Industrial Revolution

• 1760-1850
• The ancestors of the Industrial Revolution were the scientists that led us through the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
• Ex. Galileo
• New technologies result in new forms of production
• Increased production, efficiency, commerce
• Exponential growth in technology
• Many of the conditions were interrelated. 
• One technological increase in one realm causes a technological change in another realm. 
• Increasing during this time is the economy especially coming out of the New World in the manufacture of cloth and that trade between colony and homeland is all part of this system within which is the context of industrialization. Also a part of mercantilism. 
• The Industrial Revolution itself is the pivot point between mercantilism and capitalism. 
• Competition to produce better technology. This promotes capitalism. 
• Until this period most tools on farms were made out of wood.  Industrial Revolution brought about metal tools. This caused faster production and the tools lasted longer. 
• As the supplies of all these things grow, so does the population. There is a great move of workers from rural areas to cities to work in factories. All of the inventions made for farms have to be made in factories. 
• Not as many people are needed on the farm when you have the inventions that replace the people. What is needed are people who invent and make new technologies. 
• Prior to 1760 textiles were made at home. This was a cottage industry. 
• Cottage industries were very small. The people, often women, made a limited number of textile goods because the processes took so long. 
• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Sped up the process, so more textiles could be made. 
• Spinning Jenny
• Used to be one woman sitting at a spinning wheel spinning one thread. 
• Spinning Jenny can make thread that would have taken dozens of people to make. 
• In 20 years nearly 20,000 spinning jennys were being used in England. 
• this completely changes the capacity of the country to produce materials. 
• Workers rights
• No laws governing the workers rights. 
• children could be made to work full shifts in factories
• Exploitation
• safety conditions go down
• No healthcare system
• Coal Mining
• Working conditions in 18th and 19th centuries were nearly suicidal. 
• The only people who would become coal miners were the ones who absolutely had to. 
• It was an extremely dangerous job. 
• There were no regulations on mining. 
• Mining capacity increases, more homes and factories are using coal
• It's expanding on itself.
• Iron industry
• pig iron - smelted with a coke fire 
• coke is burned coal
• coke can be used as an alternative to heat things
• This meant that you could work more because you needed less material and you could recycle the material. 
• Transportation 
• railroads - carry materials from one place to another
• more capacity to move things
• things can move faster
• Canal
• Can send barges down or up river. You can move goods anywhere you want. 
• Change everything with distribution of goods
• 1804-1820
• some halfway successful attempts at creating working rail cars. 
• George Stevenson creates the first public rail cars designed to move passengers around. 
• That line becomes too expensive to maintain. The idea remained though. 
• Trade distribution between cities on continents begins. 
• Steam Engine
• During the 18th century the population in Europe grew faster than it ever had before in history
• Decline in death rate
• Increase in birth rate
• Virtual elimination of plague diseases
• Food production
• Factory jobs were tough, but because they were in demand, they often paid better wages than the farm jobs. 
• It allowed people to marry younger, children to be born earlier. 
• The old system of apprenticeship is not needed anymore. 
• Someone isn't needed to learn how to do something if their job is to learn how to run the machine that does that task. 
• Size of the middle class is increased. 
• Poor farm workers can marry people who are richer and in turn become richer. 
• Towns are created because of factories
• Capital and labor
• capital is the amount of money you have to invent into something
• ability to grow capital and use it as investment that produces more profit is a fundamental part of capitalism. 
• Need a labor pool of people who are willing to work in the factories.