preview

The Industrial Revolution

Better Essays

Think about your life for one second: you communicate with people, travel, make purchases, and utilize those commodities. But have you ever wondered what made those things possible? After all, you go to the store to buy things you need. You drive a car to work and to visit your friends. If you need to talk to someone, you simply pick up your phone or computer. However, none of this would be possible without a means of communication, factories to manufacture the products you need, places to work, and ways to travel and transport goods. And what made these possible? The answer is the Industrial Revolution, which started in Europe around the year 1730. A revolution is a major change or turning point in something. The Industrial Revolution …show more content…

His engine used steam to power a pump, which turned a wheel, which moved machinery. It worked quickly and generated more power than the waterwheel had. Europe wanted to keep all this progress to itself, so anyone who had worked around the machinery could not leave the country. It was illegal, and if they were apprehended, they could be punished severely. Nonetheless, a certain Samuel Slater took the plans for a cotton mill and fled Britain in the year 1789. He quickly traveled to the United States, where the Revolution would soon expand and pop, like the balloon. Slater went first to Rhode Island, where he opened up a cotton mill powered by a waterwheel. His work was peculiar and new to the Americans, but once they realized how productive it was, and how much more available the textiles were, they loved the new mills. Machines could make more goods at a lower price. The ready availability of cotton, threads, and clothing. Slater had brought ideas for the new mechanical looms and spinning engines as well, and people liked the ideas. After people realized how productive Slater's new mills were, factories for all different kinds of goods and products started popping up all over the United States. The new factories, which used Adam Smith's division of labor theory, required a large amount of manpower. The more people worked, the more productive it was to own a factory. Of course, all of this new productivity came with a

Get Access