HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

4a. Describe how new technology increased industrialization

• How did technology transform the production of cotton fabric during the Industrial Revolution in England?
• What were some of the machines used in the cloth manufacturing process?
• Explain John Merriman's suggestion that the Industrial Revolution was more of a process than an event – that it did not change the way things were manufactured overnight.
• How did coal and the steam engine contribute to the mechanization of production in early industrial factories?

As we explored in Unit 3, new technology was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, coupled with access to natural resources such as coal, iron ore, and water power. However, while technology dramatically improved the production of goods such as cotton fabric, it did not fully replace the domestic system or artisan handcrafting overnight. For a period of time they coexisted and complemented each other.

Review this material in Industrial Revolutions by John Merriman and General State of Industry: Coal Mines and Iron Works by John Lord.

4b. Interpret primary source documents to understand why some workers opposed industrialization

• Who were the Luddites and what did they want?
• Discuss the transition from domestic textile production to the mechanized factory production of cotton and wool fabric.
• Do you agree with Andrew Ure's positive assessment of the mechanization of labor in his article, "The Philosophy of the Manufacturers"? Why or why not?

The industrialization process increased the production of goods, made materials cheaper, and helped create a mass consumer market such as the one we have today. However, it also dramatically changed the way we make products and disrupted the lives of the people who made them.

Since the Middle Ages, prior to industrialization, the European economy was built around a local community of craftsmen who made products in local workshops or from home. Industrialization and the factory system moved production from the home and workshop to the factory floor, to a building designed to house the machines that mechanized the production process.

Factory workers lost control of their time and how their day was structured. For example, they often completed one step of a process and never saw the final end product of whatever they were working on. In 1811, this process prompted a group of workers, called the Luddites, to engage in a series of riots that lasted for five years to destroy the machinery that threatened to eradicate their way of life and their community.

Review Luddites from the UK National Archives, Leeds Woollen Workers Petition, 1786, Letter from Leeds Cloth Merchants, 1791, and The Philosophy of the Manufacturers by Andrew Ure. 

4c. Identify major developments in transportation technology

• What role did the improved production of steel have as the basic foundation of the transportation revolution based on the steam engine?

• What impacts did the invention of the steam locomotive have on European society during the Industrial Revolution?
• What impacts did the steam ship have on travel and transport during the Industrial Revolution?

The introduction of the steam locomotive and the steamship revolutionized the transportation systems in England, the United States, and elsewhere. But, steam power and the technology behind these inventions were based on the improved production of steel, in terms of the quantity and quality of the steel produced. So, the transportation revolution was predicated on improved steel production in combination with the invention of the steam boiler.

Review A Brief History of Iron and Steel Production by Joseph Spoerl, Railroads and Their Impact (c.1825-1900) by Chris Butler, The Iron-Hulled Ocean-Going Steamship, 1870–1914 by Brad DeLong.

4d. Explain how knowledge about industrialization spread within and beyond Europe

• How did British textile manufacturing secrets get to the United States?
• What role, if any, did patents play in early manufacturing in England and the United States?
• How did Eli Whitney's cotton gin revolutionize the production of cotton and cotton textiles, as well as the course of American history?

As the Industrial Revolution in England developed, its technology spread. Despite efforts to keep the construction and processes of its machinery secret, such valuable knowledge could not be held under wraps for long. Enterprising individuals brought copies of the English fabric processing machinery to the United States and created similar machines and factories in places such as Lowell, Massachusetts.

While patents may protect your invention and make you wealthy, these legal agreements often failed in the long-term. Inventors simply produced a similar machine or were able to profit in other ways. The invention of spinning jennies, water frames, and power looms initiated the Industrial Revolution in England. However, the single most important and influential invention in the United States was Eli Whitney's cotton gin. This machine made cotton production profitable, helped kick start the Industrial Revolution in the United States, and changed the course of American history by reinvigorating slavery and causing it to spread throughout the southern states.

Review Intellectual Property Rights, the Industrial Revolution, and the Beginnings of Modern Economic Growth by Joel Mokyr, Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin by Joan Brodsky Schur, A Manufactured City: Lowell's Grand Experiment by Katharine Dunn, and Immigration and Emigration: Industrial Espionage.

Unit 4 Vocabulary

• Cotton Gin
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Luddites
• Patent
• Spinning Jenny
• Water Frame