The Industrial Revolution Late 1700s

The Industrial Revolution began in Europe in the late 1700s. This was a time of new methods of work and new inventions. The industrial revolution was a time of change in the economy and transition to the manufacturing of new goods. It dramatically changed the way people lived. Although it benefited the world, it also had some negatives. During the industrial revolution, people began moving from rural areas to urban cities. In rural areas, they were using handmade tools, clothing, and grew their own food (document 1a). When urban cities began to form, so many people were moving, the rural way of life began to disappear. These villages grew into industrial cities which led them to produce goods quicker and cheaper. Those who lived in an urban society were able to buy clothing, food, and tools that somebody else made, using a machine (document 1b). In 1769 Arkwright created the water-frame and James Watt got a license for the steam engine.

Sixteen years later it pertained to the cotton mill, Watt and Boulton made an engine for it at Papplewick in Notts. These two things introduced the factory system (document 2). At the beginning of the industrial revolution the wages of spinners and weavers increased because with all the mass produce it brought to trade. 1788-1803 was called the “golden age” because, in those fifteen years, the cotton trade tripled itself. In the cottage of weaver’s, “each family brought forty to one-hundred twenty shillings per week” (document 2). “The iron industry had been equally revolutionized by the invention of smelting by pit-coal” (document 2). In eight years the amount of iron that was being made doubled. 1830-1840, Samuel Morse developed a new invention. The telegraph. This is a way of long distance communication. It carried information using dots and lines at a high speed, which made communications between Europe a lot easier and quicker. Education was also a major improvement in the Industrial Revolution. “Recognition of the urgent necessity of giving moral, intellectual, and vocational education to the women of the masses so they can become the moral agents for the men of great masses” (document 7).

Women are now given education so they can work for men, but having education for women is a major step of improvement because women were treated more as objects rather than actual human beings. John Wesley set up Sunday schools for the working class, helped the angry workers to not form a revolution toward social reform, and founded the Methodist Church because he believed the people needed a sense of personal faith. In the medical industry, new ways were used for huge advancements. New methods to make surgeries a lot safer, less painful, and keep germs from spreading inside the body. Vaccinations had been created. The first vaccination was for smallpox created by Edward Jenner. “Every town has one or more slum areas into which the working classes are packed” (document 5).

The huge gap between the Capitalists and the urban working class caused such poverty for the workers that they huddled together in a very small area for warmth. The streets were full of “filthy strewn with animal and vegetable refuse” (document 5) that the air they would regularly breathe was intoxicated and unhealthy. The poverty of the proletariat’s led to child labor. Factories employed children at 5 years old, and they worked 12-16 hours a day. Children were regularly being hit with a strap to make them work faster, and in some factories, they were dipped headfirst into a tank of water if they were getting sleepy. Those who ran away were in danger of being sent to jail. The ventilation was so bad people were dying from that more than natural causes or wounds. There were “43,000 cases of widowhood and 112,000 destitute orphanages” from the working class (document 6).

Parents agreed that their children should work to help support the family. Factories employed children at 5 years old, and they worked 12-16 hours a day. Children were regularly being hit with a strap to make them work faster, and in some factories, they were dipped headfirst into a tank of water if they were getting sleepy. Those who ran away were in danger of being sent to jail. In Great Britain, the demographic ascended. The working class was having lots of children that they couldn’t afford to support so they gave them up as orphans. The number of urban cities increased, and the population went from most areas having forty to one-hundred thirty people living there in 1801, large cities are Britain had over one-hundred thirty people living there in 1851 (document 4). The new middle class was very small.

Families who were once urban workers now lived in nice homes and ate and dressed well. Many believed that the poor are responsible for their distress. They would think that if they were able to make it, then they can do it too. Their determination to do hard work and to flourish was valued. Instead of women working like in the factories, women were now encouraged to act like ‘ladies’.

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