, factories, and mines.

Seed Drill

A farming machine introduced by large British landowners in the early 1700s that planted seeds in well-spaced rows instead of scattering them by hand.

Crop Rotation

An agricultural technique of rotating crops annually to increase crop output and improve food availability, contributing to British population growth.

Samuel Slater

An industrial pioneer who brought British textile technology to the US in 1790 and helped found the first US cotton mill in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Robert Fulton

An inventor associated with key advances during the Industrial Revolution who developed the steamboat.

Samuel Morris

An inventor recognized during the American Industrial Revolution for his invention of the telegraph.

Elias Howe

An inventor who contributed to the American Industrial Revolution by creating the sewing machine.

Andrew Carnegie

A Gilded Age industrialist and steel magnate who built a massive industrial empire in America.

John d. Rockefeller

A prominent Gilded Age industrialist and oil tycoon who accumulated immense wealth during the American Industrial Revolution.

JPMorgan

A major Gilded Age financier who played a central role in funding large industrial enterprises in America.

Henry Ford

An industrialist and automaker who accelerated the Industrial Revolution through innovations in mass production and transportation.

Robber Barons

A term used to describe Gilded Age industrialists who accumulated huge profits while their employees worked long hours for low wages.

Urbanization

The mass migration of people from rural areas to urban cities for factory jobs, causing city populations to double between 1800 and 1850 and leading to overcrowding and pollution.

British Life Expectancy Gap

The severe difference in health conditions during British urbanization, where the average lifespan in polluted cities was 11 years compared to 38 years in the countryside.

Factory Working Conditions

Dangerous and harsh labor environments where average workers spent 14 hours a day, 6 days a week operating dangerous machinery in dark factories for low wages.

Progressive Movement

A political and social reform movement driven by unionized workers demanding safer conditions, shorter hours, higher pay, education, minimum wage laws, and child labor laws.

Socialism

An economic ideology emerging in the 19th century in response to laissez-faire capitalism, advocating that businesses and resources be owned by society as a whole so benefits are shared equally.

Karl Marx

A political theorist who developed Marxism, arguing that class conflict between factory owners and workers would lead to a communist society where private property is eliminated and production is owned by society.

Robert Owen

An industrial reformer who promoted utopian socialism and advocated for better treatment and improved living conditions for workers.

Textile Machine Pioneers

Key innovators including Richard Arkwright, Eli Whitney, James Hargreaves, John Kay, and Edmund Cartwright who created revolutionary textile machinery.

War of 1812 Impact

A conflict during which Britain stopped shipping goods to the United States, stimulating the growth of American domestic textile and manufacturing industries in the Northeast.

Corporations and Stock

A financial system where companies sell stock to raise capital for large industrial projects, making stock purchasers part owners of the corporation.

Imperialism

The policy of industrialized European nations using their power to exploit territories in Africa and Asia to secure raw materials needed for their factories.

Abolition Movement

The historical movement to end the slave trade and slavery, led by Britain ending its slave trade and abolishing slavery in 1838, followed by the United States in 1865, Puerto Rico in 1873, Cuba in 1886, and Brazil in 1888.

Women's Rights Movement (1848)

A social movement for equality launched in the US in 1848, spurred by women entering the industrial workforce and actively campaigning against wage inequality, lack of rights, and slavery.