Thoughts On The First Industrail Revolution Essay

, Research Paper

The Era known as the Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes

occurred agriculture, textiles and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies

and the social structure in England. This period is appropriately or inappropriately

classified as a “revolution”, for this period completely destroyed the old ways of doing

things; yet these changes did not occur in an abrupt change as the word “revolution”

implies. The transformation that occurred during the period of (1760-1850) occurred very

slowly with small gradual changes. 1760 the year generally accepted as the “eve” of the

Industrial Revolution was not the “eve” at all. In reality, this “eve” people talked about

occurred more than two hundred years ago. The ninety years labeled the Industrial

Revolution is simply a time where the ideas and discoveries of those who had long passed

on, such as Galileo, Bacon, Descartes and others was brought to a national level. The

large question that becomes apparent when studing these years is why then. Why if many

of the ideas of the Industrial Revolution had been known for nearly two hundred years did

they come into common use now. As I answer this question I will examine advances

applied during the Industrial Revolution and shed some light as to why it occurred in the

late eighteenth century.

Agriculture held a prominent position in the way of life during the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries. England was no aception as most of the population depended on the

tilling of soil for their livelihood. Not only was Agriculture’s importance rooted in to the

livelihood of the population, but it was an indispensable source of material for the growing

textile industry. The production of wool and cotton for the purpose of manufacturing into

cloth increased every year during the Industrial Revolution. The yield of food crops

increased as well, mainly due to the enclosure movement taking hold in English villages.

Enclosure is the process of enclosing pieces of land by the use of stone walls, tall shrubs

ect. This process helped to increase production because now farmers were able to

introduce new technologies to farming, that before they were unable to do. Before

enclosure there were large farms where villagers worked together to farm. With the

coming of enclosure, farmers were allowed to rent a piece of land and work that land by

themselves. Enclosure gave incentive to try new ways of farming because the more they

produced on their piece of land, the more grain they could sell at the market, and in turn

the more profit they could make. For example, a widely common practice in agriculture at

the time was to allow the land to lie fallow after it had been exhausted of minerals through

cultivation. Soon it was discovered that the growing of clover and other types of legumes

would help restore the fertility of the land. The improved use of manure also helped

replenish land that had been exhausted of minerals. Many of these innovations had been

known for some time but had never been widely used before. The improvements came

into universal use due to the pressure from a rising population. The improvements in

agriculture, led to a greater supply of grain during the winter months to sustain livestock.

This increased the amount of meat on the market throughout the year. All of these

advances made it possible to feed the new populations of people attracted to industrial

centers and large cities. With enough food to sustain a larger work force than ever seen

before, England was on its way for the Industrial Revolution to expand.

Before 1760 the process of manufacturing textiles occurred in the homes. It was a

long and tedious process starting with raw material to finished product. For example

woolen cloth had to be sorted, cleaned and dyed, carded and combed, spun into thread,

then woven into cloth.. Even more processes were performed on the wool to change the

texture and color. Most of each stage of production was performed either by women or

children.

The textile industry in England before the Industrial Revolution was complicated

and grossly inefficient. The process of manufacturing was different from one locality to

another. Generally, a merchant employed putters who distributed the raw materials to

spinners and weavers who were scattered throughout the countryside. Changes in the

process of manufacturing textiles were already occurring in the late seventeen century;

however these changes were not accepted with arms wide open by many Englishmen.

John Kay’s flying-shuttle, which enabled one weaver to do the work of two, and Lewis

Paul’s roller spinner, which was to make spinning more efficient (later to be perfected by

Richard Arkwright), were the precusors of the inventive spirit and the application of new

technology to the textile industry. By the 1760’s the textile industry was experiencing

rapid cha

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