1. Technological advances in agriculture
led to a need for fewer workers on
farms.
E. Napp

2. Technological advances in industry led to a completely new way of
working.
E. Napp

3. Machines were too large to fit in homes. Machines were also
too expensive for the average
person to afford.
E. Napp

4. Home-based manufacturing (the domestic or cottage system) was replaced
with the
factory system.
E. Napp

5. Workers came to live near factories. Factory towns quickly turned into
cities.
E. Napp

6. and children, as young as
Men, women,
and children, as young as
five, worked
six days a week
in factories.
E. Napp

7. There were no safety devices on machines. No work – No pay
There were no government
agencies to help the unemployed.
E. Napp

8. A new economic theory had emerged. It was known as laissez-faire. This
French term means
“let them (business owners) do as they
please.”
E. Napp

9. Laissez-faire had been advocated by Adam Smith. Smith had explained
how free market economies function.
He introduced ideas like supply
and demand.
E. Napp

10. Adam Smith believed that markets would fix themselves when
governments did not intervene.
E. Napp

11. In other words, if prices were too high,
people would stop buying. Business
owners would then lower prices to
encourage people to start buying again!
E. Napp

12. But what about child labor? Business owners made great
profits using child labor. Would
they stop the practice or would
the government need to regulate
labor in the marketplace?
E. Napp