1. What role did slavery play in the industrial revolution?

(Short answer)

In order for the industrial revolution to take place, a simultaneous

agricultural revolution had to take place in order to support the large city
populations now working in factories instead of on their own small farms. This
meant that now instead of an area having several small farms, they would have
one large farm run by a wealthy landowner. This landowner would buy and trade
slaves in order to support his large farmland and the slaves would work long
hours growing food. After the industrial revolution took off, the demand for cash
crops like cotton and sugar soared, costing many free Africans their freedom. It is
estimated that over 3.2 million slaves work in the United States alone during the
time period of the industrial revolution, working on enormous plantations and
growing large amounts of crops like cotton.
2. Discuss how Josiah Wedgwood’s factory can be seen as a microcosm of the
Industrial Revolution.

Josiah Wedgwood’s pottery factory in Staffordshire, England was the best

microcosms of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. His techniques used in his
pottery factory were reflected all over the country of England in other industries. He used
one of the most important ideas of the revolution: the idea of mass production and the
division of labor. He also used new machines like the steam engine to speed up the
production line and used necessity to his advantage, inventing certain technologies when
he needed to in order to keep his business moving forward in the revolution.
In England, the demand for fine glazed porcelain tableware was at an all time
high, as more and more entrepreneurs tried to find a way to make this hard to make
tableware widely available for all to buy and have. Before, only the wealthy could afford to
buy this expensive china, while the middleclass bought pewter tableware, and the poor
carved bowls out of wood and clay. Many royal manufactures created this expensive
Chinese-originated porcelain, but the tableware required too much work to create and
was too expensive for anyone but the elites to buy. Josiah Wedgwood’s father owned a
small pottery shop that created the hand carved pottery used by most of Europe’s
population. When Josiah took over his father’s business, he not only wanted to find a way
to create many bowls and cups in one firing (it took large amounts of time and work to
create just a few) but he was also looking to create identical bowls, plates, and cups that
could be easily stacked and uniform in price. He realized he needed to find a way to
manage the heat of the fire inside the firing kiln, that way he could put many different
plates and bowls in at one time while maintaining a steady temperature. This led to his
invention, the pyrometer, which could measure the amounts of extreme heat in the kilns
therefore allowing it to be regulated. He also created molds that could be used in place of
a potter’s wheel allowing him to create uniform size tableware, saving time and money.
His most important invention though, was the division of labor, which sparked the
industrial revolution. The division of labor broke up the huge tasks required to create clay
tableware, and broke them down into smaller repetitive tasks that were the responsibility
of one worker. One worker would be mixing clay all day while the other set up molds,
while another worker pours the clay into the molds. This allowed him to produce twice as
many items in a day, allowing him to lower his prices while at the same time making a
huge profit. He then took his profit and invested the money right back into his business,
creating roads and canals so his goods could be efficiently shipped from one factory to
the next. He invested in new technologies to further his business and streamline his
production. He bought some of the early steam engines so that he could use the engine
in place human labor in the stirring of the clay, giving him more amounts of clay available
for use everyday. Josiah Wedgwood’s factory was a small example of what was
happening all over Europe in the industrial sections, as business streamlined production
and expanded their factories, allowing them to not only create uniform products at a fast
rate, but also allowing them to lower prices on items once originally reserved only for the
elites and wealthy. Companies also began to create and use machines in place of human
labor. Not only were machines faster but also they did not have to be paid wages or be
given rights. The expanding industrial revolution rapidly advanced England’s and the
US’s standing versus the rest of the world, as poor people could now began to afford
commodities once reserved only for the rich. The prices in the economy dropped,
allowing for greater wealth even among the poor and advancing the economies of these
industrialized countries.
3. Many groups benefited from the Industrial Revolution—for instance, the
entrepreneurs and industrialists. Which groups did not? What was the social
cost of the Industrial Revolution?

The industrial revolution had an enormous impact on the social world of the
th
18 century. Many people benefited from the industrial revolution, gaining money and
social status/mobility, while other people were hurt and lost prestige from the
industrial revolution. The social world was literally rocked upside-down as the poor
started to advance upwards socially and the elites began to lose power and prestige,
and greater social mobility was allowed.
The industrial revolution rocked Europe’s economy. Thanks to the division of
labor and industrialization, cheaper products could be produced faster and cheaper
while at the same time offering many jobs for the middle class and the poor. This
industrialization also spurred a large forward surge, as companies and individuals
created and embraced new technology that allowed for faster and cheaper
production. Often companies who did not keep up with these new technologies were
left behind and went bankrupt, faced with the large outputs of the technologically
advanced factories and the fact that their items were much cheaper that the old style
method of making the item. The worst off in the working class were the guilds and
tradesmen who hung on to the older styles of manufacturing. One great example of
this is when the powered loom was introduced and cotton clothing became highly
demanded. Women working as weavers who used the old style of weaving by hand
had their wages slashed by nearly 2/3, and they were forced to work longer hours
than those who learned how to utilize the powered weaving. Despite the fact that
these women worked these long had hours, they still ended up losing their jobs and
were forced to learn how to use the power weaver, or suffer from unemployment. Also
suffering from the industrialization were the elites who originally started out with
power and prestige, as the poorer classes could not compete with their large
amounts of wealth. However since the industrialization allowed products to be
produced cheaper, the poor could now buy items needed to sustain themselves
without spending all of their available money and allowing them to save up and
amass their own wealth. This was a huge social cost of the industrial revolution, as it
allowed for greater social mobility between the social classes. This was especially
important for the middle class businessmen, who were very close to the elites wealth,
and during the industrial revolution it was not uncommon for a businessman in the
middle class to become successful and buy himself land and a seat in parliament,
and therefore giving himself the position of an elite.
As stated above, the middle class and the poor were the ones who benefited
the most from this revolution. They were now able to buy not only needed
commodities, but also luxury goods that were being mass-produced in the industrial
factories. The poor could now save up their money in hopes of being able to move up
in status in wealth, and the middle class began to have a greater influence in
parliament and the government. There was greater social mobility for all of the
classes and they could marry whomever they wanted. This was also a time period of
great posterity for the inventors and entrepreneurs, who played a large and very vital
role in what happened and how quickly the industrial sectors would advance.