The Industrial Revolution During The 19th Century

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and the working class worked tirelessly to produce products. Textiles were made faster and cheaper, food was more abundant, and the standard of living increased for many people. To industrialize Great Britain, laborers worked in factories and mills under horrible conditions. Despite attempts by Parliament to address problems with the factories’ working conditions through the passage of new legislation, their effort was inadequate and deplorable working conditions remained. Before the 19th century, the cottage industry flourished. All business and manufacturing was carried out in a person’s home, and they had a say in what happened to their product.†¦show more content†¦The growing businesses put the small in-home workers out of work, giving them no choice but to get a job in a factory. The working conditions in factories and mills were much different than the ones in the cottage industry. Instead of working at an individual pace in their home, the workers were suddenly expected to work in onerous conditions. The Factory Act of 1819 was one of the first attempts to control child labor, but the act was not effective. Years later, the Factory Act of 1833 was introduced, and the new law prohibited laborers under age 9 and set the maximum number of hours for children based on age. The Ten Hours act of 1847 limited women and children to 10 hours in the factory. These laws were meant to change society and the working conditions, but the lack of a strong penalty for factory owners gave them no motivation to follow the laws. In some cases, there was little to no legislation on some of the deplorable working conditions, and there was inadequate control over the health of laborers One of the most recognized conditions of the Industrial Revolution is the long hours. In most factories, children from as early as age six to adult women and men were required to work 12 or more hours six days a week. The exhausting work caused the workers to be prone to sickness and to be weaker. In most cases, workers would fall asleep while working, causing them to receive injuries and make mistakes in their work. If caught sleeping while The Industrial Revolution During The 19th Century The industrial revolution began in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this time most people lived on farms or in small rural villages. Prior to the industrial revolution most manufacturing was done in homes using hand tools and simple basic machines. People lived where their daily existences revolved around farming. Life for the average person was difficult, as incomes were meager, and malnourishment and disease were common. People produced the bulk of their own food, clothing, furniture and tools. With the advent of the industrial revolution marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the†¦show more content†¦The major inventions that lead to the industrial revolution in the area of textile industry were: The spinning jenny was invented around 1764, by Englishman James Hargreaves (1722-1778) invented the spinning jenny (â€Å"je nny† was an early abbreviation of the word â€Å"engine†), a machine that enabled an individual to produce multiple spools of threads simultaneously. By the time of Hargreaves’ death, there were over 20,000 spinning jennys in use across Britain. The spinning jenny was improved upon by British inventor Samuel Compton’s (1753-1827) spinning mule, as well as later machines. Another key innovation in textiles, the power loom, which mechanized the process of weaving cloth, was developed in the 1780s by English inventor Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823). Without improvement in the transportation industry the other industrialization would have trouble getting raw materials and shipping out their finished product. Before the advent of the steam engine, raw materials and finished goods were hauled and distributed via horse-drawn wagons, and by boats along canals and rivers. In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton (1765-1815) built the first commercially successful s teamboat, and by the mid-19th century, steamships were carrying freight across the Atlantic. As steam-powered ships were making their debut, the steam