The industrial revolution
The industrial revolution is the change from the hands tools to machine manufactured, from
little mass product to big mass product, from rural society to modern society.
England before the industrial revolution:
It was a cottage industry in England before the revolution came. Farmers buy the raw material
for the merchants bring it to their home to produce goods. And it was a good relationship
between the boss and the workers since it was a small number even the product had a high
quality but it was limited and the prices were very high so only the wealthy people could buy.
The cause of the industrial revolution:
In 1733 the demand for cotton cloth was high so, John Kay brought the solution: to invent a
flying shuttle to cut weaving time in half; and this led to many other inventions. Many
workers did not accept this revolution and destroyed many machines but they could not stop
the inevitable. (So it was for economic reason that the revolution began)
England during the industrial revolution:
By the 1750s the industrial revolution had begun, at first it was only the cotton weaving machine then many other machines that helped the speeding up of the production; the
spinning jenny, power water frame, spinning mule and the power loom With capitalism the factory system replaced the cottage industry; product became less
expensive and affordable to the low class, the way of life improved. And in 1800s the inventions were not only for the cotton industry but also in transportations, horses were
replaced by engines. But in other side it was a curse because many people were in
unemployment.
Meanwhile, the industrialist developed an ideology called laissez faire by Adam Smith that says that the economy should be freed from the government interference; that is better to let
business be regulated by the free play of the supply and offer rather than by rules. And
another ideology by David Ricardo iron low that is workers should have low wages to have not many children and unemployment in the country.
Consequence:
Child labour: even the child labour existed before the industrial revolution, it increases with
the difficulties of the unemployment and less education. Children were forced to work in bad
condition and that developed on them many diseases.
- Children young as 4 with a wages of 10-20% of an adult males wage worked as coal miners and hurries from 4am to 5 pm, died from gas explosion or fell into the path of the carts.
- Some children worked s slaves without wages on the houses of the upper class and tortured if they escaped.
- Girls ere working at match factories where they were exposed to phosphors that caused phossy jaw.
- And many other dangerous jobs, political and the government tried to stop this child labour by putting laws. It is true that these laws decrease the child labour but did not put an end to
it.
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Housing and living condition there was two categories of living condition, the splendid life
for the owner and the miserable of the workers. Poor people lived in small houses without any
security: toilet facilities, open sewers, water pollution so they were exposed to many diseases: famine, cholera, lung disease. Luddites and Trade Unions by 1800s a group of English workers called luddites formed to protest against industrialism and sabotage factories (some times), luddites attack became
popular so, the government tried to stop this violence by militia and army. However this riot
led the formation of the trade union for the first time and this union overcomes the legal right
of the strike.
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