The March of Mechanization In 1750, steam was used a major way to take the place of human labor. With it came the Industrial Revolution in England.

Britain’s Advantages Britain had geographical due to the location on the Atlantic Ocean and its many seaways. The country was well placed to import raw materials and export finished goods. Britain was located atop immense coal deposits. Coal was vital to industrialization (steam engine)

Advantages Continued Britain had access to resources in its colonies (timber for ships) The British had excess capital (money to invest in business) River systems-transportation

British Inventors James Hargreaves-invented the Spinning Jenny Samuel Compton-improved the Spinning Jenny and invented the Spinning Mule Edmund Cartwright-power loom

The March of Mechanization It took a while for America to embrace the machine because (1) good land in America was cheap (2) and peasants preferred to grow crops as opposed to working in factories. Because of this, labor was scarce and hard to find until the immigrants came to America in the 1840s. There was also not a lot of money for investment in America and consumers were scarce. The large British factories also had a monopoly on the textile industry.

Samuel Slater Technology Samuel Slater- "Father of the Factory System" in America; escaped Britain with the memorized plans for the textile machinery; put into operation the first spinning cotton thread machine in 1791. Slater’s Spinning Frame

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine Eli Whitney- built the first cotton gin in 1793. The cotton gin was much more effective at separating the cotton seed from the cotton fiber than using slaves. It affected not only America, but the rest of the world. Because of the cotton gin, the South's production of cotton greatly increased and the demand for cotton revived the demand for slavery. Eli Whitney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6wPxAp-1Jc

New England was favored as the industrial center because: it had poor soil for farming it had a dense population for labor shipping brought in capital and seaports made the import of raw materials and the export of the finished products easy

Marvels in Manufacturing The War of 1812 prompted a boom of American factories and the use of American products as opposed to British imports.

Marvels in Manufacturing In 1798, Eli Whitney came up with the idea of machines making each part of the musket so that every part of the musket would be the same. The principle of interchangeable parts caught on by 1850 and it became the basis for mass-production. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLb9QGWK8TA

Marvels in Manufacturing Elias Howe- invented the sewing machine in 1846. The sewing machine gave a boost to northern industrialization. It became the foundation of the ready-made clothing industry.

The Waltham-Lowell System In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell and several partners opened the first factory (the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts) in the United States able to convert raw cotton into cloth using power machinery. Lowell led the company in both technical and business decisions. This company was the first to have a power loom (based on the British model). The Waltham mill integrated a chain of tasks under a single roof—inaugurating the American factory system of the 19th century.

The Waltham-Lowell System & Mill Girls Another of Lowell's innovations was in hiring young farm girls to work in the mill. He paid them lower wages than men, but offered benefits that many girls, some as young as 15, were eager to earn. Mill girls lived in clean company boardinghouses with chaperones, were paid cash, and benefitted from religious and educational activities.

Lowell Mill Girls The Lowell mills were the first hint of the industrial revolution to come in the United States, and with their success came two different views of the factories. For many of the mill girls, employment brought a sense of freedom. Unlike most young women of that era, they were free from parental authority, were able to earn their own money, and had broader educational opportunities. Many observers saw this challenge to the traditional roles of women as a threat to the American way of life. Others criticized the entire wage-labor factory system as a form of slavery and actively condemned and campaigned against the harsh working conditions and long hours and the increasing divisions between workers and factory owners.

The Waltham-Lowell System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF7_Z2eu-cY

Workers and "Wage Slaves" Impersonal relationships replaced the personal relationships that were once held between workers. Factory workers were forbidden by law to form labor unions to raise wages. In the 1820s, many children were used as laborers in factories.

Workers and "Wage Slaves" President Van Buren established the ten-hour work day in 1840. Commonwealth vs. Hunt- Supreme Court ruling said that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies, provided that their methods were honorable and peaceful.

Women and the Economy Farm women and girls had an important place in the pre-industrial economy: spinning yarn weaving cloth and making candles, soap, butter, and cheese. Women were forbidden to form unions and they had few opportunities to share dissatisfactions over their harsh working conditions. During the Industrial Revolution, families were small, affectionate, and child-centered, which provided a special place for women.