GENERAL CURRICULUM TEST OBJECTIVE : 0008 Understand major developments and figures in world history.
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a time in world history characterized by a shift from people doing work by hand to at time when machines were used to help do that work. In many cases, machinery replaced jobs people had previously done by hand. This “revolution” started in England during the 1760s and then spread throughout western Europe and to the United States. During the next hundred years many changes took place in the production of goods. Many things began to be produced in factories and inventions made production faster and more efficient. The steam engine was a major invention, especially the textile industry and replaced water wheels that had previously been used for weaving and spinning. This was one of the earliest industries to be improved by the invention of a machine. Other industries also saw changes during this time including the coal, iron and steel industries as people learned to use electricity and internal combustion.
The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, brought the industrial revolution to the southern part of the United States. As factory jobs increased there was significant movement of people into urban areas where factory jobs were primarily located. This migration changed what had largely been a society based upon agriculture (agrarian) to an industrial one. Factory products became more widely available and many of these products helped make life easier. By 1900, almost 200,000 miles of railroad track lay across North America expediting trade in a growing industrialized economy. There were also negative consequences during this time as cities became overcrowded and people lived and worked in unsanitary and difficult situations.
By the 1840s trade/labor unions began to emerge to protect the rights of workers. The first laws governing the length of the workday and employment of children were passed in the 1840s in Great Britain. In many parts of the world the Industrial Revolution brought significant social problems. Workers were forced to work long hours for little pay while factory owners got rich. This was also true in America where the economy was growing but only a few Americans controlled the new wealth. American industrialists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie created hugely profitable corporations in part through the efforts of their laborers who endured harsh conditions and little pay. The owners were called capitalists because they had the capital (land, factories, stores). In the United States, the economy is based upon a system of capitalism (see economics section). When Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive candidate was elected President of the United States he began working to improve these conditions (see section on Progressive Era). In Europe, similar struggles were emerging. People who did not believe in this system of extreme capitalism, one where only a few benefit, believed it was unfair and wanted everyone (both workers and owners) to benefit from industrialization. These believers in a more equitable distribution of wealth became known as socialists because they valued a system of socialism. Karl Marx, a German philosopher and Friedrich Engels, an English factory manager, did not believe that the problems created by industrialization could be solved with any existing government. They supported a new form of government called Communism, which they believed was the answer. In 1848, they published the Communist Manifesto, which explained their ideas. Between 1917 and 1976 more than 15 countries in the world had adopted Communism.
Resources:
http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution
http://www.kidsdiscover.com/shop/issues/industrial-revolution-for-kids/
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-men-who-built-america
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