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MSuppan - 5A - The Industrial Revolution (content)
by MSuppan - (2011-09-21)
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First the definition of the Revolution is explained: it is the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth". It led to growth of two system of thought: economic  science and socialism. The development of the first one has four chief landmarks: Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and John Stuart Mill, which wrote four books. Than the facts of the Industrial Revolution are the growth of the population and the decline in the agricultural population. The decrease in rural population was caused by the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation, by the enclosure of common and waste lands and by the consolidation of small farms into large. There has been an agricultural advance later on a more scientific approach: arable cultivation and the tillage of inferior soils were extended, new good farm buildings were built and agricultural societies were born. The industry grew a lot, also because of the mechanical inventions like the most important steam engine and the engine for a cotton-mill. In the textile industry innovation were also the water-frame, the self-acting rule and the spun . The mechanical revolution in iron industry consisted on the smelting by pit-coal and an application of the steam engine. New canals (the Grand Trunk canal and the Grand Junction canal) and the railroad where the novelty in the ways of communication. As a result the commerce increased and started a substitution of factory system for domestic system. So because of the new distribution of wealth the rents rose and country life socially changed. The price of rents increased because of the money invested in improvements, the enclosure system, the consolidation of farms and the high price of corn. That changed the farmers and started new social conflicts. In fact there was a change of farmer's character and habits. There were also negative consequences, like the misery of working people, caused by high price of bread, the repeal of the corn-laws and the sudden fluctuations of trade. The conclusion is that there was production of wealth without well-being.