1. Industrial Revolution
Main Idea: The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment led people to develop new way of doing things. Among these new ways were processes and machines for raising crops, making cloth, and other jobs. These developments led to dramatic changes in industry and the world of work. Because so much changed, this era was called the Industrial Revolution. It began in Great Britain and then spread to other parts of the world.

2. Industrial Revolution
For centuries people had used human and animal power as their main energy source, but during the Industrial Revolution they replaced human and animal power with steam and electricity.
The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain because…
They had access to the raw materials necessary,
They had a large merchant fleet to export their goods
Their government passed laws to benefit business
Private businesses supported new innovative ideas and inventions.
There was also an Agricultural Revolution in which machines replaced humans and animals.
Farmers experimented with new methods of planting, invented machines to make farming easier, and began enclosing their farms to make larger more efficient farms.

3. Industrial Revolution
There were essential elements that created a productive environment for industry –these Factors of Production were land, labor, and capital.
Land, meaning availability of natural resources, included a nation’s ability to gain access to coal, water, and other methods of powering their industries through their own resources or their colonies resources.
Labor, meaning the availability of workers, included a large population of workers.
Capital, meaning money or skills to invest in business, included both private investors willing to spend money on the newest technologies or people with skills that would advance business in a particular way.
Previous to the Industrial Revolution the British had been hand-weaving cotton in Cottage Industries, or crafts that were made in the home by hand.
Factories, or buildings that housed industrial machines, became a popular place for people to work and develop products to sell.

4. Industrial Revolution
Industries used steam to power steam engines which could be used in many different capacities.
Cotton mills used the steam engine to run the mill looms which increased the amount of cloth they were able to make.
Steam engines were put into locomotives to make the shipment of goods quicker and more efficient.
However, steam required wood to be burned and many of the trees were being cut down to make way for farms – people turned to coal instead.
As coal became a popular fuel source coal mining also became more popular.
Factories were able to mass produce, or make in large quantities, goods through the use of interchangeable parts, or identical parts for one product.
This made goods easier to make and cheaper.
Britain was fiercely protective of their industry secrets and created laws to forbid anyone from taking machines, blueprints, or any skilled craftsmen from leaving the country – they were the only industrialized nation.
Samuel Slater, however, travelled to the United States and spread the knowledge of the steam powered machines.

5. Factories and Workers
Before factories most work occurred in the Cottage Industry in homes.
This led many houses to burn down because of the fires that had to be used to power the machines.
Many families depended heavily on their children to do the labor necessary to power their business – when a family member fell ill it could be a disaster.
Factory laborers had learned separate easily learned tasks which allowed for adults as well as children to work.
Factory work was dangerous with many ways to end up hurt by the machines and there were no safety laws.
Many of the work days were long – at least twelve hours in length.
Towns grew up along factories where people moved looking for work.
New social hierarchy formed: Wealthy businessmen, white collar supervisors, and the blue collar workers to run the machines.
Urbanization: the growth of populations of people living in towns and cities.

6. Factories and Workers
Factories preferred hiring women and children because they were cheaper than men.
Men were also not as good at taking orders.
Factory conditions could be very harsh and there were very few laws regulating the industries.
Workers formed groups called Labor Unions that would advocate on the behalf of the workers to the government.
Workers went on strike, in which they stopped working, to convince employers to raise wages.
As a result of labor unions the British government eventually made laws that required children to be at least nine years old to work in the factories and limited work hours.
The Factory Act of 1833 limited the working hours of children and required that children who worked also had to be schooled.

7. Advances in Technology
Michael Faraday discovered the connection between magnetism and electricity which allowed for the invention of electrical devices.
Thomas Edison successfully invented the first lightbulb in 1879.
Electric power improved factories because they would be able to get rid of steam and coal power as well as light their buildings for longer.
The Bessemer Process allowed for steel to be made stronger and cheaper.
This led to more things being made out of steel including trains and buildings.
Due to the increase in the availability of steel railroads became more widespread connecting various parts of the world.
Henry Ford created the first automobile called the Model T using interchangeable parts.
The automobile allowed for people to travel farther and easier.
Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the first airplane in North Carolina in the early 1900s.
Fuel powered airplanes would later be invented to carry cargo, people, and more..
The telegraph invented by Samuel Morse allowed for messages to be sent instantly over wires.
Morse code, the language used to transmit messages, was decoded at either end of the wire.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone which allowed for individuals to have more access to instantaneous communication that was more private than the telegraph.

8. Advances in Science
Charles Darwin became the “Father of Evolution” following his trip to the Galapagos where he studied plants and animals.
He came up with the idea of natural selection, or creatures adapt to their environment in order to survive.
He argued that due to natural selection species evolve over time to adapt to their environments – including humans.
Joseph Lister created an antiseptic to clean wounds and tools to prevent the spread of disease causing bacteria.
Modern hospitals with doctors and nurses also became more widespread during this time which allowed for diseases to be quarantined.

9. New ideas in a New Society
Laissez-faire economics by Adam Smith, the idea that the government should not interfere in business affairs, spread during the Industrial Revolution.
Laissez-faire economics allowed for a free market economy to form in which businesses were free to compete with one another.
Not everyone believed that Laissez-faire economics was beneficial to society – ideas such as socialism and communism emerged as other ways of thinking.
Socialism, led by Robert Owen, argued that society or the government should own property and control industry rather than individuals.
Communism, led by Karl Marx, argued that government should own all means of production and control economic planning.