Essay on Industrial Revolution

Michelle Li
AP World History:The Industrial Revolution

1. Putting Out System - England traditionally got around the restrictions that guilds had on economic product production through a process called the putting out system. The product owners would “put out” the materials for the poor to assemble the product. The owner still owned everythin part of the product process, they just made a short cut around the guilds so that they can maximize their profits with the poor’s cheap labor. 2. Agricultural Revolution - The Agricultural Revolution was the technological advancement of the tools used in everyday farming. For example, the steel-tipped plow and the three field crop system, both were new innovations that made farming much more efficient. The Agricultural Revolution needed to happen before the Industrial Revolution took its place. With the surplus of food it freed more people who would later provide cheap labor. 3. Enclosure Movement - In 1710 the Parliament passed many acts which made sure that the once open fields had fences around them. This helped to keep the unwanted pests out of the fields. So then the people (men) of the Parliament gained the fields, so all of the laborers (who were unemployed in a way) moved into the cities in search of work. 4. Navigation Acts - The Navigation Acts have been a part of the British Law since the 1600s. It declare that all trading goods must be shipped on British ships for both imports and exports. This dramatically declined the price to ship goods by sea. This act most likely also applies to Britain's colonies for example, the colonies in North America, but they ended up opposing the Navigation Acts during the American Revolution. 5. Charles Townshend - In 1765 Charles Townshend, also known as “Turnip Townshend”, tweaked with the traditional farming technique and came up with the three field crop system. Traditionally the farmers would only plant crops in two out of three fields letting the empty field to regenerate the nutrients that the crops needed, and after a year they would alternate the fields that they used. But the three field crop system allowed the farmers to use 100% of their land all year long by just alternating where the plants were crops every year. This significantly increased the amount of crop production annually. 6. Mercantilism - Mercantilism was a form of economic regulations, its purpose was to increase the power of the state. But what sets the British Mercantilism apart from others is that the government regulations actually serves to the private sector, the individuals, the group, and the public needs of the nation. 7. James Hargreaves - in 1765 James Hargreaves invented the Cotton Spinning Jenny. What the cotton spinning jenny did was that it was able to spin multiple spools of wool and thread at a time. It was important to the growth of the Industrial Revolution because on of the first businesses to skyrocket is the textile industry. 8. Richard Arkwright - Richard supposedly “invented” the Water Frame, but the truth is that he got the true inventor drunk, took his idea and patented it. So he is supposed to get the credit for inventing it. But what the water frame does is that it spins multiple spools of thread and wool at a time, like the cotton spinning Jenny, but it was water powered. So most water frames were positioned near some area with running water. Its importance is just about the same as the cotton spinning Jenny. 9. James Watt - Watt was the man who perfected the steam engine by adding another tank where the steam would condense and cool in so that every time cold water was being injected into the steam engine. This way the arm of the engine pumped the same amount every time because it wasn’t overheated. Another advantage is that the owners no longer had to shut down the machine to wait for it to cool down. It never overheated. 10. Railroads - The second most important invention of the Industrial

Show More

Industrial Revolution

Neolithic Revolution: The Industrial Revolution

DBQ: The Industrial Revolution