essays about the industrial revolution

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Industrial Revolution

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 27, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies—especially in Europe and North America—into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries.

When Was the Industrial Revolution?

Though a few innovations were developed as early as the 1700s, the Industrial Revolution began in earnest by the 1830s and 1840s in Britain, and soon spread to the rest of the world, including the United States.

Modern historians often refer to this period as the First Industrial Revolution, to set it apart from a second period of industrialization that took place from the late 19th to early 20th centuries and saw rapid advances in the steel, electric and automobile industries. 

Spinning Jenny

Thanks in part to its damp climate, ideal for raising sheep, Britain had a long history of producing textiles like wool, linen and cotton. But prior to the Industrial Revolution, the British textile business was a true “cottage industry,” with the work performed in small workshops or even homes by individual spinners, weavers and dyers.

Starting in the mid-18th century, innovations like the spinning jenny (a wooden frame with multiple spindles), the flying shuttle, the water frame and the power loom made weaving cloth and spinning yarn and thread much easier. Producing cloth became faster and required less time and far less human labor.

More efficient, mechanized production meant Britain’s new textile factories could meet the growing demand for cloth both at home and abroad, where the British Empire’s many overseas colonies provided a captive market for its goods. In addition to textiles, the British iron industry also adopted new innovations.

Chief among the new techniques was the smelting of iron ore with coke (a material made by heating coal) instead of the traditional charcoal. This method was both cheaper and produced higher-quality material, enabling Britain’s iron and steel production to expand in response to demand created by the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the later growth of the railroad industry. 

Impact of Steam Power 

An icon of the Industrial Revolution broke onto the scene in the early 1700s, when Thomas Newcomen designed the prototype for the first modern steam engine . Called the “atmospheric steam engine,” Newcomen’s invention was originally applied to power the machines used to pump water out of mine shafts.

In the 1760s, Scottish engineer James Watt began tinkering with one of Newcomen’s models, adding a separate water condenser that made it far more efficient. Watt later collaborated with Matthew Boulton to invent a steam engine with a rotary motion, a key innovation that would allow steam power to spread across British industries, including flour, paper, and cotton mills, iron works, distilleries, waterworks and canals.

Just as steam engines needed coal, steam power allowed miners to go deeper and extract more of this relatively cheap energy source. The demand for coal skyrocketed throughout the Industrial Revolution and beyond, as it would be needed to run not only the factories used to produce manufactured goods, but also the railroads and steamships used for transporting them.

Transportation During the Industrial Revolution

Britain’s road network, which had been relatively primitive prior to industrialization, soon saw substantial improvements, and more than 2,000 miles of canals were in use across Britain by 1815.

In the early 1800s, Richard Trevithick debuted a steam-powered locomotive, and in 1830 similar locomotives started transporting freight (and passengers) between the industrial hubs of Manchester and Liverpool. By that time, steam-powered boats and ships were already in wide use, carrying goods along Britain’s rivers and canals as well as across the Atlantic.

Banking and Communication in the Industrial Revolution

In 1776, Scottish social philosopher Adam Smith , who is regarded as the founder of modern economics, published The Wealth of Nations . In it, Smith promoted an economic system based on free enterprise, the private ownership of means of production, and lack of government interference.

Banks and industrial financiers soon rose to new prominence during this period, as well as a factory system dependent on owners and managers. A stock exchange was established in London in the 1770s; the New York Stock Exchange was founded in the early 1790s.

The latter part of the Industrial Revolution also saw key advances in communication methods, as people increasingly saw the need to communicate efficiently over long distances. In 1837, British inventors William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system, even as Samuel Morse and other inventors worked on their own versions in the United States.

Cooke and Wheatstone’s system would be used for railroad signaling, as the speed of the new steam-powered trains created a need for more sophisticated means of communication.

Labor Movement 

Though many people in Britain had begun moving to the cities from rural areas before the Industrial Revolution, this process accelerated dramatically with industrialization, as the rise of large factories turned smaller towns into major cities over the span of decades. This rapid urbanization brought significant challenges, as overcrowded cities suffered from pollution, inadequate sanitation, miserable housing conditions and a lack of safe drinking water.

Meanwhile, even as industrialization increased economic output overall and improved the standard of living for the middle and upper classes, poor and working class people continued to struggle. The mechanization of labor created by technological innovation had made working in factories increasingly tedious (and sometimes dangerous), and many workers—including children—were forced to work long hours for pitifully low wages.

Such dramatic changes and abuses fueled opposition to industrialization worldwide, including the “ Luddites ,” known for their violent resistance to changes in Britain’s textile industry.

Did you know? The word "luddite" refers to a person who is opposed to technological change. The term is derived from a group of early 19th century English workers who attacked factories and destroyed machinery as a means of protest. They were supposedly led by a man named Ned Ludd, though he may have been an apocryphal figure.

In the decades to come, outrage over substandard working and living conditions would fuel the formation of labor unions , as well as the passage of new child labor laws and public health regulations in both Britain and the United States, all aimed at improving life for working class and poor citizens who had been negatively impacted by industrialization.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States

The beginning of industrialization in the United States is usually pegged to the opening of a textile mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1793 by the recent English immigrant Samuel Slater. Slater had worked at one of the mills opened by Richard Arkwright (inventor of the water frame) mills, and despite laws prohibiting the emigration of textile workers, he brought Arkwright’s designs across the Atlantic. He later built several other cotton mills in New England, and became known as the “Father of the American Industrial Revolution.”

The United States followed its own path to industrialization, spurred by innovations “borrowed” from Britain as well as by homegrown inventors like Eli Whitney . Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin (short for “engine”) revolutionized the nation’s cotton industry (and strengthened the hold of slavery over the cotton-producing South).

By the end of the 19th century, with the so-called Second Industrial Revolution underway, the United States would also transition from a largely agrarian society to an increasingly urbanized one, with all the attendant problems.

By the mid-19th century, industrialization was well-established throughout the western part of Europe and America’s northeastern region. By the early 20th century, the U.S. had become the world’s leading industrial nation.

Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Historians continue to debate many aspects of industrialization, including its exact timeline, why it began in Britain as opposed to other parts of the world and the idea that it was actually more of a gradual evolution than a revolution. The positives and negatives of the Industrial Revolution are complex.

On one hand, unsafe working conditions were rife and environmental pollution from coal and gas are legacies we still struggle with today. On the other, the move to cities and ingenious inventions that made clothing, communication and transportation more affordable and accessible to the masses changed the course of world history.

Regardless of these questions, the Industrial Revolution had a transformative economic, social and cultural impact, and played an integral role in laying the foundations for modern society. 

Photo Galleries

Robert C. Allen, The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007  Claire Hopley, “A History of the British Cotton Industry.” British Heritage Travel , July 29, 2006 William Rosen, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention . New York: Random House, 2010 Gavin Weightman, The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914 . New York: Grove Press, 2007 Matthew White, “Georgian Britain: The Industrial Revolution.” British Library , October 14, 2009 

HISTORY Vault: 101 Inventions That Changed the World

Take a closer look at the inventions that have transformed our lives far beyond our homes (the steam engine), our planet (the telescope) and our wildest dreams (the internet).

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• Essay Samples
• College Essay
• Writing Tools
• Writing guide

Creative samples from the experts

↑ Return to Essay Samples

Descriptive Essay: The Industrial Revolution and its Effects

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great age throughout the world. It represented major change from 1760 to the period 1820-1840. The movement originated in Great Britain and affected everything from industrial manufacturing processes to the daily life of the average citizen. I will discuss the Industrial Revolution and the effects it had on the world as a whole.

The primary industry of the time was the textiles industry. It had the most employees, output value, and invested capital. It was the first to take on new modern production methods. The transition to machine power drastically increased productivity and efficiency. This extended to iron production and chemical production.

It started in Great Britain and soon expanded into Western Europe and to the United States. The actual effects of the revolution on different sections of society differed. They manifested themselves at different times. The ‘trickle down’ effect whereby the benefits of the revolution helped the lower classes didn’t happen until towards the 1830s and 1840s. Initially, machines like the Watt Steam Engine and the Spinning Jenny only benefited the rich industrialists.

The effects on the general population, when they did come, were major. Prior to the revolution, most cotton spinning was done with a wheel in the home. These advances allowed families to increase their productivity and output. It gave them more disposable income and enabled them to facilitate the growth of a larger consumer goods market. The lower classes were able to spend. For the first time in history, the masses had a sustained growth in living standards.

Social historians noted the change in where people lived. Industrialists wanted more workers and the new technology largely confined itself to large factories in the cities. Thousands of people who lived in the countryside migrated to the cities permanently. It led to the growth of cities across the world, including London, Manchester, and Boston. The permanent shift from rural living to city living has endured to the present day.

Trade between nations increased as they often had massive surpluses of consumer goods they couldn’t sell in the domestic market. The rate of trade increased and made nations like Great Britain and the United States richer than ever before. Naturally, this translated to military power and the ability to sustain worldwide trade networks and colonies.

On the other hand, the Industrial Revolution and migration led to the mass exploitation of workers and slums. To counter this, workers formed trade unions. They fought back against employers to win rights for themselves and their families. The formation of trade unions and the collective unity of workers across industries are still existent today. It was the first time workers could make demands of their employers. It enfranchised them and gave them rights to upset the status quo and force employers to view their workers as human beings like them.

Overall, the Industrial Revolution was one of the single biggest events in human history. It launched the modern age and drove industrial technology forward at a faster rate than ever before. Even contemporary economics experts failed to predict the extent of the revolution and its effects on world history. It shows why the Industrial Revolution played such a vital role in the building of the United States of today.

Follow Us on Social Media

Get more free essays

Send via email

Most useful resources for students:.

• Free Essays Download
• Writing Tools List
• Proofreading Services
• Universities Rating

Contributors Bio

Find more useful services for students

Free plagiarism check, professional editing, online tutoring, free grammar check.

Industrialization, Labor, and Life

Industrialization ushered much of the world into the modern era, revamping patterns of human settlement, labor, and family life.

Social Studies, Economics, U.S. History, World History

Power Looms

Women and children were often employed in the textile industry during the first century of industrialization. Their smaller fingers were often better at threading the machinery. Despite routinely working 16 hours, or longer, a day they were paid little.

Photograph by Nancy Carter

The Industrial Revolution deserves the name with which historians have tagged it. It brought about thorough and lasting transformations, not just in business and economics but in the basic structures of society. Before industrialization , when the most significant economic activities in most European countries were small-scale farming and artisan handicrafts, social structures remained essentially as they had been during the Middle Ages. The advent of industrial development revamped patterns of human settlement, labor, and family life. The changes set in motion by industrialization ushered Europe, the United States of America, and much of the world into the modern era. Most historians place the origin of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain in the middle decades of the 18th century. In the British Isles and most of Europe at this time, most social activity took place in small and medium-sized villages. People rarely traveled far beyond their home village. During the 18th century, the population of Britain and other European countries began rising significantly. Among the first signs of economic transformation was an increase in agricultural productivity, making it possible to feed this rising population. The combination of these factors led to profound changes in how rural people lived. Gradually, large-scale mechanized agriculture to serve the market began to overtake the kinds of subsistence farming most peasants had practiced for generations. The enclosure movement, which converted commonly held grazing lands into fenced-off private property, added to the new pressures facing the poor, rural majority. The population increase added to the number of people facing difficulties making a living on the land. Many left their agrarian lives behind and headed for towns and cities to find employment. Advances in industry and the growth of factory production accelerated the trend toward urbanization in Britain. Industrial cities like Manchester and Leeds grew dramatically over the course of a few short decades. In 1800, about 20 percent of the British population lived in urban areas. By the middle of the nineteenth century, that proportion had risen to 50 percent. Other Western European lands such as France, the Netherlands, and Germany also experienced an increase in urban populations, albeit, more slowly. These changes thoroughly disrupted longstanding patterns in social relationships that dated back to medieval times. The nature of work in the new urban industries also had significant social impact. Before the Industrial Revolution , artisans with specialized skills produced most of Europe’s manufactured goods. Their work was governed by the traditions of their craft and the limits of available resources. Human and animal muscle and the waterwheel were the era’s main energy sources. With the coming of factory-based industry, the coal-fired steam engine and other machinery set a new, faster pace for labor. In the factories, coal mines, and other workplaces, the hours were very long, and the conditions, generally, dismal and dangerous. The size and scope of manufacturing enterprises continued to increase throughout the 19th century as Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world industrialized. Larger firms that could achieve economies of scale held an advantage in the competitive sphere of international trade. In the industrializing world, the new means of production meant the demise of earlier, slower modes of labor and life. The most insidious consequences of the new conditions may have been those affecting the most basic social unit: the family. The preindustrial family was fundamentally both a social and an economic unit. Married couples and their children often worked side by side on a family farm or in a shop, or otherwise divided their labor for the family’s overall benefit. It was also common in 18th-century Great Britain for women and men to work in their rural homes doing jobs such as textile spinning and weaving on a piecework basis for merchant owners. This decentralized form of employment was called the “putting-out” or domestic system. However, the rise of factory production and industrial cities meant a separation of the home from the workplace for most male workers. Very often, the need for income motivated men to leave their families behind for jobs in the city. Even without geographic separation, many types of industrial jobs were so demanding that they left little downtime for workers to spend preserving the relational bonds we associate with family life. Women also worked outside the home. Unmarried women, in particular, often worked as domestic servants. Many British women, including mothers, were employed in the textile mills to help their families make ends meet. Child labor was also rampant in the textile industry during the first century of industrialization . Factory owners appreciated having workers whose fingers were small enough to manipulate delicately threaded machinery. Despite their importance to the industry’s output, these women and children were paid very little and were routinely compelled to work 16 hours per day or longer. Their jobs were perceived as less skilled than those of their male co-workers, although the working conditions were sometimes equally dangerous. The United States underwent many of the same social transformations arising from industrialization . U.S. manufacturing began in earnest after the nation broke from England in the 1770s. An embargo on foreign imports during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, and a British blockade of the Atlantic seaboard during the War of 1812, spurred domestic production. The United States became one of the world’s leading economic powers by the 1830s. In the first half century after U.S. independence, a major proportion of the nation’s labor force shifted from the agricultural to the manufacturing sector. As in Great Britain, the textile industry led the way toward mechanization. In many industries, though, home-based production and artisan craft traditions gave way to wage labor in larger, machine-powered operations. Industrialization , along with great strides in transportation, drove the growth of U.S. cities and a rapidly expanding market economy. It also shaped the development of a large working class in U.S. society, leading eventually to labor struggles and strikes led by working men and women. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Britain, the United States, and other industrialized nations were debating and enacting reform laws to limit some of the worst abuses of the factory system. However, similarly oppressive labor conditions arose in many parts of the world as their economies industrialized in the 20th and 21st centuries. The reorganization of daily life wrought by industrialization had effects that weakened the material basis for the institutions of the family and the community. These effects were so lasting that they can still be felt in the present day—even as developed societies have shifted into an era that scholars describe as “postindustrial.”

Articles & Profiles

Media credits.

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Production Managers

Program specialists, last updated.

October 19, 2023

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources

Enter your email to download PDF and receive updates from OSMO

Scan to get started.

The Assessment App is available only on the Apple App Store . Please scan the QR code below with your iPhone device to download the app.

Industrial Revolution Essay

500+ words industrial revolution essay it’s history, the impact and pros and cons of industrial revolution.

The Industrial revolution was a period of major changes, which transformed the largely handicraft and agriculture based economy to machine manufacturing. European and American society was completely dependent on agriculture, hand production methods, which meant lower production. But in the latter half of the 18th century, the introduction of mass producing machines and industrialization changed this. This modern method of production led to mass production, which brought about major changes in the economy.

The industrial revolution brought about several social changes too. It led to new job opportunities, lowered prices, better quality of life and communication. But it wasn’t all good, the industrial revolution had its disadvantages too. While it did improve the quality of life with a better economy, it also led to harsh working conditions. Industrialization also led to pollution, lower pay and in some cases, unemployment too.

Learn more about the history, the impact and the pros and cons of the industrial revolution in this industrial revolution essay.

Industrial Revolution Essay: History Of Industrial Revolution

Before the industrial revolution, the economy was completely dependent on agriculture and handmade products. This meant fewer products were produced and the cost of production and the goods were higher too. But all this changed with the introduction of machines and factories in the late 1700s and mid 1800s. The industrial revolution transformed the largely rural and agriculture based society into urban, machine-powered factories. It began in Britain and soon spread to America, Japan and other European countries.

The industrial revolution brought about several economic and social changes across the world. Learn more about how the industrial revolution impacted society and its advantages and disadvantages. 

Also explore: Read more essays on related topics like technology essay and pollution essay .

Industrial Revolution Essay: The Impact Of The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution led to several important developments. First, the textile industry was changed. Machines were invented to make the cleaning, gathering, spinning and weaving processes easy. With modern methods of production, large amounts of cloth could be produced at once. The invention of the steam engine further improved the production. Gradually, industrialization spread to all kinds of industries like farming, transportation, communication, banking etc.

The Advantages Of The Industrial Revolution

• Ease Of Production: Industrialization made way for cheaper and more efficient production. Additionally, it made production quicker and easier.
• Innovation and development: The industrial revolution made way for innovation and development in several fields like communication, transportation, farming etc.
• Better job opportunities: The advent of machines and factories made way for jobs with specialized skills, which created new job opportunities. With better economic opportunities, the quality of life also improved. 
• Improved healthcare: The industrial revolution also helped make several advancements in the field of healthcare. Medical equipment and medicines could be manufactured easily and innovated, which resulted in better healthcare.

But while it had several advantages, the industrial revolution had several disadvantages too. Learn more about the cons in this industrial revolution essay.

The Disadvantages Of The Industrial Revolution

• Unemployment: With the advent of machines, several particular jobs became obsolete. People and families that performed these jobs were left without jobs or income. This led to unemployment and poverty.
• Overcrowding of cities: With more and more people from rural areas moving to the cities hoping for better wages, cities became overcrowded. The sudden influx of migrants in poorly planned cities and towns led to unsanitary living conditions and spread diseases.
• Harsh working conditions: With factories churning out products in mass quantities, factory owners prized profit over everything else. The workers were underpaid and forced to overwork with no concern for their safety. The dirt, the soot, smoke and chemicals expelled from the factories made working conditions in the factories unsanitary and hazardous to the workers’ health too. This resulted in accidents, the workers getting injured and even death in certain cases. 
• Pollution: One of the greatest ills that the industrial revolution brought about is the pollution and environmental ills that it caused. The factories also used natural resources endlessly, which led to global warming and other ecological problems. 
• Economic gap:  The factory and industry owners looked at their gain above all else. So, the workers were exploited and forced to overwork in unsanitary conditions for low wages. As a result, the factory owners got richer, while the workers stayed poor. This unequal distribution of wealth created an economic gap. 

The industrial revolution has its advantages and disadvantages, but our society wouldn’t be the same without it. Nonetheless, we can continue to enjoy the benefits by focusing on innovation without compromising on safety and equality.

We hope you found this industrial revolution essay helpful. Osmo has several essays on a wide variety of topics. For more information, check essays for kids .

Frequently Asked Questions On Industrial Revolution

What is the industrial revolution.

Industrial revolution was a period during which the largely rural, agricultural and hand produced economy shifted to modern, machine based manufacturing.

What are some advantages of the industrial revolution?

Industrialization and urbanization made way for mass production, innovation and development, better job opportunities and improved quality of life, cheaper products etc.

What are some cons of the industrial revolution?

Industrialization led to unemployment, depletion of natural resources, pollution, harsh working conditions, overpopulation and unequal distribution of wealth.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

The Industrial Revolution Essay

Crafting an essay on the Industrial Revolution is a challenging task that requires a comprehensive understanding of historical events, economic transformations, and societal impacts. The Industrial Revolution was a complex period marked by significant advancements in technology, changes in labor practices, and shifts in economic structures. As a writer, you need to delve into extensive research to grasp the intricacies of this era and its profound effects on various aspects of society.

Related Papers

Hasan Alisoy

Welcome to "Exploring English Stylistics: A Comprehensive Guide for Language Teachers," a book into the intricate world of stylistics and its profound impact on English language teaching. This book is born out of a passion for understanding the nuances of language and a commitment to enhancing the pedagogical approaches of language educators. As a lecturer at Nakhchivan State University and a language enthusiast, I have always been fascinated by the power of stylistics in shaping our understanding and teaching of the English language. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive, accessible guide for language teachers who wish to incorporate stylistic analysis into their teaching repertoire. In this book, you will find an in-depth exploration of various facets of stylistics – from its basic concepts, branches, and approaches, to its practical applications in the classroom. Each chapter is meticulously crafted to delve into different aspects of stylistics, ensuring that both novice and experienced educators find valuable insights and tools. Chapter 1 sets the stage by introducing stylistics and its significance in language teaching. Subsequent chapters explore the richness of expressive means and stylistic devices, the varied nature of language, and the history of the English literary language. The book progresses to cover meaning from a stylistic perspective, the classification of English vocabulary, phonetic and lexical expressive means, and the art of stylistic intensification. Special attention is given to syntactical expressive means and structural meaning, showcasing their stylistic use and impact. The book culminates with an overview of functional styles and a fascinating dive into the allure of belles-lettres style and publicistic style. Each chapter is complemented with exercises, quizzes, and reflective essays to encourage active engagement and practical application. The goal is not only to inform but also to inspire language teachers to explore and experiment with stylistic analysis in their teaching practices. I hope this book serves as a valuable resource for language educators and ignites a passion for exploring the stylistic dimensions of the English language. Thank you for embarking on this journey with me.

American Ethnologist

Kristin Hanssen

We don’t ordinarily think of living history museums and sites as sweatshops, if we think of them as workplaces at all. There seems to have been little systematic inquiry into the well-being of living history’s frontline workforce, yet one would think the costs of replacing burn-out cases would interest management in the subject. This lacuna leaves us in the dark about the relationship between the visitor experience and the lives of those who catalyze that experience. The Wages of History seeks to fill this gap.

Hispanic American Historical Review

Miléna Santoro

The Journal of Asian Studies

Kristin Bloomer

Brandon D Lundy

Alyson Young

Navigating Opportunity: Policy Debate in the 21st Century

Allan Louden

Robert Kunath

RELATED PAPERS

Mark W. Graham

Daniel McDonough

Megan Faver Hartline

Jonathan Mercantini

Andrew Hartman

The Journal of Southern History

Katherine Perrotta

Journal of Islamic Studies

David Fahey

albrecht koschnik

Steven Beller

Ben S Trotter

Peter Pozefsky

Rose Mary Sheldon

Cameron Weber

Konrad Eisenbichler

Gray Tuttle

Padraic Kennedy

Geoff Haywood

John P A T R I C K Montaño

Gloria Tseng

Rodney Petersen

American Journal of Sociology

Oscar Marti

kasia boddy

Steven Isaac

Lomarsh Roopnarine

The Historian

Jacqueline deVries

Mario Antonio Ruiz

Sandra Wagner-Wright

Bulletin of Latin American Research

Jonathan Ablard

The English Historical Review

prem poddar

Journal of Social History

Ruth Karras

Ethan Rarick

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Mark Choate

Melvyn Dubofsky

Sypar Whitepaper V. 1.0

Diogo Pereira Coelho

Robin A H Waterfield

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Industrial Revolution began in 17th not 18th century, say academics

Researchers find shift from agriculture to manufacturing first gained pace under Stuart monarchs

The Industrial Revolution started more than 100 years earlier than previously thought, new research suggests, with Britons already shifting from agricultural work to manufacturing in the 1600s.

Seventeenth century Britain can be understood as the start of the Industrial Revolution , laying down the foundations for a shift from an agricultural and crafts-based society to a manufacturing-dominated economy, in which networks of home-based artisans worked with merchants, functioning similarly to factories.

The period saw a steep decline in agricultural peasantry and a surge in people who manufactured goods, such as local artisans like blacksmiths, shoemakers and wheelwrights, alongside a burgeoning network of home-based weavers producing cloth for wholesale, according to University of Cambridge research .

Textbooks typically mark the Industrial Revolution as beginning around 1760, when mills and steam engines proliferated and technologies such as the spinning jenny were created, yet according to the most detailed occupational history of a nation ever created – built from more than 160m records and spanning over three centuries – the UK was emerging as the world’s first industrial powerhouse during the reign of the Stuarts.

The University of Cambridge’s Economies Past website uses census data, parish registers, probate records and more to track changes to the British labour force from the Elizabethan era to the eve of the first world war.

Prof Leigh Shaw-Taylor, the economic historian who led the project, said: “A hundred years has been spent studying the Industrial Revolution based on a misconception of what it entailed.

“By cataloguing and mapping centuries of employment data, we can see that the story we tell ourselves about the history of Britain needs to be rewritten.

“We have discovered a shift towards employment in the making of goods that suggests Britain was already industrialising over a century before the Industrial Revolution.”

In fact, by the early 1800s, when William Blake was writing of “dark satanic mills”, many parts of Britain were even deindustrialising as manufacturing declined in favour of coal mining, the researchers discovered.

In the 19 th century the service sector almost doubled in size – a boom often thought to have begun closer to the 1950s – which spurred growth that has continued for nearly 300 years. These included sales clerks, domestic staff, professionals such as lawyers and teachers, as well as a huge increase in transport workers on the canals and railways.

“The question of why the industrial age dawned in Britain is a much-debated one, with coal, technology and empire all major factors,” said Shaw-Taylor.

“Our database shows that a groundswell of enterprise and productivity transformed the economy in the 17 th century, laying the foundations for the world’s first industrial economy. Britain was already a nation of makers by the year 1700.”

The website sheds light on changes in the workforce. It observes that as much of Europe languished in subsistence farming, male agricultural workers in Britain fell by over a third (64% to 42%) from 1600 to 1740. At the same time, from 1600 to 1700, the share of the male labour force involved in goods production rose by 50% to reach 42% of all men.

This means that the share of the British labour force working in manufacturing rather than agriculture was three times that of France by 1700, Shaw-Taylor calculated. “The English economy of the time was more liberal, with fewer tariffs and restrictions, unlike on the continent,” he noted.

Adding pre-19 th century data for female workers is a major next step for the project, though the researchers estimate that labour force participation for adult women was between 60% and 80% in 1760, and went back down to 43% by 1851, only returning to mid-18 th century levels in the 1980s.

The website also allows users to track rates of child labour after 1851. For example, the booming textile mills of Bradford saw huge numbers of young girls put to work, with over 70% of girls aged 13 and 14 working in 1851. Sixty years later, this figure was still over 60%.

Over 40% of girls in Bradford aged 11-12 were also working in 1851, but this had fallen to nearer 10% by 1911, by which time education had been made compulsory for young children.

• University of Cambridge

Most viewed

Home — Essay Samples — History — Industrial Revolution — The Sadler Report and the Industrial Revolution

The Sadler Report and The Industrial Revolution

• Categories: Industrial Revolution Social Justice

About this sample

Words: 433 |

Published: Mar 16, 2024

Words: 433 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

The sadler report, impact on industrial revolution.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: History Sociology

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 778 words

2 pages / 770 words

2 pages / 944 words

3 pages / 1308 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution in America brought about significant changes that transformed the fabric of society in profound ways. From the late 18th to the early 19th century, industrialization revolutionized the economy, [...]

The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 18th century and quickly spread to other parts of the world, brought about significant changes in the way goods were produced, leading to a shift from agrarian-based [...]

The printing revolution, which occurred in the 15th century with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, had a profound impact on society and the world as a whole. This technological advancement revolutionized [...]

Have you ever wondered how living organisms are able to survive and thrive in diverse environments? The answer lies in their ability to adapt. Adaptation is a crucial mechanism that allows organisms to adjust to changing [...]

The Industrial Revolution in England had a profound impact on the country’s economy, society, and culture. One of the key developments during this period was the rise of textile factories, which transformed the way cloth was [...]

Overview of the American Industrial Revolution as a transformative period in U.S. history Mention of the economic changes and innovations that occurred during this time Introduction to Samuel Slater as a key [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Industrial Revolution in the United States Essay

Introduction, the industrial revolution in america, impacts of the industrial revolution in america, americans reaction towards the industrial revolution, works cited.

The industrial revolution refers to the time period in which changes in production processes had extreme impacts on man’s social, economic, and cultural status. The changes were realized in sectors such as agricultural, manufacturing, and transport, among other sectors. This paper seeks to discuss the subject of the industrial revolution in the United States. The paper will look into the development of the industrial revolution in the United States, the changes that were caused by the revolution, and the reactions that Americans had towards the industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution was a period of transformation from reliance on human beings in production processes to great dependence on machines to produce commodities. The revolution is believed to have originated from Great Britain before spreading through Europe and then to other parts of the world. The British industrial revolution was also directly and almost instantly spread to British colonies, which were at the time run as its territories. The revolution’s transformation of economic operations from human labor to employment of machines was characterized by transformation in economies in which traditional agricultural practices were, for example, replaced by industrial processes.

Machines that were invented played an important role in removing people from their jobs and replacing them with machines that did the jobs in a better way and also produced products of better utility to people. The developments due to the revolution were also characterized by the invention of better transportation means that were more affordable and accessible. People were basically contained around their homesteads with major duties being either farming or performing duties in homesteads before the revolution, which later changed events in the then American societies as professions changed from the earlier farming into industrial jobs. Vast resources that were available in the United States contributed to the quick industrialization that was realized in the country (Brezina 4).

One of the immediate impacts of the industrial revolution was the transformation of the American economy from being agriculturally based on being an industrial economy. Consumptions were previously direct agricultural products. The introduction of machines into the economy, however, transformed the system into industrial production focused. Agricultural products were transformed into forms of more refined products, and other industrial production processes were established.

The industrial revolution also had the impact of job losses among the American people in the agricultural farms in which they were employed as manual laborers. The introduction of machines in the agricultural sector, which were more efficient as compared to human labor, led to the displacement of people from their jobs in the agricultural sector as their positions were then taken by machines. The revolution can, therefore, be said to have caused unemployment among the American people, at least at the time it was being launched in the country (Brezina 8).

Loss in artistic skills was also experienced following the emergence of industrialization in the United States. The wave of people that moved people from their rural farms in order to take up jobs in industries affected artisans who followed the mass, abandoned their tools, and moved to take industrial jobs factories. Their positions were then taken by unskilled people who had just moved to the profession to fill the gap that was left by the artist who had left for the industrial jobs. The industrial revolution also changed the social structure that was previously dominant in America. Parents moved to take jobs in industries, thereby reducing the socially family-based environment that had existed before the revolution (Brezina 51).

The revolution that invaded American society led to a number of transformations in the nature of the American people in their society. A number of reactions to the changes caused by the industrial revolution were evident in terms of behavior and social set up. In reaction to the industrial revolution, significant changes were realized in the nineteenth century regarding the structure and nature of American society. Henry Bellows, for example, outlined some characteristic features that were realized in America towards the middle of the nineteenth century. The economic changes that were realized following the wave of the industrial revolution forced Americans to work harder and for longer hours in order to sustain their family needs.

Bellow expressed the concern that following the revolution, “lawyer must confine himself to his office” (Bellows 95) and “the physician must labor day and night” (Bellows 95) in his duty. Americans generally reacted to changed conditions by increasing their efforts at work. Another form of reaction to the wave of revolution was the attitude of ambitious gains that people developed. This could be attributed to the lower wages that resulted from industrialization. Another evident reaction, as represented by Bellow, was the affinity or desire that people developed for money. He described the then society as “doomed tradesmen” who could “mistake money for the kingdom of heaven” (Bellows 96). These, among others, were reactions towards industrialization.

The industrial revolution that was experienced in the United States of America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had great effects on the American people and, as a result, led to a number of reactions by Americans to the impacts of the revolution.

Bellows, Henry. The Influence of the Trading Spirit upon the Social and Moral Life of America . New York: Wiley and Putnam, 2009. Print.

Brezina, Corona. The Industrial Revolution in America: A Primary Source History of America’s Transformation into an Industrial Society . New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2005. Print.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, June 4). Industrial Revolution in the United States. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-in-the-united-states/

"Industrial Revolution in the United States." IvyPanda , 4 June 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-in-the-united-states/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Industrial Revolution in the United States'. 4 June.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Industrial Revolution in the United States." June 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-in-the-united-states/.

1. IvyPanda . "Industrial Revolution in the United States." June 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-in-the-united-states/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Industrial Revolution in the United States." June 4, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/industrial-revolution-in-the-united-states/.

• Industrialization and Changes of Western History
• Great Britain Industrialization Reasons
• Industrialization, Enlightenment, French Revolution
• Industrialization and Factory Systems
• Industrialization Period After the American Civil War
• Industrialization in the United States
• Industrialization, Urbanization, and Migration
• Industrial Revolution Role in the Britain Development
• Britain’s Industrial Revolution
• Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen in England?
• US History in "Respectable Citizens" by Lara Campbell
• The Rise of American Democracy: Influences of the Constitution
• American Democracy: Federal Government vs. States’ Rights
• Chesapeake Colonization and Development
• Inter-Community Wars: Formation of the United States

share this!

April 4, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

Britain began industrializing in the 17th century—more than 100 years earlier than history books claim

by University of Cambridge

Britain was already well on its way to an industrialized economy under the reign of the Stuarts in the 17th century—over 100 years before textbooks mark the start of the Industrial Revolution—according to the most detailed occupational history of a nation ever constructed.

Built from more than 160 million records and spanning over three centuries, the University of Cambridge's Economies Past website uses census data, parish registers, probate records and more to track changes to the British labor force from the Elizabethan era to the eve of World War One.

The research shows that 17th century Britain saw a steep decline in agricultural peasantry, and a surge in people who manufactured goods: from local artisans like blacksmiths, shoemakers and wheelwrights, to an explosion in networks of home-based weavers producing cloth for wholesale.

Historians say the data suggests that Britain was emerging as the world's first industrial powerhouse several generations before the mills and steam engines of the late 18th century—long credited as the birth of global industry and economic growth.

"By cataloging and mapping centuries of employment data, we can see that the story we tell ourselves about the history of Britain needs to be rewritten," said Leigh Shaw-Taylor, project leader and Professor of Economic History at Cambridge's Faulty of History.

"We have discovered a shift towards employment in the making of goods that suggests Britain was already industrializing over a century before the Industrial Revolution."

In fact, by the early 1800s, when William Blake was writing of "dark satanic mills," numbers involved in manufacturing had long been flatlining. Many parts of Britain were even "deindustrializing" say researchers—as manufacturing drained from much of the nation to concentrate around coalfields.

Instead, the 19th century saw an almost doubling of the service sector —a boom often thought to have begun closer to the 1950s. These included sales clerks, domestic staff, professionals such as lawyers and teachers, as well as a huge increase in transport workers on the canals and railways.

By 1911, some 13% of all working men were in transport. In fact, the research suggests that Britain's service sector has been growing almost continuously for three hundred years.

The www.economiespast.org website has compiled and summarized employment statistics at local levels across England and Wales, allowing users to zoom in and trace changes to the workforce across the centuries.

The site also breaks down by sector and, after 1851, by gender as well as age—revealing the extent of child labor. Historians hope the site will prove a valuable classroom resource, so students can explore the history of labor in their area.

The work is launched at the Economic History Society's annual conference on 6 April.

"The question of why the industrial age dawned in Britain is a much-debated one, with coal, technology and empire all major factors," said Prof Shaw-Taylor.

"Our database shows that a groundswell of enterprise and productivity transformed the economy in the 17th century, laying the foundations for the world's first industrial economy. Britain was already a nation of makers by the year 1700."

"A hundred years has been spent studying the Industrial Revolution based on a misconception of what it entailed," he said.

'Factories without machines'

As much of Europe continued to languish in subsistence farming, the number of male agricultural workers in Britain fell by over a third (64% to 42%) from 1600–1740.

At the same time, from 1600–1700, the share of the male labor force involved in goods production rose by 50% to just under half of working men (28% to 42%).

According to Shaw-Taylor's estimates, the share of the British labor force in an occupation involving manufacturing rather than agriculture was three times that of France by 1700.

"We can't say for certain why this change occurred in Britain rather than elsewhere," he said. "However, the English economy of the time was more liberal, with fewer tariffs and restrictions, unlike on the continent."

Moving goods within many European countries was subject to tolls from land barons, so markets were often very local. In England there are few records of such levies after the medieval era.

Shaw-Taylor argues that trade guilds also had more power in other nations. For example, textile production was prohibited in the countryside around the Dutch city of Leiden, and in Sweden no shops were permitted in rural areas within a ten-mile radius of a town until the 19th century.

Yet in the England of 1700, half of all manufacturing employment was in the countryside. "In addition to village artisans, there were networks of weavers in rural areas who would work for merchants that supplied wool and sold the finished articles," said Shaw-Taylor.

Industries of textiles, or metalworkers making nails and scythes, were shaped like "factories without machines spread out over hundreds of households" according to Shaw-Taylor—and increasingly produced goods for international markets.

In Gloucestershire, for example, expansions in textiles, footwear and metals saw the share of the male workforce in industry grew from a third (33%) to almost half (48%) over the 17th century.

While in Lancashire, the share of men in manufacturing work grew from 42% in 1660 to 61% in 1750, driven by a doubling of textile workers (from 15% to 30%). This all occurred prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Some networks evolved into workshops, and eventually the mills of Blake's visions as industries migrated to the North of England, where coal was abundant and crops were harder to grow.

This meant that by the mid-18th century—considered the start of the Industrial Revolution—much of England's South and East had actually lost its long-established industries, and even returned to farm labor, according to the research.

For example, Norfolk was probably the 17th century's most industrialized county, with 63% of adult men in industry by 1700. But this actually dropped to 39% during the 18th century, while the share of the male workforce in agriculture jumped from less than a third (28%) to over half (51%).

As such, and counter to prevailing historical narratives, shares of the population in manufacturing-type jobs across England and Wales changed very little over the period thought of as the height of the industrial age, but rather it was the nature and location of work that shifted.

Women and children in the workforce

With textile manufacturing moving out of homes and out of the Southeast, far fewer women engaged in the labor market. Adding pre-19th century data for female workers is a major next step for the project, but researchers have devised ways of estimating earlier workforce gender splits.

"We think labor force participation for adult women was somewhere between 60–80% in 1760, and back down to 43% by 1851," said Shaw-Taylor. "It didn't return to those mid-18th century levels until the 1980s."

By 1851, Easington on the Durham coalfield had just 17% of adult women in employment. However, in one of the South's remaining industrial hubs, Luton's hat-making district, it was as high as 78%.

The website also allows users to track rates of child labor after 1851. The booming textile mills of Bradford saw huge numbers of young girls put to work, with over 70% of girls aged 13–14 working in 1851. Sixty years later this figure was still over 60%.

Over 40% of girls in Bradford aged 11–12 were also working in 1851, but this had fallen to nearer 10% by 1911, by which time legislation had created a system of compulsory education for young children.

The ' Economies Past ' website is the result of a research project at Cambridge that's been running for over 20 years, the Occupational Structure of Britain 1379–1911 , which has gathered data from late medieval poll tax records to early modern coroner reports.

The main source of data from 1600–1800 comes from over two million wills and probate inventories: lists of the movable goods of the deceased. The team behind the work aims to keep expanding the datasets.

Alongside vast quantities of digitized census data , researchers also visited 80 records offices to gather data from a further 2.5 million baptism records from the 19th century (when it became compulsory to list the father's occupation).

Provided by University of Cambridge

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Machine learning could help reveal undiscovered particles within data from the Large Hadron Collider

16 minutes ago

Hydrogen recombination found to be most plausible explanation for high levels of energy in stellar superflares

17 minutes ago

New catalyst allows energy-friendly ammonia production for fertilizers and alternative fuel

37 minutes ago

Scientists share single-cell atlas for the highly regenerative worm, Pristina leidyi

48 minutes ago

Discovery of organic catalyst could lead to cheaper fuel cells

New colorful plastic films for versatile sensors and electronic displays

56 minutes ago

Millions of gamers advance biomedical research by helping to reconstruct microbial evolutionary histories

Astrophysicists solve mystery of heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto

57 minutes ago

How do trees survive dry and hot summers? Leaf lifespan and growth recovery are key

Researchers discover previously unknown gene that indirectly promotes photosynthesis in blue-green algae

Relevant physicsforums posts, biographies, history, personal accounts.

3 hours ago

Why Is Two-Tone Ska Rock Popular on Retro Radio?

9 hours ago

Today's Fusion Music: T Square, Cassiopeia, Rei & Kanade Sato

16 hours ago

Cover songs versus the original track, which ones are better?

17 hours ago

For WW2 buffs!

23 hours ago

A Rain Song -- Favorite one? Memorable one? One you like?

Apr 13, 2024

More from Art, Music, History, and Linguistics

Related Stories

Working from home is producing economic benefits return-to-office rules would quash

Feb 22, 2024

Industrialization is still vital to economic development but some countries are struggling to reap its benefits

Mar 25, 2024

Strong cultural regions slowed Britain's urbanization, new research finds

May 26, 2023

The expendables: Health consequences of child labor in 19th-century England

May 17, 2023

New book investigates the literature of Britain's waterways

Jul 5, 2023

Chinese imports could undermine Ethiopian manufacturing—leaving women workers worse off

Jan 11, 2023

Recommended for you

Saturday Citations: Listening to bird dreams, securing qubits, imagining impossible billiards

Building footprints could help identify neighborhood sociodemographic traits

Apr 10, 2024

Can the bias in algorithms help us see our own?

Apr 9, 2024

Public transit agencies may need to adapt to the rise of remote work, says new study

Saturday Citations: AI and the prisoner's dilemma; stellar cannibalism; evidence that EVs reduce atmospheric CO₂

Apr 6, 2024

Giving eyeglasses to workers in developing countries boosts income

Apr 5, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter