Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dylan Barrick
Mr. Bellos
AP World History B
26 February 2016
Continuities and Changes in Industrial and Technological Development in Britain and the United
In Britain and the United States, from the beginning of the industrial revolution (about
1770) to 1900, major industrial and technological changes were made. In regard to industry, the
largest change brought about by the industrial revolution was made in the work force, whether it
technology, efficiency was boosted as machines started replacing people, and communication
and transportation became easier. Continuities in those fields remained as well. The focus of
goods being manufactured during the industrial revolution, textiles and iron, persisted despite
The largest change in industry during the industrial revolution was the work force. It was
realized that many workers coming together and working with machines would produce
manufactured goods much more efficiently, so the majority of labor in those countries shifted
from farms to factories. Just before the industrial revolution, 80% of the worlds population
worked at farms. By 1900, 41% of the U.S. work force farmed. This was possible because of the
new technologies being produced and applied to agriculture, like the steam engine which could
power tractors. This change in location led to consolidation under company leaders who held
monopolies and shipped manufactured goods all over the world. Britain was at this time heavily
On a similar scale to those of industry, large technological changes were made as well in
both nations. First introduced in Britain (and then illegally brought to the United States by
Samuel Slater) were textile machines. These machines, such as the flying shuttle, spinning jenny,
and water frame, all made manufacturing textiles much easier and much less time-consuming.
The United States produced its own innovations as well, such as the cotton gin, which separated
cotton from the seeds. This invention led to a higher demand for slaves in the U.S., which had
large effects on African peoples. It is widely debated as to why the industrial revolution
essentially began in Britain (and Europe for that matter), but a leading explanation is that it
simply had the most available natural resources when its society was prepared to industrialize.
Britain had an abundance of coal, and connections with India that in turn entitled them with all
the natural resources found there as well. This coal is related to another technological change
made during the industrial revolution, the introduction of new power sources. Coal (and later
coke) replaced wood as fuel, and the steam engine replaced inferior water-related power supplies
like the water wheel. The steam engine has been the main source of power since its introduction,
Although the industrial revolution is correlated (deservingly so) with huge scale changes,
there exists the continuity of the focus of industry for the two countries, textiles and iron. Besides
farming, working-class citizens put a lot of effort into textiles and metalworking, where women
would knit cloth to sell among their communities, and men would hammer away at metal parts to
refine and sell them. Even as the industrial revolution continued on, the focus of manufacturing
did not shift from these two industries. The first industrial machines and factories were focused
on textiles, and new technologies such as the rolling and puddling processes introduced by
Englishman Henry Cort. Rolling allowed raw iron to be thinned out much more efficiently than
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hammering it out, and puddling allowed for the manufacture of fine iron bars. These processes
allowed the textile and metalwork industries to persist and grow. The iron, now being more
easily refined and turned into steel, made way for easier transportation like railroads and more
solid infrastructure such as large bridges. Textiles were important in India as well, which helped
Britain grow, and iron was important to the U.S. as the country expanded and needed more
buildings.