Industrial Revolution: Origins, Technologies, and Consequences

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key inventions, figures, economic theories, social classes, and legislative reforms of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions.

Industrial Revolution (Phase I)

The period from 1760 to 1840 characterized by the transition from handmade to machine manufacturing, fundamentally altering how people lived and worked through economic, social, and technological transformations.

Dissenters

English religious nonconformists described as 'revolutionary fanatics' who faced various civil and societal restrictions, leading many to channel their ambitions into emerging industrial enterprises.

Jethro Tull

An agricultural innovator who developed a mechanical seed drill designed to plant seeds in uniform rows beneath the soil surface, preventing waste and dramatically boosting crop yields.

Spinning Jenny

A multi-spindle spinning frame invented by James Hargreaves that multiplied the yarn output of textile spinners and accelerated the transition toward factory-based labor organization.

Edmund Cartwright

The English inventor who patented the power loom, a mechanical weaving loom that substantially accelerated cloth fabrication and completed the mechanization of cotton textile production.

Richard Trevithick

A British inventor and mining engineer who developed the first high-pressure operational steam locomotive in 1804.

George Stephenson

A British mechanical engineer who established the world's first public commercial railway line connecting coal mines to urban distribution centers in 1821.

Five Factors of an Industrial Revolution

The five essential requirements identified for industrialization: motivated entrepreneurs, an accessible supply of investment capital, abundant natural resources, permissive government policy, and robust consumer markets.

Mercantilism

The prevailing pre-industrial economic doctrine asserting that national wealth is built by maximizing exports and minimizing imports through rigorous state intervention and protectionist tariffs.

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith's 1776 landmark treatise outlining free-market economics, the division of labor, and the concept that individuals pursuing self-interest naturally promote broader economic prosperity.

Three Natural Laws of Economics

Adam Smith's guiding economic maxims: the law of self-interest (working for personal benefit), the law of competition (driving quality improvements), and the law of supply and demand (setting market-clearing prices).

Laissez-faire

An economic principle roughly translated as 'let people do as they please,' advocating that government should refrain from interfering in market operations, trade, and business enterprise.

Capitalism

An economic structure in which factors of production are privately owned and financial resources are actively invested in business enterprises to generate monetary profit.

Second Industrial Revolution

The technological phase emerging around 1871 that shifted industrial focus from coal, iron, textiles, and early steam engines to steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum.

Luddites

Groups of 19th-century English craft artisans, allegedly rallied under the mythical figure Ned Ludd, who intentionally attacked and destroyed industrial machinery that threatened their livelihoods.

Factory Act of 1833

British legislation establishing strict statutory work limits in textile mills, restricting children aged 9 to 13 to eight hours per day and adolescents aged 13 to 18 to twelve hours per day.

Inspectorate of Factories

An oversight agency created by the British Parliament in 1833 comprising four executive inspectors authorized to carry out unannounced mill inspections and penalize non-compliant mill owners.

Coal Mines Act of 1842

A reform measure enacted following the 1842 Children's Employment Commission report that prohibited all female workers and boys younger than ten years of age from working underground in mine shafts.

Ten Hours Act of 1847

British parliamentary legislation (also known as the Factories Act 1847) that capped the maximum weekly working hours for women and youths under the age of eighteen at 58 hours per week.

Reform Act of 1832

A landmark British electoral reform statute that abolished 56 depopulated 'rotten' parliamentary boroughs and allocated seats to 42 expanding industrial cities.

Poor Law of 1834

A legislative overhaul designed to reduce relief spending by establishing intentionally austere conditions inside workhouses to push able-bodied paupers toward industrial wage labor.