The Industrial Revolution

In Britain, in the mid-to-late 1700s (around 1760)

Plentiful coal and iron Capital from trade and banks Colonies for raw materials and markets Rivers and ports for transport A growing labor supply from the Agricultural Revolution A stable government that protected property

Wealthy landowners fenced off common lands into large private farms, pushing small farmers off the land and into cities as factory workers.

The seed drill

Textiles (cotton cloth)

Flying shuttle: John Kay (1733) Spinning jenny: James Hargreaves (about 1764) Water frame: Richard Arkwright (1769) Spinning mule: Samuel Crompton (1779) Power loom: Edmund Cartwright (1785)

A much more efficient steam engine with a separate condenser (patented 1769), improving on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 engine.

Bringing workers and machines together in one building under supervision, with fixed hours and division of labor, replacing the cottage (putting-out) system.

It was the first intercity railway run entirely by steam locomotives.

Made steel cheaply and in large amounts by blowing air through molten iron to remove impurities.

The cotton gin

Overcrowded slums, poor sanitation, polluted air and water, and frequent disease such as cholera.

Banned children under 9 from working in textile mills, limited hours for older children and created factory inspectors.

The Luddites

The idea that government should not interfere in the economy. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776).

History is a struggle between classes; the proletariat (workers) would overthrow the bourgeoisie (owners) and create a classless society.

The middle class: factory owners, merchants, managers and professionals.

Steel, electricity, chemicals and oil, with inventions like the telephone, light bulb and internal combustion engine.

Interchangeable parts

They formed labor unions to bargain for higher wages, shorter hours and safer conditions. Britain legalized unions when it repealed the Combination Acts in 1824.