The Pros And Cons Of The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. These results have been assessed from many viewpoints such as the factory workers, the factory owners, the government, and other people who observed the conditions in industrial cities.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. This revolution was one of the most prominent turning points of American history as it modernized the workforce, developed American economics, and impacted the way people lived their lives. Before it began, America was mostly a rural society, people farmer to make a living and all work was done at home (“Industrial Revolution”). Afterwards, individuals began to become depend on factories to produce the products they once hand-made.

The working conditions of the new arrivals were hardly any better, as employees of factories were often overworked, underpaid, and penned up in dangerous conditions. Perhaps the horrors of these conditions can be highlighted by the devastating 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Tragically, over one hundred young women lost their lives in the fire, as there was no way to get out, and the doors were locked, trapping the women inside. Safety was not the only problem, as workers initially were not given the right to organize into unions, essentially doomed to the repetitive motions of factory operation. This meant that they had no way to protest against child labor, wage slavery, and unhealthily long working hours. Eventually, with their growing clout and ever-present industrial dependence on their labor, workers organized and demanded reform along all aspects of hazardous working conditions.

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

Workers were marginalized by the poor working conditions they had. A lot of the time the workers

Many laborers worked over sixty hours a week, without any breaks. Unions were formed and demanded terms that workers today often take for granted, “8 hours work, 8 hours rest, 8 hours recreation” (Document #5). Regulation was slowly introduced by the government after backlash over lack of intervention. In order for a child to work, the child had to complete “his or her ninth year” of school, work no more than “twelve hours in...one day,” and “attend some school” (Document 4). Although these rules were a step forward, the government still needed to reform the wage gap and ensure that workers would be able to work in conditions that would not risk the lives of any workers.

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay

-During this time factory workers faced harsh working conditions and had low paying wages. They weren't given basic rights as workers and they were certainly not protected. The conditions they had to work in were horrible having due that there weren't any reliable emergency exits and they were exposed to unsafe, dangerous equipment. In many cases workers lost limbs or were seriously

The workers ' life were strictly observed and controlled by either the factory owner or overseer. They wanted order and harmony in the workplace, the worker 's opinion was not so important to them in the beginning. All actions had to be controlled, rules had to be followed. There were penalties every time you broke the rules, usually a fine you had to pay. The factory owners believed in the beginning that the workers were fine with the condition, but it did not take long until the

The Industrial Revolution took place over more than a century, from late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century as production of goods moved from home businesses, where products were commonly made by hand, to machine-aided production in factories. This revolution, which involved very big changes in transportation, manufacturing, and communications, transformed the daily lives of Americans as much as- and arguably more than- any single event in the U.S. history. These changes were not all good. Along with the many positives the revolution brought, came many negatives. Social injustice, horrible living conditions, political neglect, price fixing, and starvation plagued the people of America.

Laborers were subsequently permitted close social ties with the proprietor, regularly playing out their work in the proprietor's home. Controls permitted workers a vast measure of employer stability at the time. The presence of abundant shoddy land in the West empowered the disappointed artisan or workman to proceed onward ought to either neighborhood misfortune. To reduction work costs, they acquainted women and kids with their work environments, cultivated out work to prisoners, and by and large cut the wages of guys who stayed in their utilize. They often expanded the hours in the workday with no expansion in their compensation and contracted forceful administrators to implement recently fixed work

Working conditions that came along with the new job opportunities included long hours, low wages, and unregulated hazardous working conditions. Some people worked 12 hour days; 6 to 7 days a week, in such horrible environments. At this time there was no sick pay, vacation pay, no unemployment insurance, and worst of all injuries went without compensation. These were all issues that would be addressed in the future by the labor movement.

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay (i.e.; when Jurgis sprained his ankle and had to recuperate at home for 3 months). The final insult to the workers was that even if they were always on time, worked hard and maintained their health they could lose their job due to the

There is no question that the Industrial Revolution had an enormous impact on American society between 1870 and 1940, but the question is what kind of an impact did it have during this period. The overall effect of the Industrial Revolution turned out to be a positive push towards modernization in America. As Stephen Gardiner, a British architect and writer during the 20th century, said, “The Industrial Revolution was another one of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization.” While Gardiner hit the nail on the head with his quote, the part of the story that most people tend to forget is just how quickly we Americans, made that extraordinary jump forward. There were Americans, who, at one point in their life were

The Industrial Revolution had many positive and negative impacts on society. The positive include cheaper clothes, more job opportunities, and improvement in transportation. And the negative would include exploitation of women and children, workers work long hours and environmental damages. These are just a few that I believe had an impact on the Industrial Revolution.