Industrial Age

• The Industrial Age began in Manchester, England
• Mass Production:

  • Items such as hats, clothes, pots, pans, and textiles (the #1 mass produced item) are mass produced
• Labor:

  • Labor increased from 16 to 20 hours a day
• Wages:

  • Workers would be paid per hour, depending on how much they worked
• Poor Working Conditions:

  • Machines spewed toxic air into a room with closed windows, filled with workers working for long hours
  • Kids were used as mechanics once they were able to walk
  • Kids experienced burns, lost fingers, limbs, and even their lives
  • Kids were physically and sexually abused, and parents would get fired if they tried to intervene
  • Women would get paid, but their paychecks would be taken by their husbands or fathers
  • There were no bathrooms for women
  • Women were physically and sexually abused, and if their husbands died, they and their children would be thrown into the streets
• Poor working conditions for Men:

  • Men would be fired if they tried to stand up for their wives or kids
  • Men worked long, grueling hours
• Poor Living Conditions:

  • Living spaces were smaller than modern apartments and would fit 5-7 people
  • Only one bathroom per floor in a building, leaving people to use the bathroom in alleys
  • The poorest people lived on the top floor, while the wealthy lived on lower floors, giving the wealthy a better chance of surviving in case of a fire
  • People were constantly sick from the poor living conditions
• Pollution:

  • Waste from factories polluted the air and water
  • Animal blood from slaughterhouses was poured into the rivers
  • Smoke from factories rose into the air
• Factors contributing to industrialization during the 1800s:

  • America cut off imports from Britain, leading American manufacturers to create factories
  • Success of these factories created greater capital, allowing for more industrialization
• Industrialization changed working people because:

  • Blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, and artisans couldn't compete with manufacturers and suffered declining wages
  • Many became low-cost laborers working in terrible conditions
• Reasons for the spread of slavery in the South:

  • Cotton became the South's leading crop
  • The climate and land of the South favored agriculture over factories
  • Inventions like the cotton gin and slave trading were popular in the region
• Tariff of 1816:

  • Protective tariff established by Congress to encourage Americans to buy goods made in the U.S
• Capital:

  • Money or wealth used to invest in business or enterprise
• Labor union:

  • Organization of workers
• Nativist:

  • Person who favors native-born inhabitants over immigrants
• Cotton gin:

  • Machine invented in 1793 to separate the cotton fiber from its hard shell
• A strike is when a union formed by workers refuses to work or come to work
• Gains received from strikes/unions:

  • Improved working conditions
  • Fair wages (more pay for more work)
  • Reasonable work hours (8 hours a day)
  • Benefits and job security -Benefit: Retirement -Job security: Safety from abuse, getting fired, sexual harassment, etc.
  • Collective bargaining rights (Workers can make contracts for better conditions or else they go on strike)
  • Social and economic justice (Improved equality and pay for men and women)
  • Political Influence (Say support of the police department or government officials)
• Gains received from strikes/unions

  • Voice for workers (Workers are able to organize strikes without being fired beforehand)
  • Weekends (A break from working for two days)