Life During The Industrial Revolution

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“The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization” -Stephen Gardiner. Forever changing lives across the globe, the Industrial Revolution has had the most momentous impact in daily life than any other revolution to ever take place in history, and after its occurrence, nothing would ever be the same. Beginning in Great Britain, the Industrial Revolution spread all throughout Europe and eventually to the entire world lasting from about 1760 to 1820-1840, it provided new sources of energy, new means of transportation, new methods of labor, etc. England was the revolution's leader, having countries such as the United States, Germany, France, and Belgium follow its example. In this revolution, it was better to be a leader, rather than a follower, due to …show more content…

Some had their doubts about England's capability to sustain such a fast-growing population. For example, Thomas Malthus argued that given the limited resources available, famine and disease would be inevitable. Economist David Ricardo had similar doubts. He believed wages would never escalate above the minimum needed to sustain life. In the long run, both men were proven wrong largely because industrialization improved productivity beyond imagination, and inventors contributed to that productivity as well. Individuals such as James Hargreaves, who in 1765 invented the cotton-spinning jenny, and Richard Arkwright, who in 1769 invented the water frame (another kind of spinning machine). Inventions such as these contributed greatly in the cotton textile industry. By 1790 the new machines were generating ten times as much cotton yarn than was made in 1770. The income of weavers rose until about 1792. They were among the highest earning workers in England. These machines also gave more working

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