I. Roots of Industrial Revolution

A. Britain is the blessed land of the IR; time period is 1760s to 1850s roughly; 1780s is the real upstart

B. Atlantic economy – growing market

C. Canal system – no place > 20 miles from waterway

D. Farming is very productive – high yields mean low prices means spending $

E. Sound banking system and $; stable government

F. Free market; free and mobile work force of wage earners

II. Textile factories are first

A. Putting-out problem: population up, demand for textiles up, not enough thread spun

B. Cotton (new) able to be spun by a machine

C. James Hargreaves – invents spinning jenny

D. Richard Awkwright – water frame; 1790 – 10x the yarn of 20 years prior; underpants revolution!

E. Weavers, now a scarcity in keeping up with spinners, enjoy high wages

F. Edmund Cartwright – power loom; factories replace cottage industry

G. Working conditions in factories

1. conditions were poor, people wary, so kids were the solution

2. exploitation spawned calls for reform

H. 1831 – 22% of Britain’s industry

III. On to steam

A. water power would eventually stunt growth

B. forests largely gone, but coal is there

C. pig iron – charcoal mixed with iron in blast furnace

D. early steam engines still better than man; inefficient engine (1% of heat energy to mechanical energy) produces 27x more energy than man

E. mines fill with water and need to be pumped

F. Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen – basic engine

G. James Watt – vastly improved steam engine

H. Put to use – pumps, cotton mills, flour mills, breweries, porcelain, foundries/bellows

I. Better refining – charcoal to coke; puddling furnace; better refining of pig iron

J. Railroad – rails laid, George Stephenson’s Rocket

1. freight costs drop

2. markets larger

3. encouraged larger factories

4. pushed out cottage workers further

5. growth of urban working class

6. dominance, culturally, of the RR (train stations)

7. Great Exposition 1851; 2/3 of world’s coal; 1/2 iron and cotton; 20% world’s output of manufactured goods; GNP 4x from 1780 to 1851

IV. Population

A. Boom! 1780 – 9 million; 1851 – 21 million

B. Thomas Malthus – lifeboat theory – too many people will ultimately result in war, famine, disease

C. David Ricardo – iron law of wages – due to population growth, wages would always be just barely over break-even level for workers