INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

->Industrial Revolution<-

The complex of radical socioeconomic changes, such as the ones that took place in England in the late 18th century, that are brought about when extensive mechanization of production systems results in a shift from home-based hand manufacturing to large-scale factory production.

Train

Steam engine

The first commercial steam engine appeared in 1698. James Watt improved Newcomen's steam engine in the 1760's and in 1875, he done doing it, by using heat more efficiently with less fuel. He used iron and coal. Coal was used to power the steam engines and to make iron, while iron was used to improve machines and tools, and also to build bridges and ships. Grooves were added to the rolling cylinders, which allowed the iron to be shaped differently.

Expanding Commerce Affects Industry

Beginning in about 1400, world commerce grew and changed so greatly that writers sometimes use the term "commercial revolution" to describe the economic progress of the next three and a half centuries. Many factors helped bring about this revolution in trade. The Crusades opened up the riches of the East to Western Europe. New trade routes were opened. The strong central governments protect and help their merchants. Trading firms, such as the British East India Company, were chartered by governments. Larger ships were built and flourishing cities grew up. With the expansion of trade, more money was needed. Large-scale commerce could not be carried on by barter. Gold and silver from the New World helped meet this need. Banks and credit systems developed. By the end of the 17th century Europe had a large accumulation of capital. Money had to be available before machinery and steam engines could come into wide use for they were costly to manufacture and install. By 1750 large quantities of goods were being exchanged among the European nations, and there was a demand for more goods than were being produced. England was the leading commercial nation, and the manufacture of cloth was its leading industry.

Watt's Steam Engine

In 1763 James Watt, a Scottish mechanic, was asked to repair a model of a Newcomen steam engine. He saw how crude and inefficient it was and by a series of improvements made it a practical device for running machinery.Wheels turned by running water had been the chief source of power for the early factories. These were necessarily situated on swift-running streams. When the steam engine became efficient, it was possible to locate factories in more convenient places.

Coal Mining

A woman pulls her coal up the mine

During most of the industrial revolution women and children and men worked in the coal mines. There were some differences in the jobs men, women, and children preformed in the mines. There weren't any protection laws or limits for the age of child labor. Peter N. Sterns says children made up "30 percent of the workforce in coal mines, by the early nineteenth century... there was substantial utilization of young children as well- in a few cases as young as three, not uncommonly beginning a five or six." Mine owners wanted to cut the cost of labor and children's wages were much lower than adults. Many women would try to get a job for their young children where they worked. One of the things women did on mines was use groups of women that would have to use a windlass, a tool used to move the coal, it consists of a horizontal cylinder, which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt, to lift coal and workers. Men refused to do such work. Most commonly, women and children would haul tubs of coal, using a rope and chain.

The youth and poverty of many coal mine workers

Children working at mines

Child labor in factories

Movements to Regulate 

Factory owners loved child labor and they supported their reasoning with ideas that it was good for everything from the economy to the building of the children's characters. Parents of the children who worked were almost forced to at least approve of it because they needed the income. This limited the amount of hours children of certain ages could work. Specifically, children 9 to 13 years of age were only allowed to work 8 hours a day. Those 14 to 18 years of age could not work more than 12 hours a day. Children under 9 were not allowed to work at all. Also, the children were to attend school for no less than two hours during the day. Later, in the early 20th century, activists went even further to protect children's rights in labor. Among these figures was Jane Addams, founder of the Hull House. Activists in the U.S. made the government set up the Children's Bureau in 1912. This made it the U.S. government's responsibility to monitor child labor.

31st July 2013

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