The Industrial Revolution

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Introduction. Why may it be argued that the Industrial Revolution, while not as focused and dramatic as the French Revolution, has been more profound in its effects?

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-The Industrial Revolution was rapid and brought about numerous radical changes
-The Industrial Revolution profoundly modified much of human experience
-----Changed patterns of work
-----Transformed the social class structure
-----Altered the international balance of political power
-----Ordinary people gained a higher standard of living
-----Widespread poverty was gradually reduced
-----Gradually process
-----Changes life immediately
-----Mass production of goods
-----Boom --> bust processes
-The French Revolution failed because it happened before the Industrial Revolution

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-The improvement in the European standard of living was quite limited until about 1850
-----Only a few key industries experienced a technological revolution
----------Many still used older methods
-----The increase in total population continued
----------The rapid growth of population threatened to eat up the growth in production and to leave most individuals poorer than ever
-----Rapid population growth provided a somber background

Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in England (around the 1780's)?

-The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain
-----Britain had to pioneer not only in industrial technology but also in social relations and urban living
-----The expanding Atlantic economy of the eighteenth century served mercantilist Britain remarkably well
-----Agriculture played a central role in bringing about the Industrial Revolution in Britain
-----Britain had other assets that helped give rise to industrial leadership

When did the Industrial Revolution grab hold? In England? In the first continental countries?

-The term Industrial Revolution was first coined in the 1830s to describe the inventions and new technical changes
-A decisive quickening of growth in the 1780s was due to the American and French Revolutions
-The Industrial Revolution was a longer process than the political upheavals
-----It was not complete in Britain until 1850
-----No impact on continental countries until 1815

Describe the inventions which, at first, solved the problem of an inadequate supply of cotton thread.

-A gifted carpenter, James Hargreaves, invented his cotton-spinning jenny
-----Simple and inexpensive
-A barber-turned-manufacturer, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame
-----Demanded much more power -(water power)
-----Could only spin coarse, strong thread

Why was the machine production of massive amounts of cotton thread of great social significance?

-Cotton goods became cheaper
-----Body linen -Made from expensive linen cloth
-Families in the cottage industry could have all the thread they needed
-The wages of weavers rose
-----The best-paid workers in England
-Agricultural laborers became hand-loom weavers

What was Edmund Cartwright's invention? Why, when, and how did it lead directly to the factory system?

-Edmund Cartwright invented a power loom
-----Saved the labor costs
-The power looms of the factories worked poorly at first
-----Hand-loom weavers continued to receive good wages
-Working conditions in early factories were poor
-----People were reluctant to work in them

What sort of exploitation of labor grew as a direct result of cotton weaving factories?

-Apprenticed young children were forced by law to labor
-----Little to no pay
-----6 days a week, 14 hours a day
-----Harsh physical punishment
-The wholesale coercion of orphans as factory apprentices constituted exploitation on a truly unprecedented scale
-----This piqued the conscience of reformers
-----Reinforced more humanitarian attitudes toward children

Where were early cotton weaving factories located? Why?

-The world's first modern factories were in the British cotton textile industry
-----1770s and 1780s
-Grew out of the putting-out system of cottage production
-The new cotton mills marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
-----22% of Britain's industrial production

Describe the energy crisis that developed in England during the 18th century. Why was charcoal of crucial industrial importance? How was the energy crisis solved?

-With the development of agriculture, early civilizations were able to increase useful plants and thus the supply of energy
-----Some could also be fed to animals
-In the medieval period, watermills and windmills were used
-----Overtime, these methods were developed
-In the 18th century, society relied on plants for energy and humans/animals for labor
-Lack of power lay at the heart of poverty
-----No matter how hard they worked, they couldn't produce enough
-Wood was also in short supply as the primary source of heat
-----Charcoal was the fuel that was mixed with iron ore in the blast furnace to produce pig iron

What was the relationship between the development of the steam engine and coal mining? By when were Savery's and Newcome's engines in common use?

-Britain looked toward its abundant and widely scattered reserves of coal as an alternative to its vanishing wood
-----Source of heat
-----Not used to produce mechanical energy
-In time, coal began to be used for machines
-----550 pounds of coal could produce 27 horsepower
-The deep coal mines filled with water so they used animals to pump out the water
-Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen invented the first primitive steam engines
-----Both were extremely inefficient
-----By the early 1770s, many of these engines were in use

What was the role played by each of the following in the development of an efficient steam engine: James Watt? Risk capital? Skilled crafts workers and mechanics

-James Watt was drawn to a critical study of the steam engine
-----In 1763, he was called to repair a Newcomen engine
----------Determined the engine wasted energy
----------He patented his new engine in 1769
-A partnership with a wealthy English toymaker provided risk capital and a manufacturing plant
-Watt found skilled mechanics who could install, regulate and repair his sophisticated engines
-By the late 1780s the steam engine had become a practical and commercial success in Britain

How did Watt's steam engine transform the following: mining? The factory system? The iron industry? Transport?

-The steam engine was quickly put to use in several industries in Britain
-----It drained mines
-----Made the production of coal easier
-----Replaced waterpower in the cotton-spinning mills
----------Flour mills
----------Malt mills, used in breweries
----------Flint mills, supplying the china industry
-The use of powerful, steam-driven bellows in blast furnaces was helpful to iron makers
-Henry Cort developed the pudding furnace with allowed pig iron to be refined in turn with coke
-----Developed heavy-duty, steam-powered rolling mills

How did railroads transform the following: the factory system? Rural workers? The outlook and values of society?

-The railroad dramatically reduced the cost and uncertainty of shipping freight overland
-----Markets became larger and more nationwide
-----Larger factories with more sophisticated machinery
-----Factories could make goods cheaper
-----Rural workers had severe competitive pressures
-There was a strong demand for unskilled labor
-----Landless and poor laborers went to build railroads
-----When the work was done, many stayed in the city
----------Urban workers
-The railroad dramatically revealed the power and increased the speed of the new age

What effect did the railroads have on art?

-Painters, Joseph M. W. Turner and Claude Monet were successful in expressing a new sense of power and awe
-Many other things did as well, such as new train stations
-Railroad tunnels pierced mountains and bridges spanned valleys

The Industrial Revolution

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