DW Honors Unit 4 The Industrial Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, inventions, economic theories, social classes, and political developments of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions.

Industrial Revolution

A shift from an economy based on farming and handicrafts to an economy based on manufacturing and mass production.

Agrarian Revolution

A change in British agricultural practices during the 1700s involving more farmland, improved climate, improved transportation, and new crops like the potato that increased the food supply and lowered food prices.

Enclosure Movement Laws

Laws passed by Parliament that fenced off common lands, forcing peasants to move to towns and creating a labor supply for factories.

Capital

A ready supply of money or financial resources available to invest in new machines and factories.

Entrepreneurs

Individuals who identified opportunities to make profits by organizing and investing in businesses within Britain's laissez-faire economy.

Cottage Industry

A two-step manufacturing method where individuals produced cloth by hand in their homes: spinners spun raw cotton into thread, and weavers wove the thread into cloth on looms.

Fly Shuttle

An innovation that accelerated weaving on looms, creating a sharp demand for faster thread production.

Spinning Jenny

A machine invented by James Hargreaves in 1764 that produced thread faster to meet weaving demands, eventually outpacing weavers' consumption.

Water-Powered Loom

A mechanical loom invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1787 that harnessed water power to speed up cloth production.

Watt's Steam Engine

An improved steam engine developed by James Watt in 1782 that ran on coal and did not rely on water power, allowing factories to be located away from rivers.

Puddling

A method developed by Henry Cort in the 1780s that involved burning coke derived from coal to eliminate impurities in raw iron, producing higher-quality iron.

The Rocket

A steam locomotive built by 1829 that traveled at $16\,\text{mph}$, proving the economic speed and efficiency of railroad transport.

Paddle-Wheel Steamship

A steam-powered river vessel first built by Robert Fulton that provided essential long-distance transportation across the United States.

Urbanization

The rapid growth of cities as large numbers of rural workers relocated to urban centers for factory employment.

Irish Potato Famine

An 1845 crisis in which population growth outpaced the food supply after potato crop failure, causing nearly $1\text{ million}$ deaths.

Industrial Capitalism

An economic system based on industrial manufacturing and mass production, giving rise to the industrial middle class.

Bourgeoisie

The newly risen industrial middle class, comprised of entrepreneurs and factory owners who sought wealth and upward mobility.

Tenements

Overcrowded, multi-family buildings and rooms where urban working-class families lived in unsanitary and deteriorating conditions.

Factory Act of 1833

British legislation that forbade the hiring of children under age 9 and limited work hours for children under age 16 to $12\,\text{hours}$ per day.

Social Mobility

The ability of individuals or groups to move up the social ladder through hard work, representing a foundational belief of the middle class.

Laissez-Faire

A free-market doctrine holding that an economy unregulated by government produces the highest quality goods at the lowest prices, benefiting everyone.

Malthusian Economics

The theory proposed by Thomas Malthus asserting that poverty is inevitable because population increases faster than food production.

Utilitarianism

An ethical and political philosophy advocated by Jeremy Bentham holding that government and society should act to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.

Socialism

An economic system in which society as a whole owns the means of production, with the government regulating production and distribution to ensure equality.

Robert Owen

A British cotton manufacturer and utopian socialist who created a cooperative company town in New Harmony, Indiana, which ultimately failed.

Communism

A theoretical classless, equal utopian society detailed by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto (1848), established when the proletariat overthrows the bourgeoisie.

Proletariat

The industrial working class who owned no factories or machinery and survived by providing labor to the bourgeoisie.

Second Industrial Revolution

A late-19th-century industrial phase defined by advancements in steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum, rather than textiles, iron, coal, and early railroads.

Four-Stroke Cycle

The operating cycle of an internal combustion engine consisting of intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes.

Internal Combustion Engine

An engine powered by oil and gasoline (petroleum) that enabled innovations in ocean shipping, automobiles, and airplanes.

Assembly Line

A manufacturing method pioneered by Henry Ford in 1913 that enabled goods to be produced quickly, efficiently, and at low cost.

German Social Democratic Party (SPD)

A socialist political party founded in 1875 that pursued parliamentary elections to pass legislation favoring the working class, becoming Germany's largest party by 1912.

Second International

An organization founded in 1889 by socialist leaders worldwide to coordinate global efforts against capitalism.

Revisionists

Moderate Marxists who rejected violent revolution and advocated working democratically through existing political systems to achieve socialist reforms.

Collective Bargaining

A negotiation process where trade unions represent workers collectively across an industry to secure higher wages, better benefits, and improved working conditions.