Chapter 21: Industrial Revolution

Industrialization in Europe (1780-1850)

Introduction

This blog consists of the contents in Chapter 21 in my APEH book. This section of the book follows the Napoleonic Era. The industrial revolution began in Great Britain in 1780 but did not spread to the rest of Europe until about 1815. Due to all the inventions, technological advancements and new ideas in government and society, everyday life also endured a change. Class structure transformed with a new attitude of class from the standard of living increasing, which eventually led to the balance of power. How people worked and the patterns they followed were also altered by the industrial revolution due to all the new technology.

Chapter Objectives

• inform on various inventions and how they impacted society
• make connection to how the Industrial Revolution has impacted modern society
• explain why the revolution occurred in Great Britain and not anywhere else
• discuss important people of this time period
• give a global perspective to the era

Essential Question

The Industrial Revolution originated in Great Britain. Why did it happen there and not any other country?

Great Britain was the wealthiest and most dominant part of Europe at the time. They had a growing Atlantic market for manufactured goods by adopting new method from the Dutch. In turn, their domestic market for raw materials was forced to grow to meet their high demands. England had a central bank and well developed credit markets which also strengthened their economy. Lastly, Britain had many agricultural workers to keep up with the growing technology.

Individuals in Society

James Hargreaves

James Hargreaves, a carpenter and a weaver, was born in Oswaldtwistle, England. Although he never received any formal education, he managed to invent one of the most important machines of the industrial revolution: the spinning jenny. He lived in a town known for the spinning of Blackburn Greys. These were cloths of linen wrap and cotton weft that were sent to London to be printed. The one-thread spinning wheel could not keep up with the high demand.


The legend is that Hargreaves' daughter, Jenny, knocked a one-thread spinning wheel on the floor and Hargreaves watched the spindle roll around the floor, where he got the idea for the spinning jenny. Others say that Hargreaves wife was named Jenny and he named his invention after her.

Despite how the invention came about, the spinning jenny was a genius idea. The first model used eight spindles instead of one. Later models had up to one hundred and twenty spindles. Originally, Hargreaves only created the spinning jenny for himself but eventually started selling them.

Machines, like the spinning jenny, did threaten the workers of the time. A group of angry spinners broke into Hargreaves house in 1768 and destroyed his spinning machines in fear that they might put them out of work. Eventually, the spinning jenny did decrease the need for spinners but in turn, increased production greatly.

George Stephenson

George Stephenson had an interest in machines ever since he was a young boy. He started working at the Dewley Colliery with his father when he was only fourteen. He eventually worked at the Killingworth Colliery where on his free time would take apart engines to understand how they worked.

After years of working with engines and railways, Stephenson became somewhat of an expert. He began constructing his own engines by learning from other's mistakes and successes, such as Thomas Newcomen and James Watt, the inventors of the steam engine. Eventually, Stephenson built his first locomotive called the Blutcher. This locomotive was different than any made before because  the gears did not drive the rack pinions but the flanged wheels. Stephenson continued to improve and alter his locomotive throughout the years.

Stephenson eventually became chief engineer of the proposed Liverpool and Manchester Railway. There were serious problems building this railways due to geographical interferences such as Sankey Valley. The directors of the Liverpool and Manchester company decided to hold a competition to find the best locomotive that could handle their tracks. Stephenson built a model to enter the competition called the Rocket. Naturally, the Rocket won, making it the official locomotive of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, running at 16 miles per hour.

The effects of Stephenson's locomotive were amazing. It made shipping freight much cheaper and also made the delivery certain it would arrive. The markets began to grow outside of the local area with the new opportunity to transport things through the locomotive. These larger markets in turn, encouraged the factories to grow and advance their machinery, which lowered the price of goods. The most important effect railways had were the new demand for unskilled labor. People without an artisan skill now had an easy way of making money. All of these factors helped better the economy as a whole.

Richard Arkwright

Arkwright was born in 1732 in Preston. His family was very poor so he had no proper schooling. However, his cousin informally taught him how to read and write. From the time Arkwright was young he wanted to have his own business. He ended up supporting himself with his own wig business, which was a very popular product among men of the time.

Arkwright had to travel a lot for his wig business. During his travels, he heard a lot about the new machines being produced, especially in the textile industry. Arkwright suddenly decided to give up his wig business and joined John Key and Thomas Highs to construct a new spinning machine.

After a lot of work Arkwright created what is known as the water frame. It involved three sets of paired rollers that went at different speeds. The rollers produced a good thick yarn while a set of spindles twisted the yarn together. The water frame could hold several hundred spindles due to the powerful water wheel used to run the machine. This machine was an improvement from James Hargreaves's spinning jenny.

The water frame made cotton goods much cheaper, which benefitted all classes. Before, only the rich could afford cotton apparel but now everyone could afford it. The water frame was a very large machine. That called for the factories to be more common because one could not fit a water frame in their living room. This opened up a lot of  factory jobs for people. However, the working conditions were not so great so one had to decide if a factory job was worth it. Despite the bad conditions of the factories water frames called for, the invention led to great advancements in the textile industry.

What was happening the US?

Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney was an American man who invented the cotton gin in 1793. Before his invention, it would take hundred of hours to separate the cotton seed from the raw cotton fibers. Whitney created a machine that automatically conducted this separation process. It could come up with fifty pounds of cotton in only one day. This made cotton production popular in the southern states due all the slavery. It actually made slavery worse because their owners wanted his slaves to pick as much cotton as possible so it could be sold to make a profit. With this new invention, the amount of cotton that could be produced had no end, so there were no limits for the slaves.

This connects with the industrial revolution in Europe in many ways. The cotton gin, like many machines being invented in Europe, helped increase production of a certain product. For example, the locomotive helped ship goods around Europe so more could be sold. American inventors, as well as European inventors, had ideas in regards to ways to increase production to better the economy.

New Orleans Steamboat

The New Orleans was a steamboat build by Nicholas Roosevelt and designed by Robert Fulton. It was the first steamboat to travel the Ohio and Mississippi River to New Orleans. It left Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in October of 1811 with Roosevelt as the captain. The steamboat reached New Orleans in January of 1812, making the voyage a long four months. This trip began an era of commercial steamboat navigation in America.

 

 

The New Orleans Steamboat and its voyage was very similar to Rocket, the locomotive that traveled from Liverpool to Manchester. Both were the first of their kind of machine to make such a journey. Not to mention, they both brought about a new way of transportation, and an era to follow where both were crucial to society.

Picturing the Past

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace, as pictured here, was built in Hyde Park, London in 1851. The initial purpose of this palace was to hold the Great Exhibition where thousands of exhibitors came to display the latest technology of the Industrial Revolution. The one third mile long and 800,000 square feet structure was built to show off England's military and economic power.  In turn, in increased the economy of Great Britain greatly.

Looking at this painting, you can see that the grounds of the palace were filled with wondrous fountains, the finest trees and shrubs and life size models of prehistoric animals. Clearly, showing off the wealth of Great Britain.

Self Reflection

I thought this chapter was very interesting. I especially liked learning about all the "Isms" that exists in our world. Because we live in a mainly capitalist country we don't realize how different foreign governments can be. While we were discussing them I found it weird to think about living in a type of government that was not capitalist because that is the way of life I am used to.

What I found to think about the most while studying this chapter was how much our current society is impacted from this period in time. Every invention and idea developed during the industrial revolution is either still used today or has been further improved to a modern version which is used today. For example, Volta invented the electric battery which we still use today to operate several things on a daily basis. It is just astonishing that the advancements made during the years 1780-1850 are still being used in our very modern society. Overall, I enjoyed this chapter because I could see how the industrial revolution evolved into the society we have today with all its technological advancements.