Key Concepts of the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

Period of major industrialization during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

England

Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution thanks to resources and colonial markets.

Population increases

Growth in births and urban migration feeding factory labor forces.

Agricultural technology

Innovations (seed drills, crop rotation) that raised yields and freed labor for factories.

Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney's 1793 invention that sped cotton processing, fueling textile mills.

Steam engine

James Watt's improved engine powering factories and locomotives.

Urbanization

Movement of people to cities for factory work, often under poor conditions.

James Hargreaves

Inventor of the spinning jenny (c. 1764), boosting yarn production.

Richard Arkwright

Developed the water frame (1769) and built the first factories.

James Watt

Improved the steam engine (patented 1776), central to mechanization.

Factory conditions

Long hours, low wages, unsafe machinery, and child labor.

Wages

Often minimal payments that barely supported workers' families.

Safety & Pollution

Factories lacked regulations, leading to frequent accidents and urban smog.

Child labor

Widespread use of children in factories for cheap, manageable labor.

Mass production

Assembly-line techniques that lowered costs and increased output.

Steel

Cheaper Bessemer process (1856) revolutionized construction and tools.

Textiles

First industry mechanized; fabric production boomed in mills.

Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith's 1776 work advocating free markets and division of labor.

Laissez-faire

Policy of minimal government interference in the economy.

Adam Smith

"Father of Economics," proponent of capitalism and the invisible hand.

Railroads

Network of iron tracks enabling fast, cheap transport of goods and people.

Karl Marx & Communist Manifesto

1848 pamphlet arguing that proletariat revolution would overthrow capitalism.

Communism

Political-economic system advocating communal ownership of production.

Social Democracy

Movement seeking gradual reforms and welfare within a capitalist framework.

Capitalism

Private ownership of industry guided by profit motive.

Social Darwinism

Misapplication of "survival of the fittest" to justify wealth disparities.

Eugenics

Pseudoscience advocating selective breeding of humans to "improve" society.