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Industrialism and the Race for Europe (Reforming the Industrial World (The…
Industrialism and the Race for Europe
Industrialization Spreads
Industrial Revolution in the United States
United States has the same resources as Britain to mechanize its industries. During the war of 1812, Britain blockade the United States, which kept them from engaging in international trade. This forced the United States to use its resources to develop independent industries.
Industrialization in the United States
United States began in the textile industry like Britain. Britain forbid engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers to leave the country to keep the secrets of industrialization to itself.
A mill worker named Samuel Slater emigrated to the United States, there he built a spinning machine. Then Moses Brown opened the first factory in the United States to house Slater’s
machines.
But the factory mass-produced only one part of finished cloth, the thread.
Francis Cabot Lowell of Boston and four other investors revolutionized the American textile industry. They mechanized
every stage in the manufacture of cloth. When Lowell died, the remaining partners named the town after him.
By the late 1820s, Lowell, Massachusetts, had become a booming manufacturing center and a model for other such towns.
Thousands of young single women flocked from their rural homes to work as mill girls in factory towns. they could make higher wages and have some independence. They were watched closely inside and outside the factory by their employers.
Later Expansion of U.S. Industry
During the last third of the 1800s, the country experienced a technological boom. As in Britain, a number of causes contributed to this boom.
These included a wealth of natural resources, among them oil, coal, and iron; a burst of inventions, such as the electric light bulb
and the telephone; and a swelling urban population that consumed the new manufactured goods.
Also, as in Britain, railroads played a major role in America’s industrialization. Indeed, the railroads themselves proved to be a profitable business.
By the end of the 1800s, a few large, powerful companies controlled more than two-thirds of the nation’s railroad tracks. Businesses of all kinds began to merge as the railroads had. Smaller companies joined together to form a larger one.
The Rise of Corporations
Building large businesses like railroads required a great deal of money. To raise the money, entrepreneurs sold shares of stock, or certain rights of ownership.
Thus people who bought stock became part owners of these businesses, which were called corporations. Corporations were able to raise the large amounts of capital needed to invest in industrial equipment.
Big business—the giant corporations that controlled entire industries—also made big profits by reducing the cost of producing goods.
In the United States as elsewhere, workers earned low wages for laboring long hours, while stockholders earned high profits and corporate leaders made fortunes.
Continental Europe Industrializes
European businesses yearned to adopt the “British miracle,” the result of Britain’s profitable new methods of manufacturing goods. But the troubles sparked by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars between 1789 and 1815 had halted trade, interrupted communication, and caused inflation in some parts of
the continent. European countries watched the gap widen between themselves and Britain.
Beginnings in Belgium
Belgium led Europe in adopting Britain’s new technology. It had rich deposits of iron ore and coal as well as fine waterways for transportation.
A Lancashire carpenter named William Cockerill illegally made his way to Belgium, he carried secret plans for building spinning machinery.
His son John eventually built an enormous industrial enterprise in eastern Belgium. Carrying the latest British advances, more British workers came to work with Cockerill.
Germany Industrializes
Germany was politically divided in the early 1800s. Economic isolation and scattered resources hampered countrywide industrialization.
Beginning around1835, Germany began to copy the British model. Germany imported British equipment and engineers.
Germany built railroads that linked its growing manufacturing cities. Germany’s economic strength spurred its ability to develop as a military power.
Expansion Elsewhere in Europe
In the rest of Europe, as in Germany, industrialization during the early 1800s proceeded by region rather than by country.
For example, Bohemia developed a spinning industry. Spain’s Catalonia processed more cotton than Belgium. Northern Italy mechanized its textile production, specializing in silk spinning.
Serf labor ran factories in regions around Moscow and St. Petersburg.
French industrialization was more measured and controlled than in other countries because the agricultural economy remained strong. As a result, France avoided the great social and economic problems caused by industrialization.
For a variety of reasons, many European countries did not industrialize. In some nations, the social structure delayed the adoption of new methods of production.
The accidents of geography held back others.
The Impact of Industrialization
The Industrial Revolution increased competition between industrialized nations and
poverty in less-developed nations.
Rise of Global Inequality
Industrialization widened the wealth gap between industrialized and nonindustrialized countries, even while it strengthened their economic ties.
To keep factories running and workers fed, industrialized countries required a steady supply of raw materials from less-developed lands. Industrialized countries viewed poor countries as markets for their manufactured products.
Imperialism was born out of the cycle of industrialization, the need for resources to supply the factories of Europe, and the development of new markets around the world.
Transformation of Society
Industrialization gave Europe tremendous economic power. In contrast, the economies of Asia and Africa were still based on agriculture and small workshops.
Industrialization revolutionized every aspect of society, from daily life to life expectancy. Despite the hardships early urban workers suffered, population, health, and wealth eventually rose dramatically in all industrialized countries.
The development of a middle class created great opportunities for education and democratic participation. Greater democratic participation, in turn, fueled a powerful movement for social reform.
Reforming the Industrial World
The Philosophers of Industrialization
Economics Laissez-faire, or free enterprise, economics stemmed
from French economic philosophers of the Enlightenment. They criticized the
idea that nations grow wealthy by placing heavy tariffs on foreign goods. In
fact, they argued, government regulations only interfered with the production of
wealth. Rather, if government allowed free trade—the flow of commerce in the
world market without government regulation—the economy would prosper.
Economics Laissez-faire, or free enterprise, economics stemmed
from French economic philosophers of the Enlightenment. They criticized the
idea that nations grow wealthy by placing heavy tariffs on foreign goods. In
fact, they argued, government regulations only interfered with the production of
wealth. Rather, if government allowed free trade—the flow of commerce in the
world market without government regulation—the economy would prosper.
The Economists of Capitalism Smith’s basic ideas were supported by British
economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo. Like Smith, they believed that
natural laws governed economic life. Their important ideas were the foundation of
laissez-faire capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of
production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make
a profit. These ideas also helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.
The Economists of Capitalism Smith’s basic ideas were supported by British
economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo. Like Smith, they believed that
natural laws governed economic life. Their important ideas were the foundation of
laissez-faire capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of
production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make
a profit. These ideas also helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.
David Ricardo, a wealthy stockbroker, took Malthus’s
theory one step further in his book, Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation (1817). Like Malthus, Ricardo
believed that a permanent underclass would always be poor.
In a market system, if there are many workers and abundant
resources, then labor and resources are cheap.
Laissez-faire thinkers such as Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo
opposed government efforts to help poor workers. They
thought that creating minimum wage laws and better working
conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits,
and undermine the production of wealth in society.
The Rise of Socialism
In contrast to laissez-faire philosophy, which advised gov-
ernments to leave business alone, other theorists believed
that governments should intervene. These thinkers believed
that wealthy people or the government must take action to
improve people’s lives.
Utilitarianism English philosopher Jeremy Bentham modified the ideas of Adam
Smith. In the late 1700s, Bentham introduced the philosophy of utilitarianism.
Bentham wrote his most influential works in the late 1700s. According to Bentham’s
theory, people should judge ideas, institutions, and actions on the basis of their util-
ity, or usefulness.
He argued that the government should try to promote the greatest
good for the greatest number of people. A government policy was only useful if it
promoted this goal. Bentham believed that in general the individual should be free
to pursue his or her own advantage without interference from the state.
John Stuart Mill, a philosopher and economist, led the utilitarian movement in
the 1800s. Mill came to question unregulated capitalism. He believed it was wrong
that workers should lead deprived lives that sometimes bordered on starvation. Mill
wished to help ordinary working people with policies that would lead to a more
equal division of profits. He also favored a cooperative system of agriculture and
women’s rights, including the right to vote.
Socialism French reformers such as Charles Fourier, Saint-Simon
, and others sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with
a new economic system called socialism. In socialism, the factors of production are
owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all.
Socialism French reformers such as Charles Fourier , Saints-
, and others sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with
a new economic system called socialism. In socialism, the factors of production are
owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all.
Marxism: Radical Socialism
The Communist Manifesto In their manifesto, Marx and
Engels argued that human societies have always been
divided into warring classes. In their own time, these were
the middle class “haves” or employers, called the bour-
geoisie
Marx believed that the capitalist system, which
produced the Industrial Revolution, would eventually destroy itself in the following
way. Factories would drive small artisans out of business, leaving a small number of
manufacturers to control all the wealth. The large proletariat would revolt, seize the
factories and mills from the capitalists, and produce what society needed. Workers,
sharing in the profits, would bring about economic equality for all people.
Marx believed that the capitalist system, which
produced the Industrial Revolution, would eventually destroy itself in the following
way. Factories would drive small artisans out of business, leaving a small number of
manufacturers to control all the wealth. The large proletariat would revolt, seize the
factories and mills from the capitalists, and produce what society needed. Workers,
sharing in the profits, would bring about economic equality for all people.
Labor Unions and Reform Laws
Factory workers faced long hours, dirty and dangerous
working conditions, and the threat of being laid off. By the
1800s, working people became more active in politics. To
press for reforms, workers joined together in voluntary
labor associations called unions.
Factory workers faced long hours, dirty and dangerous
working conditions, and the threat of being laid off. By the
1800s, working people became more active in politics. To
press for reforms, workers joined together in voluntary
labor associations called unions.