1. The Industrial Revolution brought many changes. Heat in homes, clothing etc.

2. One major change was more people lived in the CITIES
a. The growth of factories brought people flocking into the cities.
b. The biggest city-London. This gave London a huge labor pool for production

3. Problems arose as cities grew
a. Cities grew so quickly that little thought was given to housing, sanitation, and education.
b. *Read about Manchester which was a prime example of this…(Rd. pages 519-520)
c. The poor would live in the filthy cities, but the rich lived in suburbs.
d. Sickness was rampant in the cities.(cholera epidemics etc), The average lifespan for a Manchester resident was only 17 years!

4. The Industrial Revolution changed working conditions
a. WHY did people come to the cities if conditions were so bad? Because conditions were bad in the country too! Also because you had plenty of jobs and regular wages in the city.
b. The average worker in the city worked 14 hours a day, 6 days a week!
c. The country people were NOT used to this-they worked as the seasons changed, and as the sun was up(out in the farms) but in the factories they could not change their pace, machines didn't have to shut down because it was dark. VERY MONOTONOUS AND EXHAUSTING.
d. Very DANGEROUS too. Many accidents, damp conditions, and the constant breathing of coal dust. Miners especially had even shorter life spans than others.
e. Children suffered in mills and mines.

*at farms, children worked too, but they worked side by side with their families.
*in factories, kids worked under uncaring overseers.
*children, 6 or 7, worked long hours.
*kids were useful in the mines-their size was good for getting in narrow shafts and tunnels.
*they also worked 12-14 hour days, and often slept on straw and were fed poorly.
*England's parliament finally passed the FACTORY ACT OF 1833.-made it illegal to hire children under 9 years of age. Also kids 9-13 could not work more than 8 hour days. Kids 14-18 could not work over 12 hours.
*kids still had to keep working in horrible conditions though because the families couldn't survive without their money as part of the families income.

5. The middle class expanded
a. Poverty gripped the lower class, but wealth spread among others
b. The Industrial Revolution gave money to shippers, merchants etc…this changed the social structure of Britain-the rich used to only be aristocrats but now you could earn your money. The "old money" looked down on the business middle class as vulgar until the late 1800s.

6. Class tensions arose
a. Most English believed that the gap between rich and poor was natural.
b. They thought government should be LAISSEZ FAIRE-"hands off"-they did not get involved in economic or social conditions.
c. This view was still popular because only the middle and upper class could vote, so the poor had no say.
d. Workers would sometimes turn violent in demanding reforms-mobs and riots.
e. Many workers joined UNIONS-they spoke for all the workers in a trade. They bargained for better wages, conditions. They could strike if owners refused them.
f. The government did not tolerate them until after 1825, they threw union members in jail etc.
g. Although other industrialized countries learned from England, and had better conditions there were still lots of tensions and problems for a long time.