THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION DBQ: WHY GREAT BRITAIN?

GROUPING, MEANING, POV, ADDITIONAL DOCS AND THESIS DEVELOPMENT

DOC #1 INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES

Although a tiny island nation, England had Abundant natural resources requisite to industri-Alize with the support of government (enclosure Acts, building infrastracture of canals, ports and Railroads, and the elements of the agriculturalRevolution which supported the urbanization ofEngland to export textiles (wool) using coal, lead And tin mining to heat, power and transport theseGoods across all of England

DOCUMENT 2: THIS EXCERPT IS FROM A WITNESS’S DESCRIPTION BEFORE THE FACTORY COMMISSION IN 1883.

This document from an official commission overseeing England’s industrialization identifies the economic motivation behind workers moving to the cities “people left other occupations and came to spinning for the sake of the high wages”

The POV is a positive in support of business and overlooks potential dangers and abuses of these laborers including unsafe(unsanitary) working conditions, low (subsistence) wages, and profits going to the bourgeosie factory owners and not to its employees.

DOCUMENT 3: THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT FROM ADAM SMITH’S WEALTH OF NATIONS WRITTEN IN 1776DESCRIBES THE ASSEMBLY LINE USED IN FACTORIES

Here the definitive book on capitalism and its greatest proponent is arguing the benefits of mass production in factories “operations…They could…make among them…upwards of 48,000 pins in a day…But if they had all wrought [worked] separately and independently…they certainly could not each of them have made twenty…in a day.”

The mass production of goods would be favorable for the factory owners but nothing is mentioned as to the improvements in the lives of proletariat ( working class)

DOCUMENT 4: HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM LANDMARKS IN ENGLISH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY, A BOOK WRITTEN BYGEORGE WARNER IN 1899 (LONDON: BLACKIE AND SON, 1924).

A very nationalistic view of England’s Industrial revolution which could be grouped along with document #1 on the geographic components which favored England’s Industrial Revolution “We recognize that England is rich in these advantage, that she has coal and iron lying close together, that her sheep give the best wool, that her harbors are plentiful, that she is not ill-off for rivers, and that no part of the country is father than seventy miles from the sea”

Note how England is referred to as a she illustrating the nationalistic sentiment of a mother country ( which just so happens to be imperializing the world for resources, markets and labor)

DOCUMENT 5: THIS EXCERPT IS FROM THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BY THOMAS S. ASHTON (OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS, REVISED EDITION, 1962).

This document written much later than England’s first industrial revolution suggests that scientific thought, inquiry and a fostered intellectual elite facilitated the inventions and innovations for England to lead the industrial age…” The stream of English scientific thought was one of the main tributaries [causes] of the industrial revolution…discoveries in different fields of activity were linked together”

This is another nationalistic and deeply attributable to the royal societies, universities, natural rights and constitutional monarchy all supporting inventions of the scientific revolution and enlightenment ( a prerequisite for the industrial revolution)

DOCUMENT 6: CHANGES IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY.

This document can be grouped with #5 to illustrate some of the major innovations in the textile industries in England ( first economic area to become industrialized)Changes in textile machinery

Inventor Invention Importance

John Kay flying shuttle Increased speed of weaving

James Hargreaves

spinning

jenny Spun 8-10 threads at a time; used at home

Richard Arkwright water frame Large spinning machine driven by water in factories

Edward Cartwright power loom Water powered; automatically wove thread into cotton

Eli Whitney cotton gin Separated seed from raw cotton

These industrial innovations facilitated England’s mass production of textiles and dominating the market with cheap, durable and affordable textiles leading capitalist bourgeosie factory owners to develop great wealth.

DOCUMENT 7: CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE.

These inventions preceded the industrial revolution and facilitated the movement of farming communities to the newly urbanized cities (like Manchester) to find work and support a labor force (to become known as the proletariat) which would manufacture textiles ( can be grouped with #5 and 6 with innovations or 1 and 4 for geography)

Jethro Tull

Horse-drawn

seed drill Planted seeds in straight rows

Robert Blakewell

Stock

breeding

Improved quality of animals to produce more meat, milk

and wool

Cyrus McCormick

Mechanical

reaper Made grain harvesting easier

DOCUMENT 8: THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT IS FROM THE FARMER’S TOUR THROUGH THE EAST OF ENGLAND BYARTHUR YOUNG, 1771.

This excerpt from a farmer who seems to benefit from both the inventions of the agricultural and scientific revolutions (cultural connection with Docs# 5 and 6) or the political support ( enclosure acts) of parliament to ensure an Industrial Revolution “By enclosing without the help of Parliament By the introduction of a four year rotation of crops By growing turnips, clover and rye grass By the country being divided chiefly into large farms”

DOCUMENT 9: THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT IS FROM THE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVOLUTIONS IN GREATBRITAIN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY L.C.A. KNOWLES (E.P. DUTTON & CO., 1921).

This document supports the political support by the English government on protecting its own economy vs others “1789…it is clear that the political and economic freedom in England was one of the causes of her industrial expansion”

This document argues that obstruction, tariffs and other governmental interference ( as oppossed to ole Adam Smith’s Laissez Faire hand’s off government which England does) leads England’s dominance in trade

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS

Karl Marx’s Communist manifesto which speaks about the abuses of the proletariat by the bourgeosie and the historical exploitation of the have-nots vs the haves which causes for a world-wide revolution.

A woman working in these textile factories which would speak of the treatment and opportunities afforded by the industrial revolution.

Parliamentarian in England’s house of commons to illustrate how their decisions lead to thee enclosure acts, treatment of workers or the lack of tariffs on textile exports.

Miner in the coal/ iron industry to discuss the dangers and implementation ( use) of Coal

THESIS

From 1750-1900, the industrial revolution was supported by the English government in laissez faire practices but also by supporting industry, workers from the rural ( farming areas) would move to the newly urbanized regions for greater wages and economic opportunities and the ideas of science and freedoms of the enlightenment and scientific revolution would provide the technologies to provide England an economic boom which would promulgate their dominance in the world. An additional document from a worker in the textile industry would provide a better understanding as to how the new technologies like the spinning jenny helped or hurt workers in England’s first industrial age.