The Industrial Revolution

It Begins Prior to 1800, America had a mainly Agrarian economy Most people made things by hand There was very little mass production Even immediately after the Industrial Revolution, most Americans were still farmers The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the late 1700’s

What Was It? The Industrial revolution was a shift in the way things were produced Took advantage of new technologies and sources of power Steam and water replaced human and animal power Transformed the textile industry The Spinning Jenny was a machine that allowed several threads to be spun at once Greatly sped up garment production

The Factory System Prior to the revolution, artisans hand made goods from their homes or small shops To utilize new, larger machines, larger buildings were created Eventually, very large factories housing many machines were created Capitalists invested in businesses in order to build these large factories Workers were now being paid weekly wages instead of earning money for selling each item This mass production allowed items to be made very inexpensively Made it nearly impossible to be a successful artisan

The Revolution Comes To America Great Britain initially wanted to keep this new system a secret Didn’t want other countries to benefit Parliament passed a law forbidding anyone to take plans for the machines out of the country Samuel Slater memorized the design and took it to America in 1789 in order to gain a large reward Helped create a water powered mill in Rhode Island

Interchangeable Parts Because goods were made individually by hand, if it broke, a gunsmith had to painstakingly hand craft a replacement part Eli Whitney created a plan to machine manufacture each part so that they would all be the same This way, replacement parts would be easily available He sold his idea to the Government since they used many guns This revolutionary idea of interchangeable parts spread quickly

Lowell Mills In Great Britain, one mill spun the thread and a second mill wove it into cloth Francis Cabot Lowell combined this process into one mill in Massachusetts From raw cotton to finished cloth under one roof Young women were hired to work in these mills Became known as Lowell Girls Work was difficult, but women tended to value the economic freedom it provided Often they sent their earning home to their families

Life After The Industrial Revolution Child Labor Boys and girls as young as 7 worked in factories Useful in textile mills as they could fit in small spaces to change spindles Children also worked on farms, so this was really nothing new Children’s wages were often needed to support their families No child labor laws Very few labor laws and no real unions to protect workers

Continued Long Hours Women took more of an active role in the family The typical work day lasted 12-14 hours a day and the typical week was 6 days long As competition grew, conditions in the factories deteriorated Employers took less of an interest in working conditions Women took more of an active role in the family Some women worked outside the home but many ran the home as their husbands were away for much of the time

Urbanization People tended to flock to factory towns in search of work This led to the growth of American Cities We call the move from rural areas to cities Urbanization In 1800, 6% lived in urban areas By 1850, it was 15% By 1920, the number was over 50% Cities at the time were not clean places Pollution, pot holes, disease Cities did have major attractions Museums, theaters, circuses, many shops and diverse goods