Industrial Revolution - Key Concepts Flashcards

A comprehensive set of QA flashcards covering the major topics from the Industrial Revolution notes, including technology milestones, key figures, labor movements, social reform, and accompanying ideology.

What power sources powered the first mechanical production facilities in the Industrial Revolution?

Water and steam power.

What technology allowed division of labor and mass production in the second phase of the Industrial Revolution?

Electricity.

What systems automated production lines further in the third phase?

IT systems.

What technologies automate complex tasks in the fourth phase of the Industrial Revolution timeline?

IoT and cloud technology.

Who invented the first mechanical loom in 1784?

Edmond Cartwright.

Who is known as the 'Father of the Industrial Revolution' for mass-producing cotton yarn?

Sir Richard Arkwright.

What patent improved on the Spinning Jenny and helped mass production of cotton yarn?

The Water Frame.

Where was the first mass production facility for textiles located?

Cromford.

When and where did the first mass production facility at Cromford operate?

Cromford, in the 1770s.

Which country was the next to industrialize after the United Kingdom?

Belgium.

Who built the first useful steam engine in 1712?

Thomas Newcomen.

Which inventor greatly improved the steam engine in 1781?

James Watt.

The improvements to the steam engine increased demand for which resource?

Coal.

What did steel production enable in cities and infrastructure?

Tall framed buildings, apartments, skyscrapers, bridges, etc.

What urban trend did steam engines contribute to?

Increased urbanization.

Are steam engines still important today?

They remain foundational historically; still used in some applications.

Before the Industrial Revolution, where did most people in the UK reside?

In the countryside.

London's population reached about how many by 1880?

Five million (5,000,000).

By 1920, where did most Americans live?

In cities.

What financial institutions arose to provide capital to industrializing businesses?

Banks.

Why were children commonly employed in early industrial work?

They were cheaper to employ and less likely to join unions or strike.

Name some major diseases that caused deaths in 1800s urban areas.

Cholera, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, and influenza.

What life expectancy figures were reported for London and Liverpool in the 1840s-50s?

London about 37 years; Liverpool about 26 years.

Who authored 'How the Other Half Lives'?

Jacob Riis.

Which philosopher described industrial pollution with the line about a 'foul drain' and 'gold' stemming from pollution?

Alexis de Tocqueville.

Which US state was the heart of coal production?

Pennsylvania.

Which two US cities first enacted clean air laws in 1881?

Chicago and Cincinnati.

Name several railroad tycoons of the era.

James Hill, Jay Gould, George Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Edward Harriman, Collis P. Huntington.

Name three industrial leaders associated with steel, banking, and oil.

Andrew Carnegie (steel), J.P. Morgan (banking), John D. Rockefeller (oil).

What fuel replaced whale oil for lighting?

Kerosene.

Who drilled the first modern oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859?

Edwin Drake (Drake's well).

Which regions later became major oil producers after Pennsylvania?

Oklahoma, Texas, and California.

What doctrine allowed corporations to be treated as people in late 19th-century courts?

Corporate personhood under the 14th Amendment.

What anti-trust law was passed in 1890 in response to trusts like Standard Oil?

Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Which industrialist justified vast wealth with the idea that 'the elimination of competition is merely the working out of a law of nature and of God'?

John D. Rockefeller.

What is Social Darwinism?

Belief that societal progress comes through relentless competition; strong survive, weak perish; used to justify economic inequality.

What is Laissez-faire capitalism?

Leave it alone; government should not meddle in economic affairs except to protect private property.

What was the Populist movement?

The People's Party; sought economic democracy, direct election of senators, recalls, referendums, and farmer-friendly reforms.

Which two women's groups merged to form NAWSA by 1890?

NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) and AWSA (American Women Suffrage Association).

What was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory strike of 1909 commonly called?

The Uprising of the Twenty-Thousand.

What was Muller v. Oregon (1908) about?

A Supreme Court decision upholding a ten-hour workday for women, supported by arguments from WTUL.

What movement aimed to reform tenement conditions, child labor, and working conditions?

Progressivism.

What was Hull House and who founded it?

Settlement house in Chicago founded by Jane Addams (with Lillian Wald contributing to settlement work).

When did women gain the right to vote in the US?

1920 (19th Amendment).

Who was Mary Harris 'Mother Jones'?

A prominent labor organizer and activist for workers' rights and child labor reform.

Who was Eugene Debs?

Labor organizer, founder of the American Railway Union, and four-time presidential candidate.

What is 'How the Other Half Lives' about?

Jacob Riis's exposé of urban poverty and tenement life.

What is Karl Marx's central idea in The Communist Manifesto?

History is driven by class struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed; capitalism will be overthrown with common ownership of production.

Name two prominent anarchists mentioned in the notes.

William Godwin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

What major 19th-century event illustrated the power and limits of unions in the US?

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

What significant development in manufacturing did 1870 bring?

The first assembly line.

What key innovation did 1969 bring to production control?

The first programmable logic controller (PLC).