The Building Blocks of Today: The Industrial Revolution

              The world changed drastically during the industrial revolution. In class we took notes on 4 of the things that were improved as a result of the industrial revolution. There are many things that are affected (in a good way) as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Two of these are people and resources.


              Many aspects of human life improved. A man named Roy Charles Townsend urged people to grow turnips, which restored exhausted soil. Also, a device called the seed drill was invented to help farmers. Everybody needed food, so improvements in food really helped the quality and production rates of food. Rich landowners pushed ahead with enclosure, which meant taking fenced off land shared by peasants. As a result of this, peasants moved into the cities to get jobs in factories. Lastly, the death rates declined. The increase in food meant a less likely chance of famine. It also meant the women were healthier, which meant healthier babies.

 Crops


                 There were 4 resources that were affected mostly by the Industrial Revolution. First, iron was made better by Abraham Darby. He found that there were impurities in the iron from when it was smelting, so he found a way to take it out. The improved iron was used to make steam engines and railroad tracks. Coal was used as fuel, which is why it became so important. It was used to smelt the iron and power steam engines. Capital was also improved as many people made more and bigger investments in the industrial revolution, because companies were doing better. Lastly, cotton was manufactured to make clothing, which was now being done in mills. Later an item called a shuttle was introduced to make clothes faster. All 4 of these things were able to be improved because of the fast paced growth of the industrial revolution.

Iron