2. Factories and Workers Preview Main Idea / Reading Focus
Production before Factories
Factories and Factory Towns
The Factory System and Workers
Quick Facts: Effects of the Factory System
Factories and Mass Production

3. Factories and Workers Main Idea Reading Focus
The transition from cottage industries changed how people worked in factories, what life was like in factory towns, labor conditions, and, eventually, processes within factories.
Reading Focus
How was production organized before factories?
What were factories and factory towns like?
How did the factory system affect workers?
What was mass production, and what were its effects?

4. Production before Factories
Raw materials delivered
Work done to completion
Merchant takes product to market
Workers controlled schedules, quality
Family life revolved around business
Work in the Home
Destruction of equipment by a fire or a flood ruined families
Time to learn skills
Physical strength required- looms were large and required strength.
Factory owners took advantage of drawbacks
Problems for Cottage Industries

5. Cottage system

6. Production before Factories

7. What were some benefits of the cottage system of production?
Find the Main Idea
What were some benefits of the cottage system of production?
Answer(s): workers made decisions about when to work, rest, and eat, how much to produce; family could adjust work schedule, all family members could be involved

9. Factories and Factory Towns
Where employees worked
Major change from cottage industry
Had to leave home to work
Hardships for some workers

11. Life in factory towns Towns grew up around factories
Towns, factories rose near coal mines
Sanitation poor in many factory towns

12. Workers in a New Economy
Employers shared little of their profits with employees
U.S. immigrants were more than willing to work
Employers often preferred hiring women and children because men expected higher wages.
Many people saw unskilled factory jobs as inappropriate for men.
Three levels of participants
Wealthy business people to invest in and own the factories
Mid-level employees to run the factories and supervise the day-to-day operations
Low-level employees to run the machines

18. Do we still have child labor today?

21. Identify Supporting Details
What are some facts that illustrate the difficulties of factory work?
Answer(s): injuries, long workdays, noise, lack of ventilation, poor sanitation, inadequate food

22. Cottage Workers Unrest

23. The Factory System and Workers
Workers in a New Economy
Wealthy to invest in, own factories
Mid-level to run factories
Low-level to run machines
Cottage Workers’ Unrest
Handmade goods more expensive than factory made
Luddite movement, 1811
Violence spread, 1812
Changing Labor Conditions
No government regulation
Labor unions organized
Strikes brought change
New Class of Workers
Growth of middle class
Managers, accountants, engineers, mechanics, salesmen
Economy increased

25. Identify Cause and Effect
How did the factory system affect different groups?
Answer(s): Different groups that were part of the factory system became part of the middle class.

26. Factories and Mass Production
The factory system changed the world of work. In addition, new processes further changed how people worked in factories.
Mass production began in U.S.
Elements:
Interchangeable parts
Assembly line
Production and repair more efficient
Production more swift
Mass Production
Dramatic increase in production
Businesses charged less
Affordable goods
More repetitious jobs
Soon became norm
Effects

27. What was mass production?
Summarize
What was mass production?
Answer(s): a system of manufacturing large numbers of identical items