Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave, and unemployment compensation. In 1882, the average of 675 laborers was killed in work-related accidents each week (McDougal 2000)
There were various checks on the population growth such as individuals getting married later and the clergy members being celibate who helped keep down the growth of the population. Therefore, the population was able to support more individuals who did not have to work in traditional jobs such as farming, artisan or trader roles (Pomeranz 2000)
The income generated by the trade allowed the country to form a strong fleet, "the largest merchant marine in the world as well as a navy to protect this merchant marine fleet. […] England shot to the forefront of the new capitalist economy primarily through its navy" (Hooker, 1999)
Nevertheless, the advancements made by the iron and textiles industries, as well as through the introduction of the steam engine, soon expanded to the other sectors as well. The main effects felt by Great Britain and pegged to the Industrial Revolution are succinctly summarized below: In terms of the English society, the focus of work shifted from family-like agricultural operations to jobs in factories; this also meant that people moved from villages to towns, leading to the emergence of large cities In terms of economics and development, the impacts materialized in "the rise of the North, South Wales, the West of Scotland and the Midlands as great mining and manufacturing areas; the development of a new commerce; the rise of a new system of production; the increase of urban areas; the development of new relations between capital and labor" (Knowles, 2005, p
"Unlike France, England had an effective central bank and well-developed credit market. The English government allowed the domestic economy to function with few restrictions and encouraged both technological change and a free market" (Kreis, 2006)
The legislation was also well in place and allowed for patents to be easily acquired and protected. In this safe and stimulating context, several individuals, such as Adam Smith, James Watt or Thomas Newcomen, had intensified their efforts to create new means of more effective production or to issue and fight for the implementation of economic principles (Musson and Robinson, 1969)
Then, another geographic feature is that the country is crossed by numerous rivers. Capitalizing on the large reserves of iron ore, the English monarchy invested in developing the infrastructure and built numerous roads and bridges (Spielvogel, 2008)
At a social level, the effects materialized in wealth accumulation for the few landowners, but raising levels of poverty for the many working the plantations. For the overall country however, it meant an incremental desire for high productivity levels and an openness to new techniques (Wallace, 1989)
Though England, through their inventions, influenced America in finding ways that could better their ways of life, America had shown the world that they are capable of building their nation as an economic power. While England produced the names of James Watt, John Wilkinson, Joseph Whitworth, Henry Maudslay, and many others, America shared the geniuses of Eli Whitney, Thomas Blanchard, Elis Howe, Henry Ford, Cyrus McCormack, and Isaac Singer (Anderson, 2001)
Thus, leading to the nation's economic development and progress. One of the successful companies then was Boston Manufacturing Company, an integrated company of spinning and weaving machinery built in 1814 by Francis Cabott Lowell (Chandler, Houghton Mifflin)
Besides, large population increases were witnessed in Egypt, India, and China in the nineteenth century without corresponding increase in industrialization. (Ashton 3-6) Industrial Revolution beyond Britain The eighteenth century industrial revolution was essentially restricted to Britain
The effect was compounded because most of the slaves consisted of able-bodied men and young women. (Rodney 95-146)
From 1860 onwards, the heavy industries and railroad building brought France into the fold of the Industrial Revolution. (Rostow 206) The United States In the United States, the need for industrialization was felt soon after it became independent as its political and business leaders realized that economic strength was vital for sustaining the country's independence
The policy may, in part, have been influenced by Adam Smith's landmark "Wealth of Nations" that was published on the eve of the Industrial Revolution in 1776 and extolled the virtues of a Laissez-Faire economy. (Stearns 5-8) The importance of minimal control of the economy is underlined by famous historian, Arnold J
Toynbee, who terms the essence of the Industrial Revolution as "the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth." (Toynbee 58) Another important reason was that Britain, due to its vast Empire and trading interests around the globe, was making significant surplus profits that were available for industrial investment
Another significant invention to emerge from the Industrial Revolution was the steam engine. Stanley Chodorow claims that the steam engine was the "most important" (Chodorow 718) in that it remained the sole source of artificial power until the invention of electricity
Without ingenuity, however, invention would be difficult and the modern revolution reveals that when the right minds converge with the right needs of society, great things can be accomplished. Great Britain was the "home" (Craig 627) of the Industrial Revolution
People were crowded into small, unsanitary living conditions, and the factories were often dark, dangerous places to work. A contemporary writer visiting Manchester during the revolution wrote, "Everywhere half or wholly ruined buildings, some of them actually uninhabited, which means a great deal here; rarely a wooden or stone floor to be seen in the houses, almost uniformly broken, ill-fitting windows and doors, and a state of filth!" (Engels)
Essentially, the Industrial Revolution was the transformation of a society that relied on good produced by hand to goods produced by machines. These machines were often gathered together in groups, known as "factories," and these machines and their factories were indeed revolutionary for the time (Thackeray & Findling, 2002, p
As an example, before the Industrial Revolution in the early 1770s, Manchester had a population of only 25,000 inhabitants but by 1850, having become a center of cotton manufacturing its population had grown to more than 350,000. The overall shift of the population was also significant -- in pre-industrial England more than three-quarters of the population lived in cities; by mid nineteenth century over half of the population lived in cities (Ashton, 49)