The Early Industrial Revolution, 1760-1851

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The Early Industrial Revolution, 1760-1851 CHAPTER 22-THE EARLY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, 1760-1851 I. Causes of the Industrial Revolution A. Population Growth 1. In the 18th century, the population grew in Europe (mostly in England and Wales) because there were more reliable food supplies, earlier marriage, high birthrates, and more widespread resistance to disease. 2. The children accounted for a high proportion of the total population. The growth in population was also caused because of people migrating from Europe to the Americas. B. The Agricultural Revolution 1. The agricultural revolution began before the eighteenth century. New crops (mostly from the Americas) and new forage crops produced more food per acre and gave the farmers…show more content…
In the 1840s and 1850s, Americans and Europeans had built the beginnings of what would become a global communications network. Europeans and Americans regarded this rapid communications system as a clear measure of progress. III. The Impact of the Early Industrial Revolution A. The New Industrial Cities 1. Industrialization brought about the rapid growth of towns and the development of megalopolises such as Greater London. The wealthy built fine homes, churches, and public buildings; the poor crowded into cheap, shoddy row houses. 2. Sudden population growth, crowding, and lack of municipal services made urban problems more serious than they had been in the past. Inadequate facilities for sewage disposal, air and water pollution, and diseases made urban life unhealthy and contributed to high infant mortality and short life expectancy (mainly for the poor). 3. Reports of the horrors of slum life led to municipal reforms that began to alleviate the ills of urban life after the mid-nineteenth century. B. Rural Environments 1. Almost all the land in Europe had been transformed by human activity before the Industrial Revolution, but deforestation was an ongoing problem. Americans transformed their environment even faster than Europeans did, clearing land, using it until the soil was depleted, and then moving…show more content…
The utopian socialists include Charles Fourier, who imagined an ideal society without capitalists, and Robert Owen, who believed that industry could provide prosperity for all. Owen tried to put his ideas into practice by carrying out reforms in his own textile mill and by encouraging Parliament to pass child labor laws and establish government inspection of working conditions. C. Protests and Reforms 1. Workers initially responded to the harsh working conditions by changing jobs frequently, not reporting for work, doing poor-quality work when not closely watched, and engaging in riots or strikes. Workers gradually moved beyond the stage of individual, unorganized resistance to create organizations for collective action: benevolent societies and trade unions. 2. Mass movements persuaded the British government to investigate the abuses of industrial life and to offer ameliorative legislation that included the Factory Act of 1833(outlawed children under 9 working and limited work hours), the Mines Act of 1842, and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. In Europe, the revolutions of 1848 revealed widespread discontent, but European governments did not seek reform through

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