1. A History of Western Society Tenth Edition
John P. McKay ● Bennett D. Hill
John Buckler ● Claire Haru Crowston
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks ● Joe Perry
A History of Western Society Tenth Edition
CHAPTER 21
The Revolution in Energy and Industry, ca. 1780–1850
Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
A. Eighteenth-Century Origins
1. Mercantilism
2. Agriculture
3. Geography
4. Other Advantages
5. The Industrial Revolution
B. The First Factories
1. New Inventions
2. Impact
3. Working Conditions
I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
A. Eighteenth-Century Origins
1. Mercantilism – England’s colonial market provided a growing market for English manufactured goods.
2. Agriculture – English farmers adopted new methods of farming, allowing prices to sink. Families, as a result, could spend more on manufactured goods.
3. Geography – New canals and easy access to the sea allowed for easy movement of goods, iron, and coal.
4. Other Advantages – Low tariffs, an effective central bank, well-developed credit markets, lavish spending by the monarchy and aristocracy on luxury goods, and a large class of hired agricultural laborers (partly as a result of enclosure) that could serve as a supply of cheap labor.
5. The Industrial Revolution – Between 1801 and 1831, the British economy grew at nearly 3 percent annually, whereas between 1770 and 1760 it grew only by about .7 percent. The decisive period of growth took place in the 1780s after the American war for independence and before the French Revolution.
B. The First Factories (mostly textiles)
1. New Inventions - The spinning jenny (1765) and the water frame (Richard Arkwright) allowed cotton to be turned into finished clothing easily and exposed the limits of the putting- out system.
2. Impact – Cotton goods became cheaper and could be consumed by persons from all classes and not just by the wealthy. The demand for weavers rose, as did their wages.
3. Working Conditions – Less satisfactory in the factories than in the cottages. As a result, factory owners often turned to young children (orphans and abandoned children, who would be apprenticed as young as 5 or 6, punished severely, subjected to cruel working conditions, and paid little). Such conditions eventually led to reform efforts.

3. I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
C. The Problem of Energy
1. Energy Shortages
D. The Steam Engine Breakthrough
1. Coal
2. James Watt (1736–1819)
3. Impact
I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
C. The Problem of Energy
1. Energy Shortages – Wood was in short supply (it was the source of heat for homes and a raw material for many industries).
D. The Steam Engine Breakthrough
1. Coal – Began to replace wood in many industries (provided heat for making beer, glass and soap). To obtain coal, one had to dig deeper mines and pump the water out of these mines.
2. James Watt (1736–1819) -– Scottish engineer who developed a complex steam engine, which burned coal to produce steam which could be used to operate pumps.
3. Impact – The steam engine drained mines, allowed for more coal to be produced and replaced waterpower in flour mills, breweries, flint mills, and sugar cane mills. It transformed the British iron industry by allowing iron-makers to switch over from limited charcoal to unlimited coke and paved the way for a great boom in the iron industry. Between 1740 and 1844, iron production rose from 17,000 to 3 million tons.

4. I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
E. The Coming of the Railroads (1816–1830)
1. Advantages
2. Significance
I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
E. The Coming of the Railroads (1816–1830)
1. Advantages – Rails reduced friction and allowed a horse or human to carry a heavier load. Railroads were far cheaper than relying on horses or even waterways.
2. Significance – Costs and the uncertainties of shipping freight overland were reduced. As a result, markets and factories grew, as did pressure on cottage workers and urban artisans. Many landless farm laborers and poor peasants became urban workers. The railroads helped create a sense of power and awe — a sense reflected in railway stations, the new cathedrals of the industrial age.

6. I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
F. Industry and Population
1. Crystal Palace (1851)
2. Industrial Achievements
3. Debates About Population Growth
A. The Optimists
B. The Pessimists
C. Assessing the Debate
I. The Industrial Revolution in Britain
F. Industry and Population
1. Crystal Palace (1851) – An industrial fair and Great Exhibition that drew millions of visitors and highlighted Britain’s status as the workshop of the world.
2. Industrial Achievements – By 1860, Britain produced more than 20 percent of the entire world’s industrial goods (as opposed to 2 percent in 175), 2/3 of the world’s coal, ½ of its iron and cotton cloth. The GNP rose fourfold between 1780 and 1851, the population grew from 9 million in 1780 to almost 21 million in 1851 (which consumed much of the increase in total production). Average consumption per person increased by only 75 percent between 1780 and 1851.
3. Debates About Population Growth
A. The Optimists – Some argued that population growth facilitated industrial expansion by providing a more mobile labor force and new consumers.
B. The Pessimists – Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) and David Ricardo ( ). Malthus wrote Essay on the Principle of Population that argued that population increased faster than the food supply, leaving war, famine, and disease as the only “positive checks” on population growth. Ricardo posited the “iron law of wages” that argued that wages would always sink to subsistence level because of the pressure of population growth.
C. Assessing the Debate – In the long run, Malthus and Ricardo were proved wrong, but in the short term, their ideas seemed to reflect the realities of the Industrial Revolution.

7. II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
A. National Variations
1. The British Head Start
2. Variations in Timing
3. Deindustrialization
II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
(proceeded gradually and unevenly)
A. National Variations
1. The British Head Start – In 1750, the economies of most European countries were at similar levels, but by 1860, Britain had developed a commanding lead, its economy more than twice as large as those of all other European and North American countries.
2. Variations in Timing – Belgium experienced a revolutionary surge between 1830 and 1860, while France industrialized much more gradually. Germany and the United States experienced spectacular rises after Eastern and Southern Europe industrialized later but made real progress, particularly after 1880.
3. Deindustrialization – Most non-Western countries reindustrialized even as the European countries experienced a tremendous growth in factory output, magnifying the power gap between Europe and the rest of the world.

8. II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
B. The Challenge of Industrialization
1. Widening Gap Between Britain and the Continent
2. Cost
3. Continental Advantages
II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
(proceeded gradually and unevenly)
B. The Challenge of Industrialization
1. Widening Gap Between Britain and the Continent – The relatively modest technological and economic gap between Britain and the continent was widened by the dislocations brought on by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which disrupted trade between Britain and the continent. British technology had become so advanced that few on the continent could understand it.
2. Cost – Financing railroads and the technology of steam power was extremely expensive for continental businessmen.
3. Continental Advantages – A rich tradition of putting-out enterprise, merchant capitalists and skilled urban artisans (which gave firms the ability to adapt to new market conditions), continental firms could “borrow” the new methods developed in Britain, and most European countries had strong independent governments that did not fall under foreign political control and could use their power to promote industry.

10. II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
C. Agents of Industrialization
1. Émigré Technicians
2. Émigré Workers
3. Indigenous Entrepreneurs
D. Government Support and Corporate Banking
1. Tariffs
2. Infrastructure
3. Corporate Banks
4. Continental Growth
II. Industrialization in Continental Europe
C. Agents of Industrialization
1. Émigré Technicians – In spite of bans on emigration, skilled British technicians like William Cockerill, a Lancashire carpenter, established factories abroad, bringing the latest in technology with them.
2. Émigré Workers – Many skilled British workers founded their own companies in Europe or went to work for new companies there.
3. Indigenous Entrepreneurs – They attempted to match the English achievements in their home countries but encountered difficulties raising capital and importing the necessary goods.
D. Government Support and Corporate Banking
1. Tariffs – Many continental countries imposed high tariffs on British imports.
2. Infrastructure – Governments bore the cost of building roads, canals, and railroads. The Prussian state treasury paid the interest and principal on railroad bonds, if the private companies were unable to do so.
3. Corporate Banks – Were granted limited liability by the governments, a step that allowed them to raise much more capital and promote industrial development.
4. Continental Growth – In Belgium, Germany, and France, railway mileage, iron and coal production, and steam-engine capacity grew annually between 5 and 10 percent between 1850 and the crash of 1873.

11. III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
A. The New Class of Factory Owners
1. Competition
2. Background
3. Growing Class Consciousness
III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
(the development of class consciousness)
A. The New Class of Factory Owners
1. Competition – To remain competitive in an environment where large profits and financial success was uncertain, manufacturers had to cut costs and reinvest profits into their enterprises.
2. Background – Some early industrialists were from merchant families, some were artisans and skilled workers, others were members of ethnic and religious groups who had been discriminated against (Scots, Quakers, and Protestant dissenters in Britain, Protestant and Jews in Catholic France).
3. Growing Class Consciousness – The result of formal education, financial success, geographical segregation (homes were built in elegant residential areas), and even gender (middle class ladies were valued for their gentility and steered clear of undignified work in offices and factories).

12. Ask students to discuss the figures in the painting and how the artist contrasts the social classes.
1. How does the artist depict working class men?
(Answers: he shows how hard they work, their skills, shows their physical strength and muscles)
2. How does the artist depict working class women?
(Answers: they take care of their families, they deliver food and water to workers, they work selling flowers, not concerned about appearance.)
3. How does he depict upper class men?
(Answers: they do not work, they oversee workers, they pursue leisure activities, they nap under trees, they are overweight.)
4. How does he depict upper class women?
(Answers: well dressed, pursue leisurely activities, ignore workers, shade themselves from the sun)
5. Which do you think the artist prefers, the upper or working class?
(Answers, workers are the focus of the picture, flattering depiction of themselves and their activities)
6. How does this picture show the changes that came with industrialization? (Answers: shows new building, expanding cities, people living and working closely together, sharp contrast between lives of workers and wealthy.)

13. III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
B. The New Factory Workers
1. Critics of the Industrial Revolution
A. Romantics
B. Luddites
C. Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
2. Defenders
3. Conclusions
III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
(the development of class consciousness)
B. The New Factory Workers
1. Critics of the Industrial Revolution
A. Romantics – William Blake (1757–1827) and William Wordsworth (1770–1850) – called the early factories “satanic mills” and lamented the destruction of the rural way of life and the pollution of the waters.
B. Luddites – Handicraft workers who attacked whole factories and smashed machines, which they believed were putting them out of work.
C. Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) – Future revolutionary and author of The Condition of the Working Class in England (1844). Argued that industrial capitalism was worse than the old rural poverty
2. Defenders – Andrew Ure – argued that working conditions were getting better for laborers. Edwin Chadwick – argued that workers could buy more of the necessities and even minor luxuries.
3. Conclusions – Most recent scholarship shows that the early years of the Industrial Revolution (1780–1820) were extremely tough for workers but that wages improved, especially after 1840, so that the average worker earned and consumed roughly 50 percent more in real terms in 1850 than in The standard of living rose modestly (nutrition improved but housing probably deteriorated). However, this improvement came about because workers worked longer days (from 250 days per year for nonagricultural workers to 300 in 1830) and hours (an 11-hour workday).

14. III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
C. Work in Early Factories
1. Harsh Conditions
2. Paupers and Abandoned Children
D. Working Families and Children
1. Family Units
2. Child Labor
3. Ties of Blood and Kinship
III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
C. Work in Early Factories
1. Harsh Conditions – A relentless tempo, systematic punishments (including beatings or fines for arriving later to work, spilling materials, or falling asleep). Factories resembled poorhouses, some of which were industrial prisons where the inmates had to work to receive food.
2. Paupers and Abandoned Children – Were often employed because cottage workers were reluctant to work in the new factories.
D. Working Families and Children
1. Family Units – Were preserved as workers came to the mills and mines as economic units. The mill or mine owner often bargained with the head of the family and paid him for the work of the whole family. The continued existence of family units made the new surroundings more tolerable.
2. Child Labor – Sometimes used to keep families together. Working hours for children, however, were not limited, a situation which led to calls for social reform. The Factory Act (1833) limited the factory workday for children between 9 and 13 to 8 hours and for adolescents between 14 and 18 to 12 hours and required children under nine to be enrolled in elementary schools.
3. Ties of Blood and Kinship – Many manufacturers and builders hired workers through subcontractors or relied on immigrant Irish laborers.

15. III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
E. The Sexual Division of Labor
1. Separate Spheres
2. Women Workers
3. Explanations (For Gender Inequality)
A. “Patriarchal Tradition”
B. Conflicts with Child-Rearing
C. Urban Poverty
D. Controlling Illegitimacy
III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
E. The Sexual Division of Labor
1. Separate Spheres – By 1850, the man emerged as the primary wage earner, while the married woman found only limited job opportunities, as they were expected to concentrate on housework, raising children, and craftwork at home.
2. Women Workers – In the working classes, unmarried, extremely poor women were likely to work full-time in certain low-paying and dead-end jobs (textile factories, laundering, and domestic servants). Married women with young children were much less likely to work outside the home full-time.
3. Explanations (for this gender inequality)
A. “Patriarchal Tradition” – Sexist attitudes in male-dominated craft union denied women good jobs.
B. Conflicts with Child-Rearing – Relentless factory discipline conflicted with child care in a way that labor on the farm or in a cottage industry did not.
C. Urban Poverty – Daily life was too exhausting and did not allow married women to take on another job outside the home.
D. Controlling Illegitimacy – Girls and boys mixed on the job, leading to an explosive rise in illegitimacy: segregation on the job was an effort by older persons to control the sexuality of working-class youths.

16. III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
F. The Early Labor Movement in Britain
1. Persistence of Traditions
2. Capitalist Attack on Artisans and Guilds
3. The Response
III. Relations Between Capital and Labor
F. The Early Labor Movement in Britain
1. Persistence of Traditions – Even in 1850, the largest occupations in Britain remained farming and domestic service. Though the cotton, iron, and coal industries were dominated by large capitalist firms. Small firms with fewer than 10 workers dominated other branches (toys, tableware, tools, handicrafts).
2. Capitalist Attack on Artisans and Guilds – Parliament passed the Combination Act (1799), outlawed unions and strikes, and repealed (1813, 1814) the law of 1563 regulating artisan wages and conditions of apprenticeships.
3. The Response – Some workers and artisans disregarded these laws and carried out strikes, while social reformers like Robert Owen attempted to establish cooperative communities and national unions. British workers became politically active: many were active in campaigns to limit the workday in factories to 10 hours and supported the Chartist movement, which demanded universal male suffrage.