“The Chief features of the indistrial revolution” is an essay from Arnold Toybee. It deals with the most important facts of the Industrial Revolution which brought radical changes in England and also led the growth of two systems ot thought: Economic science and Socialism. The development of Economic science was followed step by step by four English economists.

Adam Smith publicated in 1776 Wealth of Nation in which he investigated the causes and the production of wealth.

Malthus wrote an essay on population (1798) and analysed the causes of poverty .

Ricardo publicated an essay on Principles of Political Economy and taxation (1817) in which he studied how wealth was distributed and John Stuart Mill publicated principles of political economy ; it deals with the production and its laws.

Coming to the facts , the population grew from 6 millions to 11 million and there was a decline in rural population. The most important causes were the enclosure of common fields, the distruction of common field system of cultivation and the consolidation of small farms into large.

The enclosure drove labourers off the land , consolidation reduce the number of farmers that moved from lands to cities in order to find a job in factories. There was also an improvement from an economical point of view as a matter of fact rotation of crops was introduced, the breed of cattle was improved, the steam –plouhg was invented. Passing to the manutactures the discoveries of the time were the steam-engine, the spinning-jenny(1770), the water-frame,1771 self acting mule 1792. The application of steam-engine to the cotton manufacture marked the introduction of the factory system.The most famous invenction was the power-loom because with its introduction the cotton trade trebbled itself. .The iron industy also revolutionated itself with the invenction of smelting by pit-coal and by the application of steam-engine to blast furnaces.

The commerce improved, there was the necessity to connect all the cities and  factories in order to move the goods. As a consequence a canal system was developed, a new railoroad was opened and lots of new roads were constructed. That transport revolution improved commerce and trade.

Follows a rise in rents caused by money invested in improvements , the enclosure amd the  consolidation of small farms into large.

The industrial revolution also changed the society; farmers aquired power and became like lords. The conditions of labourer was not good because wages were falling, ad they lost their commonrights. The relation between workers and masters disappeared. In conclusion wealth did not produce well being.