THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Roots of the Industrial Revolution
1. Discovery of the New World
a. Wealth Grew
b. Commerce Increased
c. Greater Demand: more ways sought to produce a product.
2. Domestic System: raw materials provided for individuals to finish a product in their homes.
a. Simple machinery for the home.
b. Workers paid on a piecework basis.
c. Eventually --- this system could not keep up with demand.
3. Factory System:
a. Need for large scale production.
b. New machines and sources of power were developed.
c. Machines were too large and expensive for the home.
4. Industrial Revolution:
a. Change from the Domestic to the Factory System (from hand to machine labor).
b. Economic change rather than political change.
c. Gradual change not sudden: 1750-1850 which began in Great Britain.
Favorable Conditions in Great Britain:
1. Markets
a. Prosperous nation and major colonial power.
b. Demand for goods from both domestic and foreign markets.
2. Population:
a. Skilled workers who designed needed machines.
b. Wealthy citizens who invested capital in such machines.
c. Many individuals who sought employment (source of labor).
3. Agricultural Changes:
a. Enclosure Acts of the 18th Century allowed landowners to force peasants off the land.
b. Many peasants were forced to move to the cities to seek work.
c. Landowners could pursue large scale production: this increased Britain's output of meat, wool, and grain.
4. Natural Resources:
a. Coal to provide steam power.
b. Iron ore to make machines.
c. Good harbors to promote trade.
d. British Colonies were a source of other raw materials including such products as lumber and cotton.
5. Stable Government:
a. Levied fair and light taxes.
b. Established a sound money system and a well organized banking system.
c. Competent administration of a unified country.
6. Other Factors:
a. As an island: Britain had escaped the devastation of 18th Century European Wars (Napoleonic Era).
b. Colonies: developed joint-stock companies which were forerunners of modern corporations.
c. The British government encouraged scientific development.
The Agricultural Revolution:
1. Proceeded the Industrial Revolution and made it possible.
2. Jethro Tull
a. 17th Century: broadcast, scattering seed by hand on the top soil over a wide area.
b. Seed Drill: seeds could be planted in the top soil in regular rows.
c. Cultivator: to remove weeds between rows so crops could grow better.
3. Viscount (Charles) Townshend:
a. Fallow-Field Practice: some fields would remain unplanted to maintain fertility.
b. Fertility could be maintained by alternating crops.
* Crop Rotation
c. Turnips: soil enriching crop and would be used in the winter to feed livestock.
4. Improved Machinery:
a. Reduced labor and increased production.
b. Expensive: forced many small farmers into the city.
The Cotton Textile Industry:
1. Mechanization first began in the cotton textile industry.
2. 17th Century:
a. Cotton cloth had been imported since the late Middle Ages.
b. 1600's: raw cotton imported and English spinners and weavers made it into cloth. --- domestic system.
3. Looms were a slow process.
4. 1733: John Kay
a. Invented the flying shuttle.
b. Mechanism - that moved the thread through the loom more rapidly.
c. Need: simple spinning wheels could not keep up.
5. 1764: James Hargreaves
a. Invented the spinning jenny.
b. It produced eight times as much thread as a single spinning wheel.
6. 1769: Richard Arkwright
a. Invented the water frame.
b. Water Powered and too large to be used in the home.
c. He opened a spinning mill employing several hundred employees.
* Beginning of the Factory System.
7. 1779: Samuel Crompton
a. Invented the spinning mule.
b. It combined the beast features of the spinning jenny and the water frame.
c. Weavers could not keep up with the increased supply of thread.
8. 1785: Edmund Cartwright
a. Invented the power loom.
b. Water powered, providing rapid and automatic weaving.
c. One man could produce as much as 200 hand loom workers.
9. Results of Improvements:
a. Cotton cloth was cheaper to produce and sell.
b. Prices went down and demand increased.
c. 1701: Britain imported one million pounds of raw cotton.
1802: Britain imported sixty million pounds of raw cotton.
d. Most of the cotton was imported from the Southern United States.
10. 1793: Eli Whitney
a. Cotton: was becoming unprofitable because of the difficulty of removing seeds.
b. By hand --- one man could only clean a pound of cotton a day.
c. The Cotton Gin: it could do the work of fifty men.
d. The Southern United States became the cotton producing center of the world.
The Steam Engine
1. Early machines of the Industrial Revolution were driven by water.
2. Problems:
a. A factory had to be located near a source of water.
b. Factory and source of water might not be near transportation, raw materials, a labor source, or market.
3. Need: Power source that would be continuous, dependable, and portable.
4. 1712: Thomas Newcomen
a. Produced the first successful steam engine.
b. Used to pump water from mines.
c. Crude Machine: slow and expensive to operate.
5. 1769: James Watt
a. Studied and improved upon Newcomen's engine.
b. Watt's engine was adapted for use in new spinning and weaving machines.
6. Steam replaced water as the major power source.
a. Allowed the Industrial Revolution to advance at a faster rate.
b. The Steam Engine: the most important invention of the Industrial Revolution.
Iron and Steel:
1. In England: iron had been produced for centuries with wood and charcoal as fuel.
* Coal was discovered to be a much better fuel.
2. Steam engines made of iron blew up under high pressure.
a. Iron contains certain impurities.
b. A stronger and harder material was needed.
3. Steel: iron with impurities removed.
a. The existing process was slow and expensive.
b. Steel remained a luxury item until the 1850's.
4. The Bessemer Process: 1856
a. Henry Bessemer and William Kelly developed a new process.
b. It reduced the cost of steel making it the basic material of industrialization.
Transportation
1. There was need for improved land transportation.
2. John McAdam - Scotland
a. Roadbed of large stones.
b. Layers of selected smaller stones - Macadam Road.
c. Modern Roads - use of asphalt to bind the smaller stones together.
3. Canal Building: 1760-1850
a. Extensive network of rivers in England and Western Europe.
b. Locks: controlled the level and flow of water between rivers.
c. cheaper and faster transportation than roads.
4. Watt's Steam Engine:
a. 1814: George Stephenson
1. Developed a steam locomotive propelling itself on rails.
2. 1829: The Rocket - traveled at 29 mph.
b. Railroads soon began to be built throughout the Western World.
5. Robert Fulton
a. Successfully adapted the steam engine to ships.
b. 1807: The Clearmont - began a regular inland steamboat service.
c. Steamboat service soon began to spread throughout the world.
6. 1838: The Great Western
a. Crossed the Atlantic in fifteen days.
b. Samuel Cunard of Britain developed the first Trans-Atlantic steamboat service.
c. Greatly improved over the years with iron and steel boats instead of wood.
Communication
1. Observation: that there was a connection between electricity and magnetism.
* There was a need to find a way to provide a steady flow of electricity.
2. Around 1800: Alexasandro Volta (an Italian)
a. Built the first battery that provided a steady flow of electricity.
b. Andre' Ampere (French) worked out the laws governing the magnetic effect of an electric current.
3. Samuel Morse (American) -- The Telegraph
a. He put the work of Volta and Ampere to practical use.
b. Sent electrical impulses over a wire making a machine click.
c. Morse Code: dots and dashes representing different letters of the alphabet.
* By 1844 it was in extensive use.
4. Cables - to carry electrical impulses under the sea.
a. 1850's: England was connected with Europe (Dover to Calais).
b. 1866: Cyrus Field and a group of Americans successfully laid cables across the Atlantic.
* What do we use today?
Spread of Industrialization
1. The Industrial Revolution did not spread to Europe immediately.
a. Lack of raw materials and markets.
b. England: prohibited the exportation of machines and the emigration of skilled workers.
c. Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era also slowed European development.
2. France:
a. Developed textiles, iron and mining.
b. Government:
1. Levied high tariffs on foreign imports.
2. Encouraged railroad building.
c. Farming still remained important in the French economy.
3. German States:
a. Efficient government was lacking because they were not united.
b. Some factories were built in the middle of the 19th Century.
c. Real industrialization did not begin until German Unification.
4. The United States:
a. Factors needed for industrialization existed in the United States.
b. Canals and railroads developed --- industry moved west as transportation developed.
c. By 1870: the United States was second only to Britain in industrial out put.
d. Farming: Eli Whitney ----- the Cotton Gin
1834: Cyrus McCormick - the reaper
Threasher - separated grain from the stalk.
Industrial Revolution and Society
1. Traditionally: one worked at home or in the fields (self employed).
2. Factory System: one worked in factories for wages.
3. Location of a Factory based o
a. Power
b. Raw Materials
c. Markets
4. Workers were forced to move where the factories were located.
5. Commercial Capitalism: merchants who bought, sold, and exchanged goods.
6. Industrialization introduced Industrial Capitalism: the producing and manufacturing of goods.
7. Need for Capital:
a. Partnerships: of two or more individuals.
b. Joint Stock Companies:
A Joint Stock Company - such a company raised capital by selling stock, or shares in the company, to investors. These shareholders, or stockholders, became joint owners. They might conduct the business themselves, but usually they employed managers to do it. Profits were divided among shareholders according to the number of shares of stock they owned. The part of the profit paid out for each share of stock was called a dividend.
Population and City Growth: Europe
1. 1750: 140 million people.
1850: 226 million people.
2. Population Centers: industrialized regions of England and Western Europe.
3. Result of a decreased death rate -- not an increased birth rate.
a. Greater food supply.
b. Increased knowledge of disease prevention.
4. City Growth: Manchester, England
a. Factories:
1772 - 25,000 people.
1851 - 455,000 people.
b. In rural areas cities grew up around factories.
Social Classes
1. Capitalists: the employer group grew in size.
a. Early industrialists managed their own factories.
b. Later: capitalists hired employees to manage their factories.
(the Managerial Class came into being.)
2. Managerial, Stock holders, and Owners came from the Middle Class.
3. Upper Class and Aristocrats
a. Still gained their wealth from the ownership of land.
b. Early Industrialization: they (landowners) looked down on business and businessmen.
4. The Proletariat: factory workers
a. Sold their labor for low wages (few skills).
b. The factory system did not need skill workers.
c. Women and children could be hired at even lower wages than men.
d. Small farmers and farm laborers were forced to move to the cities to seek work.
Working Conditions:
1. Working Day: 14-16 hours was considered normal.
2. Factories were noisy, dirty, and poorly ventilated.
3. Machinery:
a. No safety devices and injuries were frequent.
b. Accident and Disability Insurance did not exist.
4. Low Wages:
a. England: 1867 - the average weekly wage ranged from $5.00 to $9.00.
b. Women and children were much lower.
c. A little better in the United States.
* the work force was much lower (greater demand for workers).
5. Worst Feature: Child Labor
a. Common for a child of five to be employed.
b. Employed in cotton mills and mines.
c. Beatings were common for Children who fell asleep.
Living Conditions:
1. Lived in cramped and crowded tenements, with as many as a dozen to one room.
2. As late as 1840: one out of every eight working class families lived in cellars.
3. Problem: (Decreased Sales)
a. Cut production then wages were reduced.
b. At times, workers were laid off.
4. There was no unemployment insurance.
5. Standard of Living Improved:
a. Cheap products became available.
b. 19th Century - real wages increased.
* wages measured in terms of what they will buy.
6. Conditions were better than in rural areas.
Economic Theories: Beliefs that kept government from dealing with abuses during the
Industrial Revolution.
1. Economists of the Enlightenment:
a. There were natural laws that governed economic life.
b. Interference with these laws would bring disaster.
c. Opposition to Mercantile practices.
2. Adam Smith - Scotland
a. Published The Wealth of Nations in 1776.
b. Business was regulated by the law of supply and demand and the law of competition.
* If these laws were allowed to operate freely, a nation's wealth would increase.
c. He called for complete free interprise - Mercantilism interfered with these natural laws.
3. Thomas Malthus - Anglican Priest
a. An Essay on the Principle of Population - 1798
b. Problem: population would increase faster than the food supply.
c. Result: misery and poverty among the working class was inevitable.
4. David Ricardo - English Businessman
a. Principles of Political Economy and Taxation - 1817
b. Iron Law of Wages: If labor is scarce, wages will go up. If labor was not scarce, wages would go down.
c. Result: Working Class poverty was inevitable.
Laissez Faire (hands off) theorists advocated complete non interference by the government in business.
Factory Laws: Not a Working Class Movement
1. Workers: had no representation in Parliament until 1876.
Factory Owners were not represented until 1832.
2. Conflict: landowning Aristocracy and Factory Owners.
a. Factory Owners:
1.) Repeal of tariffs on raw materials and foodstuffs.
2.) This would reduce the cost of production and wages.
b. Landowners:
1.) Willing to lower tariffs on raw materials.
2.) Opposed any change in the Corn Laws - tariffs on grain products.
3.) Result: Parliament was more willing to help factory workers.
3. The Factory Act of 1819:
a. Prohibited the employment of children under the age of 9 in cotton mills.
b. Children between the age of 9 and 18 were restricted to twelve hours of work a day.
c. 1833 - the law was applied to all textile factories.
1.) Under 9 years: no employment.
2.) 9 - 13 years: nine hours a day.
3.) 13 - 18 years: twelve hours a day.
4. 1842 - another law
a. Women and girls were prohibited to work in mines.
b. Boys under ten were prohibited to work in the mines.
5. The Ten Hour Act: 1847
a. Ten Hours: for women and children under 18 years in textile factories.
b. The ten hour day became the general work day for textile factories.
The Union Movement
1. Problem: Early factory laws were not strictly enforced and id not deal with other issues.
2. English Law: "Worker's Associations" were illegal as 'conspiracies in restraint of trade.'
3. Attempts to form unions: Parliament passed laws prohibiting them as "unlawful combinations".
4. 1800: Law - unions demanding higher wages, shorter hours and better working conditions were liable to imprisonment.
5. 1824: Laws against unlawful combinations were repealed.
6. 1825: Act - permitted laborers to meet in order to agree on wages and hours.
7. 1845: The National Association for the Protection of Labour: persuaded Parliament to allow peaceful picketing.
* 1870's: laws were passed legalizing strikes.
8. France:
a. 1791: trade unions were outlawed.
b. 1820's: they (unions) began to be formed, as illegal organizations.
c. 1884: unions were legalized.
9. Germany:
a. Unions appeared in the late 1800's.
b. Unions were outlawed in 1878.
c. 1890: unions were legalized.
Socialism:
1. An economic system which advocates the public ownership of all the means of production to promote the common good.
2. The Means of Production: everything used to produce and exchange goods.
ie. land, mines, railroads, factories, stores, and banks.
3. Under Capitalism:
a. Means of Production are owned by private citizens.
b. They are operated for personal profit.
4. Under Socialism:
a. It is a system that would do away with the profit motive.
b. Belief that everyone had the right to share in the profit of industry.
Utopian Socialists: Early 19th Century
1. Model Community: achieved by living in small cooperative settlements with everyone owning all the means of production and sharing the products (profits).
2. Robert Owens
a. Owner and manager of a large cotton mill in Scotland.
b. He was concerned about the welfare of his employees: homes, schools, better wages, food at cost --- ie. paternalism.
c. People should not be dependent on an employer's good will: the proper environment could only achieve this.
d. He wanted cooperative communities in both Britain and the United States.
New Harmony, Indiana: they failed because of internal conflict.
Karl Marx and Scientific Socialism
1. Critics: viewed utopians as too idealistic and impractical.
2. Karl Marx: more drastic (quicker) change was needed:
a. A journalist born in Prussia in 1818.
b. Radical views forced him to leave Prussia and settled in England where he lived until his death in 1883.
3. Communist Manifesto: 1848
a. Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles.
b. Economic Determinism: all events are caused by economic conditions (historical events).
c. Class Struggle: between the Bourgeoisie, the owners of the means of production and the Proletariat, the workers.
d. History: determined by those who own the means of production.
e. The French Revolution:
1.) It was a revolt of the middle class against the feudal aristocracy.
2.) Result: it brought about the rise of capitalism.
f. Capitalism:
1.) A necessary stage in history.
2.) Industrial Revolution: it brought about the struggle between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
3.) Economic Inequality: labor only receives a small share of the wealth they create.
4.) Advanced Industrialization: the proletariat would seize power by force and establish socialism.
g. "Dictatorship of the Proletariat"
1.) Workers would have to control the government since there would be many who would not accept socialism.
2.) Education: people would eventually freely accept socialism.
ie. a pure state of "Communism".
3.) Scientific Socialism: Marx believed that this process was inevitable.
4. Das Kapital: Marx's analysis of Capitalism.