📍Topic 5.3 Industrial Revolution Begins

📖 AMSCO p.297 - p.303

Main Idea

Key Timeline

Image Courtesy of Liv

Things to Know

Agricultural Improvements

• Crop rotation and seed drill increased food production
• As a result of increased food production, there was a population growth
• Improved medical care —> decrease in infant mortality —> higher life expectancy —> more people to work in factories

Preindustrial Societies

• Before the Industrial Revolution, many families in Britain lived in rural areas, grew their own food, and made most of their own clothes
• The establishment of Britain as a maritime empire and their colonization of India led to Indian cotton being in high demand —> Britain established their own cotton industry in response
  • Britain developed the cottage industry system where women spun cloth in their home with raw cotton from merchants
  • This system gave women a bit more independence, but it was hard work with little pay
• Investors demanded faster production times, leading to the need for more technology

Technological Growth

• Spinning Jenny
  • Invented by James Hargreaves in the 1760s
  • Sped up the process by letting it spin more than one thread at a time
• Water Frame
  • Patented by Richard Arkwright in 1769
  • Used water power to power the spinning wheel
  • Led to an increase in factories as the water frame was more productive than one person’s labor and the industry needed somewhere to house these big machines
    • Because of this, Arkwright is known as the father of the factory system
• Interchangeable Parts
  • Invented by Eli Whitney in 1798
  • Developed a system where if a particular part of the machine broke, the broken part could easily be replaced with a new, identical part rather than replace the whole machine
  • This system led to the division and specialization of labor
  • This concept was expanded with Henry Ford’s invention of the assembly line

Advantages for Industrialization in Britain

• Britain’s location on the Atlantic Ocean, as well as its many rivers with canals and harbors, made the transport of raw materials and finished products inexpensive
  • Also due to their location on the ocean, the British had the world’s best ships, giving them an advantage in transporting goods
• Mineral Resources
  • Located on top of a lot coal deposits, it powered steam engines and separated iron from its ore, allowing for the construction of larger bridges and taller buildings
• Resources from the Colonies
  • Had access to resources available in the colonies
  • Due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, British capitalists had excess capital
    • This allowed private entrepreneurs to create new commercial ventures
• Growing Population and Urbanization
  • Increase in agricultural production = increase in population and decrease in amount of agricultural workers needed
  • Additionally, the enclosure movement pushed many farmers off land
  • Because of these things, many farmers began to move from rural areas into urban areas like Liverpool and Manchester
  • These migrants ended up becoming a part of the factory workforce
• Protection of Private Property
  • Britain’s private property protection laws allowed for more innovation as entrepreneurs were assured their businesses would not be taken away

Terms to Remember