The Industrial Revolution

1. The Industrial Revolution The Economic Half of the “Dual Revolutions” Philip James de Loutherbourg, Coalbrookdale by Night, 1801

2. Why it Matters: • Arguably: Most dramatic watershed separating us from lives of our ancestors • Together w/ P • WHAT CHANGED: • Patterns of Work • Social Class Structure – and how we THINK about “class” • Eventually: Internat’l Balance of Political Power • After 1850: Widespread poverty of Pre-Industrial world gradually 

3. What it Is: The BURST of MAJOR INVENTIONS & ECONOMIC EXPANSION in certain industries (partic. cotton textiles & iron) of late 18th/early 19thc. • Econ. Growth Rate 1801-1831: 4% (vs. 0.7% 1700-1760). Key decade: 1780s. • Not complete until at least 1850 & no real impact on Continental Eur. Until after 1815.

4. What it is NOT: Just a bunch of clever English inventions and inventors.

5. “REVOLUTION”??? • Word suggests something sudden – not so. Product of things underway for centuries. • BUT…. had a revolutionary EFFECT in that it swept much of what existed before away.

6. WHERE it occurred: • FIRST – and FOREMOST – in BRITAIN (primarily England) • “Was a moment in the world’s history when Britain can be described … as its only workshop, its only massive importer & exporter, its only carrier, its only imperialist, almost its only foreign investor; and for that reason its only naval power….” – Eric Hobsbawm

7. WHERE it occurred: • British era – merely initial/early phase • When other countries industrialized British monopoly ended automatically … tho influence lasted much longer. • Didn’t arrive onto Continent until end of Napoleonic Wars – c. 1815.

8. EuropeanPRECONDITIONS: • RAW MATERIALS – provided fuel to power the manufacturing process … and means to transport • WOOD: furniture, building materials, early machines • RIVERS: means of transport & source of power (water-wheels) • Tin and IRON-ORE: make metal objecs • COAL – and later its derivative, COKE – source of power • SHEEP – wool • RAW COTTON – from India & N.American colonies

9. EuropeanPRECONDITIONS: • POPULATION EXPLOSION (via Agric.Rev.) • Underway for centuries – but picked up steam 18thc. • Not so much more births as FEWER DEATHS: • Despite momentary disasters (e.g. 1788-89), by 1800 W.Europe mostly able to feed itself. Famine more & more rare. (Recall ch.19 for connections.)

10. EuropeanPRECONDITIONS:

11. EuropeanPRECONDITIONS: 3.  DEMAND: • All those people needed stuff (and more & more, could afford it): clothes, housing, transport, entertainment. • Cottage industry can’t keep up. In past, would have stopped the econ. expansion, but this time: results in new inventions & investment – textiles 1st frontier.

12. EuropeanPRECONDITIONS: 4.  LABOR FORCE: Pop. Boom >> (1) Mkt. for mass-produced items; AND (2) the WORKERS to make them.

13. ENGLISHPreconditions • All of the ABOVE 4 European preconditions: • Natural Resources: • No part of England > 50 miles from navigable river. • Plenty of rivers for power. • CANAL-BUILDING BOOM of 1770s: even more dependable source of transport. • Enormous deposits of IRON and COAL. (see map) • No internal tariffs >> easy movement.

14. ENGLISHPreconditions 2. POPULATION BOOM: • Every bit as fast & big as rest of Europe. 3. & 4: >>> DEMAND & LABOR FORCE: • Brit families redirecting labor away from unpaid work for household consumption >>> WAGES that can BUY GOODS! ( COMMERCIALIZATION of English/Euro economy) • Brit. had a Large class of RURAL PROLETARIANS ( by 2nd great round of ENCLOSURES) >>> relatively MOBILE • Together w/ COTTAGE WORKERS >>> potential INDUSTRIAL LABOR FORCE for CAPITALIST ENTERPRENEURS

15. ENGLISHPreconditions • LOTS of CAPITAL – • To build a factory, need capital (money!!) & Brits had more than anyone else at end of 18thc. • COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION & Effective CENTRAL BANK (compare 18thc. France) • Merchants & investors: Disposable CASH. • TRADE w/ Americas & India (sugar, tobacco, tea&coffee, spices, slaves) >>£££ • Can’t spend it all on country houses • FINANCIAL REVOLUTION: elaborate system of credit. 1760s: 70 banks in London & 600 around country.

16. ENGLISHPreconditions • Laissez-faire Economic Policy.

17. ENGLISHPreconditions Laissez-faire Economic Policy. • A State influenced by & w/ high regard for MERCHANTS. • They sit in Parliament & are @ center of Power. • Legislation often favorable to business (e.g., break-up old trading monopolies) • Often directors of Bank of England & E.IndiaCo. – lend £ to gov’t >>> LISTENED to BY GOV’T!

18. ENGLISHPreconditions • A PERCEPTION of Social MOBILITY. • Merchants & financiers – larger role & more respect in Britain than rest of Eur. • Brit. society (along w/ Dutch): Least hierarchical, least obsessed w/ birth, most democratic in Europe.

19. ENGLISHPreconditions 8. Clever British Inventors & Inventions. Q: Why did the Brits seem to have so many of them? A: Lucky/Predictable happenstance : • Only in Britain did other 7 preconditions & so allow them to exist. Born in a country ready for industrialization thanks to ….

20. The Textile Industry leads the way. • Space Program in 20thc.: Developments in 1 program tend to spur or require advancement in another. Pretty soon: industrialized nation. • 18th/19thc.: Why Textiles? Why Cotton? … COTTON: • Beats wool/linen (flax) on many pts. • DEMAND!….but PROCESS of producing >>> rare & expensive. • Woven by Hand on Slow, Heavy Loom – 2 people req’d • Thread handspun on spinning wheels • Carding, washing, combing & separating from seeds (in reverse order), all done by hand. • Therefore: a COTTAGE INDUSTRY w/ high cost: Cost of ONE POUND > agric. Worker’s weekly wage.

21. The Solutions: • Speed up Weaving: Flying Shuttle [FASTER, LIGHTER LOOM] (1733) – 1-person (vs. 2), doubles speed. … but outpaces available thread >>> • Speed up Thread: Spinning Jenny[MULTIPLE SPINNING WHEEL] (1763) – 1 person does work of 10. … but thread keeps breaking >>>> • Strengthen Thread: Water Frame [ROLL-DRAWING MACHINE – attached to spinning jennies, runs thread through rollers & twists to make stronger] (1769). [“water frame” refers to source of its power] … but production outpacing availability of raw cotton >>>>>

22. Flying Shuttle Kay

23. The Spinning Jenny

25. The Solutions: • Speed up Separation of Raw Cotton from Seed: Whitney Cotton Gin (1793) [speeds up supply to 50 lbs/day/machine]. … but human-powered spinning jennies can’t make thread that fast >>> • Put everything together near fast-moving streams (change from human- to water-power): Factories/Specialized Mills. • Streams >> turn water wheels >> turn cranks >> turn water frames, spinning jennies, etc. • The Spinning MULE(1790) [“super spinning jenny] … but (1) limits factories to rugged upland areas w/ rushing rivers (away from London & other pop. centers), (2) away from sources of raw materials, sources of labor, markets & finance, & (3) rivers freeze in winter & slow down in hot summers & droughts >>>>>>

28. Spinning Mule

29. Spinning Mule

31. The Solutions: • STEAM: • Newcomen Engine (1712) [patent for an atmospheric engine: coal fire heats water in boiler > steam > into cylinder > pushes out a piston > pulls back into cylinder when steam cools] [very slow, inefficient] • Watt Steam Engine (1769) [adds condenser chamber – pushes piston in and out > moves a flywheel (adds circular motion to power jennies, shuttles, mules). • STEAM-POWERED Cartwright Power Loom(1785) [not too effective at first] … but metals on engines not strong enough (blew up!) >>>

32. The Solutions: • STRONGER METALS (Better IRON and STEEL): • The “Problem of Energy” Before 1800 – metal = iron • to smelt iron: need charcoal (burnt wood) >> Brits running out of trees • Abraham DARBY (1709) – COKE! • Pre-heat coal >> separate iron from ore >> iron then “wrought” (pounded flat) [relatively weak] • Solves Fuel problem re: trees BUT not iron still not strong enough • Henry CORT (1783) – puddling furnace & rolling mills . [Pig iron refined w/ coke]. Coal heats iron ore ‘til molten >> into molds = stronger, more homogenous iron capable of coming in all shapes/forms. . • Henry BESSEMER (1856) – STEEL [pre-heated iron + carbon = high-quality steel; much stronger & flexible than iron]

35. Put it ALL TOGETHER: • BETTER METALS >>> • Better TOOLS; Stronger & cheaper CUTLERY; rails for RAILROADS; better STEAM ENGINES >>>> • RAILWAYS & STEAMSHIPS by 1820s to move everything & everyone around. • More POWERFUL PUMPS >>> Deeper Mines >>> more COAL, TIN & IRON ORE • Increasingly powerful motor power to turn equipment in EVER-LARGER FACTORIES >>> render cottage industry, piecework, handwork unprofitable & movement of labor from countryside to quickly expanding cities in MIDLANDS • Greatest entrepreneurs – eg Sir JOSIAH WEDGEWOOD – seek to control every aspect of production: quarries, canals, showrooms, shops

37. The Railroads • George STEPHENSON – 1830 The Rocket • Liverpool & Manchester Railway

38. Isamgard Kingdom Brunel

40. Mercantilism to Capitalism

41. Characteristics of Mercantilism • “Bullionism” the eco. health of a nation could be measured by the amount of precious metal [gold or silver] which it possessed. • ‘Hard’ money was the source of prosperity, prestige, and strength for a nation. • Bullionism dictated a “favorable balance of trade.” • Export more than you import [a trade surplus]. • High tariffs on imported manufactured good. • Low tariffs on imported raw materials. • Each nation must try to achieve economic self-sufficiency. • Those founding new industries should be rewarded by the state.

42. Characteristics of Mercantilism • Thriving agriculture should be carefully encouraged. • Less of need to import foods. • Prosperous farmers could provide a base for taxation. • Sea power was necessary to control foreign markets. • Less need to use the ships of other nations to carry your trade goods. • Your own fleet adds to the power and prestige of the nation. • Impose internal taxes of all kinds. • Colonies would provide captive markets for manufactured goods & sources of raw materials.

43. Characteristics of Mercantilism Manufactured goods MotherCountry A large population was needed to provide a domestic labor force to people the colonies. • State action was needed to regulate and enforce all of these economic policies >>> State-sponsored trade monopolies. Colony Cheap labor Raw materials

44. The Physiocrats: Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) • Concerned w/ state of French economy, especially of French agriculture. • A reaction against the extreme mercantilist policies of Colbert. • Three economic classes: • “Proprietary class”  landowners. • “Productive class”  agricultural laborers. • “Sterile class”  artisans & merchants. • Productive work was the source of national wealth.

45. Capitalism & Adam Smith (1723-1790) • Appointed to the chair of logic in 1751 at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. • In 1752 he transferred to the chair of philosophy. • On his travels to France, he was influenced by the writings of the physiocrats. • 1776 The Theory of Moral Sentiments and an Inquiry Into the Nature of Causes of the Wealth of Nations was published. • A vehement attack of the mercantilist system.

46. The Wealth of Nations (1776)

47. Adam Smith’s Attack on Mercantilism • He was making a political argument, NOT an economic one. • Part of the argument was for new economic policy, but.. • An essential part of the argument was for new social and political arrangements. • He argued that the basic unit for social analysis should be the nation, not the state. • He was against the belief that trade was a zero-sum game • It was a positive-sum game. • Both nations gained.

48. Basic Capitalist Principles • Goods and services are produced for profitable exchange. • Human labor power is a commodity for sale  LABOR IS THE SOURCE OF VALUE. Goods & Service Households Businesses Consumer Spending Wages Labor & Investments

49. Basic Capitalist Principles • The “Invisible Hand” of the market • Problem How do we survive in a world where we must depend on many others, but where humans are by nature self-interested individuals?? • Solutionthe free market, while appearing chaotic and unrestrained, is actually guided to produce the right amount and variety of goods by a so-called “invisible hand.” • Therefore, the basicmarket mechanism is self-regulating!

50. Basic Capitalist Principles • Individuals seeking success are driven by self-interest Profit Motive • The Law of Supply and Demand • Individuals who are free to pursue their self-interest will produce goods and services that others want, at prices others will be willing to pay.