Was There an Industrial Revolution? New Workplace, New Technology, New Consumers

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

• Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
• This lesson requires that students use a computer to access the statistics available from the United States Historical Census Browser, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website History Matters. Tips on how to use the Census Browser are found below in Part 5. Take a few minutes to become familiar with what could very well be a useful tool for other lessons in your classroom.
• If students can make the distinction, comparisons to more modern times should be made between the technology of the First Industrial Revolution and that of the height of the Industrial Age (the 1950s, for example). Comparisons to the Information Age are less apt.
• For further reading, consult the Recommended Reading provided here as a PDF.

Activity 1. Hand-made and Store-Bought Goods

Establish an anticipatory set; share with the class the following selected Newspaper Ads from 1840 (Alton Telegraph, Illinois), found on the EDSITEment resource At Home in the Heartland:

• Check out the clothing ad above the circled ad on At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past - Geo. L. Ward
• See all of the ads on At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past - Iron Goods
• Look at all three ads on At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past - Stoves

By 1840, goods people had previously made for themselves were sold cheaply enough at stores to make the purchase worthwhile.

Activity 2. A New Mode of Production: the "American system of manufactures"

One of the reasons store-bought goods became inexpensive was the development of the American system of manufactures, in which individual workers made only part of a finished product. This differed from earlier practices, in which someone skilled in a craft, toiling at home or in a shop, started with raw materials and worked through the entire creative process alone.

Share with the class the brief article "The Two Countries That Invented the Industrial Revolution" from Internet Modern History Sourcebook, an extension of the EDSITEment resource Internet Medieval History Sourcebook.

By 1851, the U.S. began to be known internationally for its manufacturing. If desired, share with the class the following brief article, which expands on this fact: Engines of Change from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia.

Activity 3. Craft and Factory Simulation Activities

Now, students will attempt to gauge the level of change in pre-Civil War America. How great was the change from the craft system to the factory? To demonstrate to the class the differences between the craft approach typical of colonial manufacture and the American system of manufactures developed by Eli Whitney (among others) for his armory, conduct the following simulation, which is taken from the lesson "Workers on the Line," offered by the Tsongas Industrial History Center, an educational partnership of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Graduate School of Education and Lowell National Historical Park. If desired, share with the class the following information, also from the "Workers on the Line" lesson, which is available for download from the Tsongas Center's online Curriculum Materials Page:

Cottage Industries to Factory Production

"Before the Industrial Revolution, most goods were created by hand by craftsmen classified into three categories: apprentice, journeyman, and master craftsman. A master craftsman was a person who had mastered all the techniques and skills of a given craft. After many years of practice, he was regarded as an expert who then passed along his knowledge and skills to apprentices, young boys who spent many years under his direction. A journeyman was a craftsman who had completed apprenticeship but did not yet have the experience or skill to be designated a master. A craftsman knew the whole process of creating an object; for example, each woodcrafter knew how to create a chair from start to finish.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the job of creating an object became broken down into many steps, each of which was done by a different person. In the case of the wooden chair, one person might lathe the legs, another would create the seat, another would make the arms and back, and all the parts would then go to yet other people who would assemble them. The advantages were that single tasks could usually be done over and over faster than when one person did everything start to finish."

—"Workers on the Line," p. 6 (NOTE: This is a PDF document.)

Download, copy, and distribute to students the "In-line Skate" sheet on page 1 of the PDF, but before you begin the Craft Simulation Activity, below, allow students to set standards for what is an acceptable finished product. For example: Can you establish a margin of error for the cutting-out process? What are the minimum coloring standards? When establishing the "standard time," only count the time involved in making skates that met the standards.

Explain that they are each a craftsperson who will assemble the skates start to finish. They must be cut out, blades glued on, and colored to the best of their ability. Each will be asked to track the amount of time it takes to complete the task. After everyone has completed the skates, compile and average the different times it took all the students to complete the task. This will be the "standard" time it takes to produce in-line skates by hand. Point out the differences in "quality" among the hand-created skates. Are there some who have apparently mastered the craft of making in-line skates and some who still need some time as apprentices?

—"Workers on the Line," p. 6 (PDF)

Next, conduct the Factory Simulation Activity. Divide the class into three to five efficient groups to create five production lines. Assign tasks to different students on the line:

1. Cutting out the right blade
2. Cutting out the left blade
3. Cutting out the right boot
4. Cutting out the left boot
5. Gluing the blade to the right boot
6. Gluing the blade to the left boot
7. Coloring the boots
8. Inspecting the final product, putting aside rejects, keeping the line moving

(NOTE: Depending on the size of your group, combine the following tasks: 1+2, 3+4, 5+6.)

Using the "standard" of time determined during the craft lesson, see how many skates can be created during the same amount of time. Do the same activity again and see which of the production lines can produce even more skates …

—"Workers on the Line," p. 8 (PDF)

… after allowing the groups to meet briefly to discuss improving efficiency. Now, have each student complete the "Craftsmen Versus Factory Line Chart" on page 2 of the PDF.

Discuss the results and the personal feelings students had about the two methods. Here are some guiding questions:

• What were some of the major differences between the two methods?
• Why was the factory method so attractive from a business standpoint?
• How would consumers be affected by this new method?
• How would workers accustomed to the craft method feel about working in a factory? Why?

—"Workers on the Line," p. 8 (PDF)

What are the connections between the way factories at the height of the Industrial Age were structured and the process the class just simulated? What are the differences between an assembly line and the American system of manufactures? What would the students say was the greater change—from craft to factory (perhaps the essential change of the First Industrial Revolution), or from factory to assembly line (one of the essential, though later, innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution)?

Activity 4. Analyzing the Products of Industry

Talk about the "in-line skates" students created in Activity 3. Ask them some questions about in-line skates. How many students own them? How many have ever tried them? When did such skates become popular? When do students think they were invented? Share with the class an image of an early version of inline skates, available on the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia. Ask students if they recognize the object. Tell them these skates were created in 1823.

Now share the text about the skates with the class. Inline skates have not changed that much in almost 200 years! That would seem to indicate that the greatest change in inline skating took place in 1823, when they were invented (albeit in England), or perhaps in 1863, when an American innovation started a craze in roller skating. When students take a look at some inventions and innovations of the First Industrial Revolution, will they find that the greatest changes took place then or between then and the height of the Industrial Age?

If desired, share with the class either or both of the following timelines to give students a sense of the chronology:

• Technology Timeline, from The American Experience, a link from EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library
• Timeline: Emergence of Advertising in America, a link from Emergence of Advertising in America on American Memory

Divide the class into five groups. The students' task is to identify essential similarities and differences between the technology of the pre-Civil War period and that of the height of the Industrial Age, using EDSITEment resources and links as well as other materials available in the classroom or library. To summarize their findings, groups can use the chart "Two Technologies: The First Industrial Revolution Versus the Industrial Age" on page 3 of the PDF (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions). Unless otherwise noted, the images and texts cited below are from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a link from EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia. You can click on most Smithsonian images for enlargements. (NOTE: Some students may find it useful to see Industrial Age versions of similar inventions. Links to some images from the EDSITEment resource American Memory—in bold font, with approximate dates of photographs—are included below the image of the object from the Industrial Revolution.)

Factories and Machines

• Armory
  • John H. Hall at Harper's Ferry, from the National Park Service
• Mill
  • Mill, from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Sewing Machine (Keep in mind that some factories of the era consisted largely of rows of sewing machines.) The following examples are available from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • 19th-Century Fashion and the Sewing Machine
  • Sewing Machines
  • Howe's Sewing Machine Patent Model
  • Isaac Singer
• Furniture, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • John Henry Belter
  • Belter Sidechair

Transportation

• Steam Engine
  • Steam Boat, from The American Experience, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet Public Library
• Trains
  • Steam Locomotive, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Train (Steam Engine) (Between 1930 and 1950), from American Memory
  • John Bull Locomotive, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Boiler of the Stourbridge Lion 1829, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Boiler (1942), from American Memory
  • Description of First Run / Significance of the Stourbridge Lion, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Steamboats
  • One of the First Operational Steam Vessels in the United States Navy. Completed In 1841, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Steamboat (Between 1930 and 1950), from American Memory

Scientific/Commercial Instruments and Innovations

• Medical Technology
  • Anesthesia, from The American Experience, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet Public Library
  • Anesthesia (1941 or 1942), from American Memory
• Watches, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • First pocket watch made by production machinery (1852)
  • First mass-produced American stopwatch
• Other
  • Oldest Extant Surveyor's Transit (1830s), from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Transit 1939, from American Memory
  • Solar Compass (1840s), from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Compass (1943), from American Memory
  • First Successful Commercial Microscope (1850s) … In The United States, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Microscope (1943), from American Memory

Agriculture

• Life on the Farm, a link from the EDSITEment resource History Matters (NOTE: Consider only the years 1800-1860.)
• Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Cotton Gin (1938), from American Memory
• John Deere Plow 1830s, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Plow Between (1945 and 1982), from American Memory
• American Westward Migration: The Steel Plow, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Reaper/Harvester (1936), from American Memory

Communication

• Photography, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Photo Micrograph
  • Color Daguerreotypes
  • Wolcott Camera
• Printing
  • Hoe Four-Cylinder Rotary Press 1843, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Printing Press (Between 1930 and 1950), from American Memory
  • Rotary Press (1944), from American Memory
  • Pivotal Typecaster, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
• Telegraph
  • Samuel Morse, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • History of the Telegraph, from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • Telegraph (1942), from American Memory

Have groups share their results. Did most ratings indicate great or small change since 1860 (with "small change" implying that the greatest change occurred before 1860)? This exercise had a built-in bias in that all of the objects existed prior to 1860. What contemporary inventions and innovations would students say represent the most significant change from the pre-Civil War era? Which of these belong to the Industrial Age (which began to end sometime after World War II), and which belong to the current Information Age (only comparisons to Industrial Age inventions and innovations are applicable in this comparison)?

Activity 5. Analyzing Census Data

Review with students the proper use of the United States Historical Census Browser, available via a link from the EDSITEment resource History Matters. Introduce the census browser and allow students to practice with it until they are able to use it on their own. Here are some basic instructions, using the 1840 census. Be aware that there are differences in categories between census years.

1. From the home page of the United States Historical Census Browser, access the available data for any desired year by clicking on the particular year on the left-hand side of the page.
2. Once you have arrived at the category page, use the special directions for making multiple selections from a pick list (MAC COMPUTERS: Depress the Apple/Command Key while selecting from the pick lists; PC/WINDOWS COMPUTERS: Depress the Control Key while selecting from the pick lists.) to select two categories under the heading Population—"Total Population" and "Total No. Free Males." Click "Browse 1840 Data."
3. You have arrived at the data page. Move down the page to locate the "Total Population" and "Total No. Free Males" for every state in the Union and for the nation as a whole at that time.
4. Click on "Graph States" for a graph of total population. Use the drop-down menu to choose "Total No. Free Males" for graphing.
5. Under "Find Proportions," select "Total No. Free Males" as the enumerator and "Total Population" as the denominator by clicking on each once. Click on "Revise State Table" to see a third column that provides the ratio.
6. You can also re-sort the data and add new categories as desired.
7. Click "New Census Year" to return to the home page.
8. Starting with 1820, economic categories begin to appear, but they are not consistent from year to year.

Working in their groups, students should obtain data on each topic indicated below, using the census years shown:

1. Longevity, 1800-1860
2. Literacy/Education, 1840-1860
3. Manufacturing, 1820, 1840-1860
4. Agriculture, 1820, 1840-1860
5. Slave and Free Black Populations, 1790-1860, and Slave Ownership, 1790, 1860

Before they get to work, have students decide how a radical change in the economy (expected to be seen as an improvement in quality of life) might be reflected in their topic area. For example, if the standard of living is improving, we would expect an improvement in longevity. Changes in slave population and ownership is a thorny category, because slave owners might consider possession of more slaves an improvement in standard of living, while those enslaved certainly would not. Students need to take such matters into account as they work with the data.

Each group should explore the data for some time and then form research questions. What are they going to look for and how will they work with the data? Students can expect their questions to change a bit as they become more familiar with the census browser.

Does the census data indicate that great change occurred between 1790 and 1860? Does the data indicate that a large number of people benefited from the changes that took place?

Students should organize their information in terms of findings and conclusions. If desired, provide each group with the appropriate chart from the following list of charts, available on pages 4-9 of the PDF:

• Longevity Findings
• Literacy Findings
• Manufacturing Findings
• Agriculture Findings
• Slave/Free Black Findings
• Slave Ownership Findings

Ample room has been provided on each chart for questions, but let students know that not every space for every year must be filled.

Activity 6. Class Discussion and Debate

Have each group share its findings with the class. After all have finished, everyone should take a stand—was the First American Industrial Revolution really a revolution? If desired, let any disagreement among students lead to a class debate.

• Students can use narrative and descriptive strategies to create lively accounts of the lives of American workers during the Industrial Revolution based on the first-hand accounts.
• Students can further explore the United States Historical Census Browser, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website History Matters.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• American Memory
  • Emergence of Advertising in America
  • Timeline: Emergence of Advertising in America
  • Anesthesia (1941 or 1942)
  • Boiler (1942)
  • Compass (1943)
  • Cotton Gin (1938)
  • Microscope (1943)
  • Plow Between (1945 and 1982)
  • Printing Press (Between 1930 and1950)
  • Reaper/Harvester (1936)
  • Rotary Press (1944)
  • Steamboat (Between 1930 and 1950)
  • Telegraph (1942)
  • Train (Steam Engine) (Between 1930 and 1950)
  • Transit 1939
• American Studies at the University of Virginia
  • American system of manufactures
  • Smithsonian National Museum of American History
  • 19th Century Fashion and the Sewing Machine
  • American Westward Migration
  • Belter Sidechair
  • Boiler of the Stourbridge Lion 1829
  • Color Daguerreotypes
  • Description of First Run/Significance of the Stourbridge Lion
  • Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin
  • Engines of Change
  • First mass-produced American stopwatch
  • First Pocket Watch Made By Production Machinery (1852)
  • First Successful Commercial Microscope (1850s) … In The United States
  • History of the Telegraph
  • Hoe Four-Cylinder Rotary Press 1843
  • Howe's Sewing Machine Patent Model
  • Image of an early version of inline skates
  • Isaac Singer
  • John Bull Locomotive
  • John Deere Plow 1830s
  • John Henry Belter
  • Mill
  • Oldest Extant Surveyor's Transit (1830s)
  • One of the First Operational Steam Vessels in the United States Navy. Completed In 1841
  • Photo Micrograph
  • Pivotal Typecaster
  • Samuel Morse
  • Sewing Machines
  • Solar Compass (1840s)
  • Steam Locomotive
  • Text about the skates
  • Wolcott Camera
• At Home in the Heartland
  • Newspaper Ads from 1840 (Alton Telegraph, Illinois)
  • At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past—Geo. L. Ward
  • At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past—Iron Goods
  • At Home: 1800: Clues to the Past—Stoves
• History Matters
  • David Johnson Recalls the Shoemakers' Shops of Lynn, Massachusetts
  • "Factories are talked about as schools of vice: Elias Nason Considers Careers"
  • "The Happiest Laboring Class in the World: Two Virginia Slaveholders Debate Methods of Slave Management, 1837"
  • "I Must of Course Have Something of My Own Before Many More Years Have Passed Over My Head: Sally Rice Leaves the Farm," 1838 by Sally Rice
  • I Was a Cabinet Maker by Trade, 1825-1835
  • Lowell Girls Go on Strike, 1836
  • Manager N. B. Gordon Tends to the Union Cotton and Woolen Manufactory in Mansfield, Massachusetts, 1829
  • "The Natural Tie Between Master and Apprentice has been Rent Asunder: An Old Apprentice Laments Changes in the Workplace," 1826
  • The Canal Boat: Nathaniel Hawthorne Travels the Erie Canal (1835)
  • "No One Ever Hurried During 'Cake-time': Work and Leisure a New York Shipyard," 1835
  • "So Cheapened the White Man's Labor: White Artisans Contest the Labor of Black Workers," 1838
  • "They Must Work Harder Than Ever: A Working Man Remembers Life in New York City," 1830s
  • "The Treatment of the Help in Those Days Was Cruel: Hiram Munger Remembers Factory Life" by Hiram Munger (early 19th century)
  • "We Call on You to Deliver Us from the Tyrant's Chain: Lowell Women Workers Campaign for a Ten-Hour Workday" (circa 1845)
  • "Are We Nothing But Living Machines? A New York Sewing Woman Protests Wages and Working Conditions," 1863
  • "Elevate Us to a Free and Independent Position: William J. Brown (a free black) Looks for Work," 1831
  • Drawing of a Mill Girl, from the Cover of the Lowell Offering, 1840
  • Fabric Label for Merrimack Power Loom Jeans Yardage, c. 1830
  • Timetable of the Lowell Mills
  • Tintype of Two Woman Weavers, 1860 (Merrimack Valley Textile Museum)
  • Title Page of the Lowell Offering, 1840
  • Life on the Farm
  • United States Historical Census Browser
• Internet Medieval History Sourcebook
  • Internet Modern History Sourcebook
  • Lowell Mill Girls (1832–1848)
  • The Two Countries That Invented the Industrial Revolution
• Internet Public Library
  • The American Experience
  • Anesthesia
  • Cotton Gin
  • McCormick Reaper
  • Sewing Machine
  • Steam Engine
  • Technology Timeline
  • Telegraph
• Links to the Past
  • National Park Service
  • John H. Hall at Harper's Ferry
• Whole Cloth
  • Alexander Telfair, "Plantation Rules," from Ulrich Phillips, ed., Plantation and Frontier, Volume 1 (New York, Burt Frantlin, 1910)
  • Plantation Management, De Bow's xiv (February 1853): 177–8
  • Regulations to Be Observed by All Individuals Employed in the Lewiston Mills
  • Unit Two: Early Industrialization
  • Tsongas Industrial History Center (NOTE: According to the Resources Section of Whole Cloth, the Tsongas Center is an interactive museum about the Industrial Revolution, geared for students in grades 4–12.)
  • "Workers on the Line"