Effects On The Industrial Revolution

Economical

Industrialization resulted in an increase in population and the happening of urbanization, as a growing number of people moved to urban centers in search of employment. Some individuals became very wealthy, but some lived in horrible conditions. A class of wealthy industrialists, ship owners, and merchants conquered, accumulating great wealth, but at the same time, the working classes had to live with minimum comforts in overcrowded environments. Children were sent to work in factories, where they were broken and ill-treated. The growth of the Industrial Revolution depended on the ability to transport raw materials and finished goods over long distances.

There were three main types of transportation that increased during the Industrial Revolution: waterways, roads, and railroads. Transportation was important because people were starting to live in the West. During this time period, transportation via water was the cheapest way to move heavy products (such as coal and iron). As a result, canals were widened and deepened to allow more boats to pass. Robert Fulton made the first steam-powered engine to power a steamboat, and in 1807 he demonstrated its use by going from New York City to Albany via the Hudson River.

His steamboat was able to carry raw materials across the Atlantic Ocean by the mid-1800s. The roads also improved immensely during this time period. Previously, people traveled using animals or on foot, but there were many problems with the conditions of the roads. In 1751, turnpikes were created for easier transportation, especially for horse-drawn wagons. John Loudon McAdam made "macadam" road surfaces which consisted of crushed rock in thin layers.

Thomas Telford made new foundations in roads with large flat stones. Soon after, roads across America were improved based on these techniques. The closest to trains were horses, commonly used to pull freight cars along rails. In 1801, Richard Trevithick made the first steam locomotive. These improvements on waterways, roads, and railroads all made traveling safer, and it allowed goods to be moved more efficiently.

Social

Women experienced large changes in their lifestyle as they took jobs in domestic service and the textile industries, leaving the agricultural workforce and spending less time in the family home. This period also saw the creation of a middle class that enjoyed the benefits of the new prosperity. People started spending their free time entertaining themselves in theatres, concert halls, and sports facilities or enjoying the countryside on a long path.

The Industrial Revolution was preceded by an agricultural revolution that increased the food supply while decreasing the amount of labor needed. Traditionally, the primary goal of agriculture was to produce enough food to prevent famine. This overwhelming fear of starvation made most farmers very conservative and highly skeptical of change. Poor harvests would lower the supply of food, which would result in increased prices. The basic effect of supply and demand was at the center of most of the class conflict in this preindustrial world.

Both bad harvests and increased population affected the price of food. High prices increased the wealth of the aristocratic class and led to death and starvation among the peasants; therefore, the primary reason behind most peasant uprisings was the high price of food.

Political

Most important, however, 19th-century Britain experienced political unrest as the industrialization and urbanization of the country created a need for social and political change. There were increasing demands for improved social welfare, education, labor rights, political rights, and equality, as well as for the abolition of the slave trade and changes in the electoral system. As a result, the slave trade was abolished in 1807 and the Great Reform Act was passed by Parliament in 1832. After this Reform Act, manufacturing cities such as Birmingham and Manchester could be represented in Parliament for the first time, thereby substantially changing the character of parliamentary politics.

The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to Europe but one of the most notable differences is urbanization. Urbanization is the process of people migrating to the cities from farms and the country. Before urbanization and the Industrial Revolution, most people were peasants and lived out in the country. Their occupation was a farmer and they generally just worked from home. However, once the Industrial Revolution started people, people started moving to cities and working in new factories, increasing urbanization. A reason for this was that because of a surplus of food, the population increased.

This supplied more labor which allowed people to start moving to cities instead of staying on the farms. Also, more jobs were found in the cities compared to the farms because of new technologies that greatly increased the productivity of farming which cause the demand for farmers to decrease. However, the continuity of this change is that even though farmers were moving out of the cities to find jobs, there were still farmers working in the country. Farmers still needed to produce food for the growing population but there were fewer of them needed because technology replaced some of the need for human labor. Urbanization was certainly a crucial change during the Industrial Revolution but there were still some features that stayed the same.

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Effects On The Industrial Revolution. (2016, Aug 16). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/effects-on-the-industrial-revolution/

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