UNIT V.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Lesson 1. The Beginnings of Industrialization

Political revolutions ushered in new administrations in the United States,

France, and Latin America. A different kind of revolution was now transforming how
people worked. The term "Industrial Revolution" refers to the massive rise in output
of machine-made items that began in England in the mid-1700s. People weaved
textiles by hand before the Industrial Revolution. Then machines took over for this and
other tasks. The Industrial Revolution quickly expanded from England to the rest of
Europe and North America.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
a. describe why the Industrial Revolution started in Britain; and
b. identify the main inventions that revolutionized the industrial
age;

Industrial Revolution Begins in Britain

Small farms covered the landscape of England around 1700. Wealthy

landowners, on the other hand, began purchasing most of the land that village farmers
had previously worked. Large landowners significantly improved farming practices.
These advancements resulted in an agrarian revolution.

The Agricultural Revolution Paves the Way

After purchasing the land of village farmers, wealthier landowners surrounded

their property with fences or hedges. Their increased landholdings allowed them to
farm greater fields. Landowners experimented with more productive sowing and
harvesting methods within these bigger fields, known as enclosures, to increase
agricultural yields. The enclosure movement had two significant outcomes. First,
landowners experimented with novel farming practices. Second, wealthy landowners
drove small farmers to become tenant farmers or abandon farming and go to cities.

One of the earliest scientific farmers was Jethro Tull. He noticed that
distributing seed throughout the ground, as is customary, was a waste of time. Many
seeds failed to germinate. In around 1701, he invented the seed drill, which eliminated
this difficulty. It enabled farmers to plant seeds at specified depths in well-spaced rows.
A greater proportion of the seeds germinated, increasing agricultural output.
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Industrial Revolution in England

In addition to a strong labor force, the small island republic has abundant
natural resources. Such resources were necessary for industrialization, which is the
process of developing machine manufacturing of commodities. These natural
resources comprised (a) water power and coal to power the new machines; (b) iron
ore to create machinery, tools, and structures; (c) rivers for interior transit; and (d)
harbors from which commercial ships set sail. Businesspeople used these funds to
invest in the development of innovations.

Inventions Spur Industrialization

Inventions have now transformed the business into an explosion of

inventiveness. The textile industry of the United Kingdom clothed the entire globe in
wool, linen, and cotton. This was the first industry to be changed. Fabric merchants
increased their earnings by hastening the process of spinning and weaving cloth.

Changes in the Textile Industry

Several important breakthroughs had revolutionized the cotton industry by

1800. One innovation spawned another. A machinist called John Kay invented a
shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels in 1733. This flying shuttle, which was a
boat-shaped piece of wood with yarn attached, quadrupled the amount of work a
weaver could perform in a day. Because spinners were unable to keep up with these
quick weavers, a $1,000 incentive enticed entrants to create a better spinning machine.
A textile weaver called James Hargreaves created the spinning wheel, which he
named for his daughter, about 1764. His spinning jenny enabled a single spinner to
work eight threads at once.

Initially, textile workers used their hands to operate the flying shuttle and the
spinning jenny. In 1769, Richard Arkwright created the water frame. The waterpower
from fast streams was employed to drive spinning wheels in this contraption. In 1779,
Samuel Crompton created the spinning mule by combining elements of the spinning
jenny and the water frame. The spinning mule produced a stronger, finer, and more
uniform thread than previous spinning machines.

Improvements in Transportation

Textile advancements fueled other industrial advancements. The hunt for a

cheap, easy source of power led to the invention of the steam engine, which was the
first of its kind. Coal miners used steam-powered pumps to drain water from deep mine

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shafts as early as 1705. However, this early type of steam engine guzzled a lot of fuel,
making it expensive to run.

Watt’s Steam Engine

For two years, James Watt, a mathematical instrument builder at the University
of Glasgow in Scotland, contemplated the problem. Watt discovered a technique to
make the steam engine run quicker and more effectively while using less fuel in 1765.
Watt joined a merchant called Matthew Boulton in 1774. Boulton was an
entrepreneur, which is someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of
a firm. Watt was compensated and urged to design better engines.

Water Transportation

Steam may also be used to drive boats. Boulton and Watt were commissioned
by an American inventor called Robert Fulton to build a steam engine. He created the
Clermont, a steamboat that made its first voyage in 1807. Later, the Clermont
transported passengers up and down New York's Hudson River. Water transportation
in England increased with the construction of a network of canals, or man-made
waterways. By the mid-nineteenth century, 4,250 miles of inland canals had
significantly reduced the cost of carrying both raw materials and completed
commodities.

Road Transportation

British roads developed as well, due in great part to the work of Scottish
engineer John McAdam. He, who worked in the early 1800s, fitted roadbeds with a
layer of big stones for drainage. He then applied a nicely leveled layer of crushed
granite on top. Heavy carts could drive on the new "macadam" roads even in rainy
weather without sinking in mud. Private investors created firms that built highways and
then profitably operated them. The new roadways were dubbed turnpikes because
passengers had to stop at tollgates (turnstiles or turnpikes) to pay tolls before
continuing on their journey.

The Railway Age Begins

In the late 1700s, steam-powered technology propelled English manufacturing.

After 1820, the English industry was propelled by a steam engine on wheels—the
railroad locomotive.

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Steam-Driven Locomotives

In 1804, an English engineer called Richard Trevithick won a multi-thousand-

dollar bet. He accomplished this by transporting 10 tons of iron over nearly ten miles
of track in a steam-powered locomotive. Other British engineers quickly improved on
Trevithick's locomotive. George Stephenson was one of these early railroad engineers.
He had built 20 engines for mine owners in northern England, and he had built a good
name for himself.

Railroads Revolutionize Life in Britain

The invention and refinement of the locomotive had at least four significant
consequences. First, railways aided industrial expansion by providing businesses with
a low-cost means of transporting raw materials and completed goods. Second, the
railroad expansion resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of new
employment for railroad workers as well as miners. These miners supplied iron for the
railroad lines as well as coal for the steam engines. Third, railways benefited England's
agricultural and fishing businesses by allowing them to transport their wares to distant
cities. Finally, by making travel simpler, railways encouraged rural residents to pursue
work in distant cities. In addition, railroads drew city inhabitants to country resorts. The
Industrial Revolution, like a locomotive rushing through the land, brought about fast
and disturbing changes in people's lives.

Assessment:
Answer the following questions comprehensively. (5 points each)
1. What were the factors that contributed to the start of
industrialization in Britain?
2. What were the significant inventions during the Industrial
Revolution?
3. How did these inventions transform the livings of people in
Britain?

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Lesson 2. The Industrialization Spreads

The advantageous topography of the United Kingdom, as well as its financial

institutions, political stability, and natural resources, fueled industrialization. British
merchants constructed the world’s earliest factories. More labor-saving devices and
factories were created as these industries thrived. The Industrial Revolution, which
began in Britain, eventually expanded to the United States and continental Europe.
Countries with circumstances comparable to those found in the United Kingdom were
primed for industrialization.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
a. describe how the Industrialization spread; and
b. explain the benefits that the United States, Belgium, and
Germany gained from the expansion of Industrialization.

Industrialization in the United States

In the United States, like with the United Kingdom, industrialization began in
the textile sector. Britain had prohibited engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers from
leaving the nation to retain the secrets of industrialization to itself. However, in 1789,
a young British mill worker called Samuel Slater came to America. Slater constructed
a spinning machine using memory and a sketch. The next year, in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island, Moses Brown established the first factory in the United States to house Slater's
machines. However, the Pawtucket plant only mass-produced one component of the
completed fabric, the thread.

Figure 56. Samuel

Slater was an English-born
American industrialist who
established the American
cotton textile industry.

Source: https://www.britannica.com

Thousands of young single women from rural areas migrated to manufacturing

towns to work as mill girls. They might earn more money and enjoy more freedom

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there. Their bosses, on the other hand, kept a careful eye on them both inside and
outside the workplace to guarantee correct behavior. For respectable pay, the mill girls
worked more than 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Did you know?

When Slater came to the United States, he
brought with him his secret knowledge of textile What would have
technology based on Arkwright's spinning and carding happened if Slater

machinery. He used it to start the first successful cotton did not bring his
ideas of the textile
mill in the United States. At the time, British law
industry to America?
prohibited the emigration of textile employees and the
export of textile machinery blueprints. While he was
famous for the Americans as the “Father of American Manufacturers,” he was
called by the British as “Slater the Traitor.”

The Rise of Corporations

Large enterprises, such as railways, required a lot of money to build.

Entrepreneurs raised funds by selling shares of stock or certain ownership rights. As
a result, those who purchased shares became shareholders in these organizations. A
corporation is a firm that is owned by investors who share in the company's earnings
but are not personally liable for its debts. Corporations were able to raise the
substantial sums of cash required to invest in industrial equipment.

Large businesses such as Standard Oil (established by John D. Rockefeller)

and the Carnegie Steel Company (created by Andrew Carnegie) arose in the late
1800s. To maximize profits, they tried to dominate every element of their enterprises.

Figure 57. John D.

Rockefeller was the Head of
Standard Oil and one of the
world's wealthiest individuals.
He utilized his riches to
support continuing charitable
activities.

Source: https://www.biography.com

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Continental Europe Industrializes

European firms want to replicate the "British miracle," the consequence of

Britain's successful new manufacturing processes. However, the difficulties brought by
the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars between 1789 and 1815 slowed trade,
disrupted communication, and induced inflation in some regions of the continent.
European countries watched as the chasm between themselves and Britain widened.
Nonetheless, industrialization ultimately made its way to continental Europe.

Belgium

Belgium was the first country in Europe to adopt Britain's new technology. It
possessed abundant iron ore and coal reserves, as well as excellent canals for
transportation. British skilled laborers, like those in the United States, played an
important part in industrializing Belgium.

In eastern Belgium, John Cockerill established a massive manufacturing

company. It manufactured a wide range of mechanical equipment, including steam
engines and railway locomotives. More British workers came to work for Cockerill,
bringing the most recent British innovations with them. Several of them went on to
establish their businesses in Europe.

Germany

In the early 1800s, Germany was politically split. Economic isolation and a lack
of resources impeded national industrialization. Instead, pockets of industry emerged,
such as in west-central Germany's coal-rich Ruhr Valley. Germany began to imitate
the British model in 1835. Germany imported British engineers and equipment.
German industrialists often sent their offspring to England to study industrial
management. Germany's economic strength eventually fueled its capacity to emerge
as a military force. By the late 1800s, a unified, imperial Germany had become a
military and industrial powerhouse.

Assessment:
Answer the following questions comprehensively. (5 points each)
1. What were the reasons for the spread of Industrialization
outside of Britain?

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2. What were the significant inventions during the Industrialization

in America, Belgium, and Germany?
3. How did the Industrialization in Britain differ from the
Industrialization of America, Belgium, and Germany?

Lesson 2. The Effects of the Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution had an impact on every aspect of life in the United
Kingdom, yet it was a mixed blessing. Eventually, industrialization resulted in a higher
standard of living for the majority of people. However, the shift to machine
manufacturing resulted in human misery at first. Rapid industrialization created a huge
employment rate, but it also resulted in unsafe working conditions, air and water
pollution, and the evils of child labor. It also resulted in growing class conflicts,
particularly between the working and middle classes.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
a. discuss how the Industrial Revolution changed the livings of
the people; and
b. evaluate the advantages and disadvantages brought by the
Industrial Revolution.

In Britain, the rate of industrialization rose dramatically. People might earn more
money in industries than on farms by the 1800s. With this money, more people could
heat their houses with Welsh coal and consume Scottish meat. They also wore finer
apparel, which was produced on power looms in the industrial centers of England.
Cities were overrun with job hunters.

Industrial Cities Rise

For centuries, the majority of Europeans lived in rural regions. The balance
moved toward cities after 1800. This change was brought about by the rise of the
factory system, in which goods manufacture was concentrated in a single place. The
number of European cities with more than 100,000 people increased from 22 to 47

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between 1800 and 1850. The population of most European cities has more than
doubled, and in some cases has quadrupled. This was an era of urbanization, with
cities being built and people migrating to cities.

London, the capital of the United Kingdom, was the most significant city in the
country. By 1800, it had a population of around one million people. Its population
expanded during the 1800s, creating a massive labor pool and market for new
industries. London has overtaken Paris as Europe's largest metropolis, with twice as
many inhabitants as its next rival (Paris).

Figure 56. The

rapid growth of modern
industry and transportation
has accelerated life in urban
areas.

Source: https://www.history.com

Living Conditions

Because cities in England expanded so quickly, there were no development

plans, sanitary standards, or construction codes. Furthermore, they lacked appropriate
housing, education, and police protection for the people who came from the
countryside in search of work. The majority of the dirt roadways lacked drainage, and
rubbish piled up in piles on them. Workers were housed in filthy, dark shelters, with
entire families crammed into a single bedroom. There was widespread illness.
Epidemics of the fatal illness of cholera surged through the slums of Great Britain's
industrial cities regularly.

Working Conditions

Factory owners sought to keep their equipment working as many hours as

possible to maximize productivity. As a result, the average worker worked 14 hours
each day, six days a week. Work did not fluctuate with the seasons in the same way
as it did on the farm. Work, on the other hand, remained consistent week after week,
year after year.

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Workers were also exposed to new hazards because of the industry. Factory
floors were rarely well lit or clean. Machines harmed workers. A boiler may blow up, or
a drive belt could snag an arm. Coal miners were the most hazardous working
conditions of all. The typical miner's life span was 10 years lower than that of other
employees due to frequent accidents, wet surroundings, and continual inhalation of
coal dust. Because they were the cheapest source of labor, many women and children
worked in the mining sector.

Figure 57. Young

boys who worked in the coal
mine of the Ewen Breaker,
Pennsylvania, were
sometimes referred to as
the Breaker Boys.

Source: https://www.history.com

Did you know?

Child labor, or the employment of children as
workers and apprentices, has been practiced for much What privileges were
of human history, although it surged during the Industrial deprived from the

Revolution. In effect, the working children were unable to children who

underwent forced
attend school, perpetuating a difficult-to-break cycle of
labor?
poverty. To regulate child labor, the British parliament
approved a series of Factory Acts in the 1800s.
Meanwhile, in America, the National Child Labor Committee had passed the
Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, restricting the employment and abuse of
child workers.

Class Tensions Grow

Even though poverty seized Britain's working classes, the Industrial Revolution
generated tremendous sums of wealth in the country. The majority of the additional
money went to industrial owners, shippers, and merchants. These people belonged to

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a burgeoning middle class, which included skilled employees, professionals, company

owners, and rich farmers.

The Middle Class

The rising middle class altered the social structure of the United Kingdom.
Landowners and aristocracy used to be at the pinnacle of British society. They wielded
social and political authority because they had the majority of the money. Factory
owners, merchants, and bankers became richer than landowners and nobles.
Nonetheless, significant social disparities separated the two rich classes. Landowners
regarded people who had acquired their riches in the "vulgar" corporate sector with
contempt. Rich entrepreneurs were not regarded as social equals to the rulers of the
countryside until the late 1800s.

The upper-middle-class was made up of government employees, physicians,

attorneys, and factory, mine, and shop managers. Factory managers and skilled
employees such as toolmakers, mechanical drafters, and printers made up the lower
middle class. These individuals had a good level of living.

The Positive Results from the Industrial Revolution

Despite the issues that arose because of industrialization, the Industrial

Revolution had some good consequences. It resulted in the creation of new
employment. It added to the nation's riches. It aided technical advancement and
inventiveness. It significantly boosted commodities output and enhanced the level of
living. Perhaps most importantly, it offered them hope for a better future.

The long-term consequences of the Industrial Revolution may still be seen.

Most individuals in developed nations now can buy consumer items that were regarded
as luxuries 50 or 60 years ago. Furthermore, their living and working conditions are far
superior to those of laborers in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, gains from
industrialization generated tax money. These monies have enabled municipal,
regional, and federal governments to invest in urban development, raising the standard
of life for the majority of city inhabitants.

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Assessment:
Answer the following questions comprehensively. (5 points each)
1. What were the positive and negative effects of the
Industrialization on the people and environment?
2. How did the people cope with the changes brought by the
Industrialization?
3. How did the Industrialization contribute to city growth?

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