Industrial Revolution

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Industrial Revolution
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1.)

• England was the logical launching point of the
  point for several reasons
• England had large deposits of cola and iron
  ore.
• A growing population because of the
  agricultural advancements meant cheap, steady
  labor.
• Many rivers and canals for the transport of
  goods and materials.
• A stable government and a free market. (Low
  tariffs)
• A huge overseas empire that provided raw
  material and markets.
• Most important of all, capital. The landowners
  who had enclosed their poverty now had built
  small fortunes that they wanted to invest in new
  enterprises.

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• The new revolution began in textiles. The old
  putting out system could not keep up with the
  demand. James Hargreaves (spinning jenny, 1768)
  and Richard Arkwright (water frame, 1780) enabled
  the process of spinning to be dramatically
  increased. Soon, spinning was concentrated in
  large buildings or mills. This is called the
  factory system. Whole towns grew up around these
  factories.

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2.)

• England had longed cleared its forests to build
  ships. It lacked wood, and animal power was not
  sufficient for these new mills. So, entrepreneurs
  built their mills near rivers and streams, using
  water wheels. But it would be coal (and the steam
  engine) that would solve the energy crisis.

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3.)

• Coal had always been known as a fuel that would
  burn. Extracting enough to actually be profitable
  had always been hard. In England, coal shafts
  kept filling up with water. The first primitive
  steam engines were used to pump water from these
  mines. Gradually , the steam engine was not
  perfected with James Watts engine being the
  most well known. (1760s). Now, these engines
  relied on the coal to fuel them.

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• Railroads, of course, were born of coal and
  steam. The locomotives needed coal to fuel the
  huge engines that were built to haul the heave
  loads.
• 4.) The first locomotive was The Rocket (1825),
  which could run at a startling 16 MPH. Soon, they
  grew bigger and more powerful.

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• A) Railroad meant lower transportation costs,
  which meant lower costs to consumers, which meant
  expanding markets, which meant profit.
• B) Rural workers were more tempted that ever
  before to whisk themselves away to the growing
  industrial towns to look for work. Most would
  never return.
• C) Mobility now was an option. With mobility,
  people lost older values and traditions,
  especially the old virtues of patience. The sense
  of being rooted to one farm or village, as your
  family had been for centuries, began to disappear.

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5.)

• Watt, a Scotsman, had been asked to repair and
  earlier Newcomen engine. Instead he added a
  separate condenser and steam pump. It
  dramatically increased the efficiency of steam
  power, which had been relatively expensive
  before, using too much coal.

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6.)

• Since the putting-out system could not compete
  with the new factories, rural workers gradually
  made their ways to the new factory towns. They
  could make a decent wage but conditions were
  brutal. Orphans and abandoned children were used
  as labor. By 1831, textiles accounted for 22 of
  the countrys industrial output, employing
  millions.

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7.)

• The wars associated with the French Revolution
  and Napoleon caused the continental states
  (Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Austria, and France)
  to lag behind the English in industrialization.
  They had doubled the French output by 1830.
  Belgium was behind the two. By 1913, Germany and
  the U.S. had nearly caught up to the British.

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8.)

• The absolute monarchs could channel resources and
  capital by force, which could not happen in
  England. Also, since England had blazed the
  trail, the European countries often just copied
  English methods.

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9.)

• Factory work meant discipline, as entrepreneurs
  expected to Wring out every last bit from their
  workers to make profit. The factory whistle or
  bell was the rhythm of the new age. Early in the
  Industrial Age, owners did ruthlessly exploit the
  workers. Low wages, poor, dirty and dangerous
  condition, long hours, and child labor were all
  part and parcel. Conditions did not really begin
  to improve until the middle of the 19th century,
  as Parliament passed laws in the 1830s and 40s
  to protect workers.

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10.)

• Between 1972 and 1815, living conditions
  deteriorated and the price of food actually rose
  faster than wages. Diet and the supply of
  clothing improved, but housing conditions did
  not, as urban slums began to make their apperance.

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11.)

• A positive aspect of early industry was that
  whole families often worked in the same factories
  and coal mines. This tended to preserve their
  kinship ties and give them a source of stability
  in the bourgeoning towns. They could pool their
  wages to get by.

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12.)

• Subcontracting is simply when management hires
  someone to get a job done, who in tun usually
  brings in their own people. Sometimes the
  contractor and his crew were friends and
  relations, but an ugly side to this was when he
  would hire or buy convicts and work them
  literally to death, especially in the mines.
  Modern union contracts prevent this.

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13.)

• Modern gender roles began to take shape, with the
  man emerging as the primary breadwinner. Job
  opportunities for women became limited as
  industrialization proceeded. They were confined
  to low paying and dead end jobs. Once they had a
  child, they were usually confined to the home.

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• Why this may have occurred
• Old patriarchal tradition, which went back
  to the times of the guild.
• Another idea is that women wanted to stay
  home to raise their children in the hopes of
  keeping them out of the brutal factories.
• For whatever reason, it has persisted to the
  present.

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14.)

• Solidarity and class-consciousness began to
  develop almost from the outset. However, unions
  were seen as threats by owners and management and
  were usually quashed. In the early days,
  owner/capitalists were often MPs or well
  connected to one. They shot down and attempts to
  improve the workers lot legally.

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• The Chartists are the most well-known example of
  labour as a political movement. They wanted
  universal male suffrage, better work hours, and
  cheap bread. Eventually their agenda was
  implemented.