Analysis: The First Industrial Revolution

The helpful and modernized technology that resulted from the First Industrial Revolution allowed society to jump from one era to the next. The First Industrial Revolution started in the 1760’s to the early 1800’s, when America introduced the wonders of machinery. It focused on the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods. With all the new factories, it was a big opportunity for the community to open up jobs for everyone since it did not take a lot of education, so anyone was able to do it. At first, people thought it was great that they were getting jobs and would be able to support their family, but little did they know that working in a factory would be worse than having no job. The first industrial revolution was …show more content…
They were forever stuck working for a person in a higher class that would be paying them a lower wage to make sure they were not able to move up in the social ladder.This unlocked a whole new problem to the start of the Industrial Revolution. To start off, the first unfair disadvantage the workers ' were faced with while working in the factories, were the terrible working conditions.The factory owners were aware of the desperation running through the working class, and knowing this gave them an advantage. They were able to pay the working class less to do more work. During this time period about 80% of the population was made up of the working class (Effects 1). This shows how little power they had, even though they were the ones who made up more than half of the population. The working class were the only ones that were able to convert raw materials into profitable items within a timely fashion, yet they were not able to take power over the “superior classes”. The workers were forced to listen to unrealistic rules, such as no holidays, breaks, or freedom. This meant that once you worked for the factory, the factory was in control. As much as the workers hated …show more content…
Families that lived during the first industrial revolution were forced to put everyone to work or else they would not be able to provide enough to support their family, so everyone had to help out even if that meant their 7 year old son would have to work instead of attend school as a normal child would. Sadly, the children 's working conditions, working hours, and working rules were all the same as the adults, but with an even lower pay-wage. Another reason why children were forced to go to work was because their parents would die during work due to complications in the factories, so the only person left to provide for them was themselves. Most of the time when this happened the children would be thrown to the streets, because they could not afford anywhere to live and would so die of hunger because they are not even getting paid enough to survive with food for a couple of days. During this time period, children were valued in the factories. It was easier for the children to find jobs, even though they were young, not because of their education, but because the childrens size was very useful when it came to working with machinery. The children were so small that they were able to fit into tight spaces, allowing them to squeeze in between machines and fix them. Unfortunately, most of the children did not last long in the factories