Term
| Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny (1760s) |
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Definition
| In pre-modern economies people buy only a few things: food, housing, and clothes. Because producing all these takes so much effort, many aspects of the modern economy are either miniscule, or do not exist at all. Clothing was very hard to make, and so was the area in which, if you could come up with a new cheap method, there would be a real demand for what you produced. Cotton was first industry to change since it was still a new industry in the 1760s. Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny was soon followed by Arkwright's Water Frame in 1769, and Compton's Mule in 1790. These machines revolutionized industry. By 1790 10 times more yarn was being made than in 1770. By 1800 it was the main Industry in Britain |
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Term
| Whitney's Cotton gin (1793) |
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Definition
| The invention of a mechanism to quickly prepare cotton was crucial to the development of an industry based on cheap cottons. The same invention transformed the economy of the American South and strengthened the hold of the slaver labor system there. |
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Term
| Essay on Population (1798) |
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Definition
| Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) was an Anglican clergyman who was interested in the analysis of population growth. His arguments about the economic effects of population growth provided justification for paying low wages to working people. |
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Term
| Liverpool to Manchester railway line (1830) |
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Definition
| Steam engines were first used as stand alone sources of power, but soon it was realized they could provide locomotive power. As a result they were mounted on railway carts (animal powered railways already existed), and on ships. George Stephenson (1781-1848) developed the first practical modern railroad in 1825, and a commercial line was built between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. Railroads spread with amazing rapidity: by 1850,there were over 2000 miles of railroad in Britain. In continental Europe, railroads opened up entirely new lines of commerce as it was no longer necessary to have easy access to water transportation in order to move bulk goods. |
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Term
| Great Cholera Epidemic (1831) |
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Definition
| Hygenic conditions in early industrial cities were minimal, with no public disposal of sewage and other wastes. In these conditions, cholera epidemics took place on a number of occasions. Death was caused through debilitating and dehydrating diarrhea, symptoms which only served to further spread the disease. Such events forced liberals, who had resisted government activism, to begin to demand public action to preserve public health. In this way, industrialization necessitated an expansion in the size and scope of state activity. |
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Term
| Grand National Consolidated Trades Union founded (1834) |
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Definition
| For most workers, real change in work conditions but by trade unions. The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union was created in Britain to include as many workers as possible. It did not last very long, and after its failure, the unions in Britain organized from the bottom up. The first successful unions were Craft Unions - because their members had valuable skills and the ability to negotiate with employers. Eventually, less skilled workers begin to organize, miners, railway workers. dockers (longshoremen). |
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Term
| Zollverein founded (1834) |
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Definition
| One of Britain's advantages at the start of the Industrial Revolution was the complete lack of internal tariff barriers. In Germany, which was divided into many small states,such tariffs and tolls presented a serious problem to economic growth. The Zollverein (or "Customs Union") was a conscious effort to enable German industry to develop. It also turned out to be the first step towards German Unification. |
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