Industrial Revolution A Brief Introduction

On the Agricultural Side ~ Britain• Wealthy landowners bought up much of the

farm land, enclosed it with fences & hedges. • 1) Tried new agricultural methods• 2) Large landowners forced small farmers to

become tenant farmers OR move to the cities.• Practiced new method of crop-rotation. • Livestock – only allowed the best to breed • England’s population increased-people had

more to eat and better living conditions

Industrializaton

• Process of developing machine production of goods – drew from natural resources

• Water power & coal to fuel new machines

• Iron ore to make the machines, tools and buildings

• Rivers for inland transport• Harbors for merchants to sail

Why Great Britain?

• Britain had the Factors of Production:

- Land- Labor- Capital• Urbanization meant

that more and more people were moving into the cities

Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

• Steam Engine – 1st model used by coal miners to pull water from the shaft.

• By 1765, James Watts made a steam engine that worked faster and used less fuel.

• This engine was used in trains and in steam boats.

Transportation Innovations

• Clermont steamship (1807), used as a ferry up & down the Hudson

• England created a network of canals to better transport goods inland. By the mid-1800s, there were 4,250 miles of inland channels.

• This helped to cut the price of goods.

Roads and Rails• Large stones on the roads

for drainage—wagons no longer sunk into the mud.

• 1804- 1st steam driven locomotive, 1825—1st rail line from Yorkshire to Stockton opened.

• Four Major Effects like 1) cheap transportation, 2) New jobs, 3) Boosted agriculture and fishing industries & 4) Made travel easier

A New Middle Class

• Factory owners, shippers and merchants gained wealth and brought their wealth into Britain.

• Middle class now had most social and political power.

• Upper Middle Class—govt. employees, doctors, lawyers and factory managers.

• Lower Middle Class—toolmakers, drafters, painters, factory overseers.

Living &Working Conditions

• People flooded the cities looking for work.• No standards for development, sanitation or

housing. Garbage collected in streets. • Workers lived in shelters, whole families in

one bedroom. Disease was rampant. • Factories not well lit, dirty. • Machines injured workers; NO govt. program

to provide aid if injured.