Modern World History Honors - Industrial Revolution Test

The Beginnings of Industrialization

Industrial Revolution Begins in Britain

• Rich landowners were buying the land of poor farm workers and started experimenting with new techniques such as rotating crops in order to grow crops more efficiently.

  • The farm workers that were moved out of their land eventually became the middle class factory workers that started the industrial revolution.

• Jethro Tull invented the seed drill which allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths.

• Rotating crops was a method where farmers changed where crops were planted every couple years

  • This method is seen as beneficial because farmers realized that crops only take certain nutrients from the soil, so the soil that did not have enough nutrients for one crop could still be good for growing something else.

• Robert Bakewell started to breed his best sheep to create even meatier sheep, and this more than doubled the amount of mutton that was produced.

• Britain had a good advantage when it came to starting the revolution due to their large population and large quantity of natural resources such as:

  • Water power and coal to fuel the new machines

  • Iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings

  • Rivers for inland transportation

  • Harbors from which merchant ships set sail

• Britain also stood well economically with their bank and loan system, allowing people to get a large amount of money as long as they gradually paid the borrowed money back

• Britain’s combination of a good parliament and production of beneficial laws made it so that people could focus on their businesses, and due to no wars being fought on British soil during this time, their land was not constantly being destroyed.

• Britain had the three factors of production, which were:

  • Land

  • Labor

  • Capital

Inventions Spur Industrialization

Changes in the Textile Industry

• John Kay made a shuttle which would speed up the work that cotton workers would do

• James Hargreaves invented the spinning Jenny, an invention which allows workers to sow 8 threads at a time

• Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, a machine that used water-power for machines

• Samuel Crompton made the spinning mule, which is a mix between the spinning Jenny and the water frame which made thread longer and finer

• Edmund Cartight invented the power loom which would speed up the weaving process

• Wealthy textile merchants set up factories to have multiple machines working in the same place

  • They needed water power so they could only be built directly next to streams

• Eli Whitney made the cotton gin which made it easier to clean cotton

Improvements to Transportation

• James Watt and Matthew Boulton worked on making a more efficient steam engine

• Robert Fulton invented the Clermont, a ship that would allow for easier water transportation

• John McAdam made better roads to make road travel faster and safer

• Tolls were put in place by landowners to profit off of people just passing by

The Railway Age Begins

• Richard Trevithick won a bet with his locomotive, so this inspired others to make their own, improved, locomotives

• George Stephenson built a lot of locomotives for mine operators, and also built the first railroad line

• Stephenson and his son built the rocket, a locomotive designed for travel from Liverpool to Manchester and vise versa

• The invention and perfection of the locomotive had 4 major effects:

  • Offered cheap transportation

  • New jobs opportunities were made in relation to the locomotives

  • Boosted the agricultural and fishing industries because they could transport food further away without spoilage

  • Travel became way more common, and people were able to commute for their jobs

Industrialization

Industrialization Changes Life

• Rural areas in Europe became more rare and cities started to become the new norm

  • This also made more factories

• Populations rose in urban areas

• Coal allowed for factories to be built anywhere, making them a lot more common

• England became one of the leaders in the coal industry

• Lack of hygiene in Britain caused a lot of people to die

• The streets were very unclean and there was no one to clean up the streets

• Illness was becoming a frequent issue in Britain

• Wealthy merchants and factory owners lived in luxury meanwhile the workers were struggling to survive

• Workers had to work 14 hours a day, 6 days a week year round and were given no compensation for injury

Class Tensions Grow

• The Middle Class was created, with people who are rich enough to live comfortably, but too poor to afford the most luxurious life styles

  • Middle Class was divided into two sections:

    • Upper Middle Class: Government Employees, doctors, lawyers, and managers

    • Lower Middle Class: Factory Toolmakers, mechanical drafters, and printers

• The working class became outraged because machines were taking their jobs away

• Riots such as the Luddites rioted against factories for taking away their jobs

Reforming the Industrial World

The Philosophers of Industrialization

• Laissez-Faire (let do) was an economic policy for allowing a free market where people do as they please

  • This idea would soon propose the idea of capitalism

• Adam Smith protected Laissez-Faire and proposed three economic laws:

  • Law of self-interest - people work for their own good

  • Law of competition - Competition forces people to make a better product

  • Law of supply and demand - Enough goods would be produced at the lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy

• Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo proposed the idea of Capitalism, and economic system based around private ownership

• Malthus wrote “An Essay on the Principle of Population” where Malthus discussed the human carrying capacity, and how we needed more war and disease to control the population

• Ricardo wrote “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation”, a book where Ricardo argued that the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich, so wages for the poor should go down as population increases\

The Rise of Socialism

• Jeremy Bentham proposed the idea of Utilitarianism, an economic policy where things are more valuable the more useful they are, and the government should also promote anything useful

• John Mill questioned unregulated capitalism and fought for the working class’ rights, especially when it came to horrible working conditions and unfair distribution of profits

• Robert Owen came to realize how badly he was treating his workers, so he made age requirements, better working conditions, and gave his workers a better pay as a result

  • Owen came to the United States and formed “New Harmony”, which would be a community that would help the United States to also reform their working conditions

• Charles Fourier proposed the idea of Socialism, an economic system where factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all

Marxism: Radical Socialism

• Karl Marx Friedrich Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet that criticized how the rich would control the poor and force them to work in poor working conditions

• They said that the industrial revolution made the rich richer and the poor poorer, so they predicted that the poor may revolt against their bosses in protest

• Marx said that in the future, the factory workers would take over the factories and implement equal distribution of profits for all in an economic system called Communism, where everything is shared and equal

  • Communism was implemented in some nations after, but the governments abused this power which was not then intention of Engels and Marx

Labor Unions and Reform Laws

• Unions were formed, which are groups of workers in Britain and the United States that would peacefully protest for better working conditions, and would threaten to go on strike if their demands are not met

  • Skilled workers led the unions

• British law makers banned unions, but their execution was ineffective, so they removed the laws after much protest

• American Unions formed the AFL, which was an organization that promoted the unions and were able to get higher pay for middle class workers

• Child labor were passed in both the United States and Britain where kids under 9 could not work, and kids under 18 could only work limited hours every day

• Laws were also passed to prevent women from working underground

• Another law was passed that limited the amount of hours that women and children could work

• The United States limited the amount of hours children could work even more in order to raise the wages for adults

• The Supreme Court eventually allowed the states to implement their own child labor laws