Activities

 

Complete the following notes. They will give you an outline of the information contained in the passage. The main points, relations of cause-effect, illustrations etc. are clearly indicated in the text by logical connectors. Look out for them. 

 

•  (par. 1) The Industrial Revolution  was a period from the 18th to the 19th century. In this period there were a lot of changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology. The Industrial revolution  began in the UK, then spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world.

 

led to growth of two systems of thought:

 

1) Economic science                      2) socialism

 

a) Adam Smith

b) Malthus

c) Ricardo

d) John Stuart Mill

 

 

 • (par. 2-3) Facts of Industrial Revolution. 

1) The growth of population

2) The relative and positive decline in the agricultural population

 

 

• (par. 4) Decrease in rural population.

causes:     1)  the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation

     2)  the enclosure of common and waste lands; 

     3)  the consolidation of small farms into large

• (par. 5) Agricultural advance.

cause — more scientific approach:

e.g.  

the breed of cattle was improved.

rotation of crops was introduced

the steam-plough was invented

agricultural societies were instituted

• (par. 6-7) Growth of industry.

causes;

1) mechanical inventions in textile industry

e.g.  

the spinning-jenny  patented by Hargreaves in 1770

the water-frame, invented by Arkwright in 1771

Crompton's mule introduced in 1779

the self-acting mule first invented by Kelly in 1792

most important:

steam engine

Power-loom

 

2) mechanical revolution in iron industry

e.g.  

The invention of smelting by pit-coal

the application in 1788 of the steam-engine to blast furnaces

3) improved means of communication

e.g.  

The canal system was being developed

Between 1818 and 1829 more than a thousand additional miles of turnpike road were constructed

In 1830 there was the opening of the first railroad

 

results:   1)  an extraordinary increase in commerce, people

     2) substitution of factory system for domestic system.

 

• (par. 8) Revolution in distribution of wealth:

rise in rents caused by

1) money invested in improvements

2) enclosure system

3) consolidation of farms

4) high price of corn

social changes in country life:

• (par. 9) Social changes in manufacturing world:

new class of great capitalist employers

consequences:

 1) The old relations between masters and men disappeared

2)  "cash nexus" was substituted for the human tie

3) class conflict

 

• (par. 10) Misery of working people often caused by:

 

1) rise of prices

2) fall in wages

3) recurrent periods of bitter distress

 

The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.