Response to Textile Workers Article

This article really shows how people were badly affected by the changes that came along with then Industrial Revolution. Children weren't growing correctly because they were sitting in the same position all day working at the factories. Adults also were affected by this because they were worked up to 71 hours a week. Because of the increase in factories, the labor of both adults and children doubled. This obviously took away from children getting proper educations and being able to grow up and have good childhoods. Also, some parents may not have been around to take care of their children because of the long hours they worked. Although this time brought many good things, it also brought many bad changes for the people at that time.

The Life of the Industrial Worker

Reading these first hand encounters put the whole situation into perspective for me. It seems as if the only people benefiting off of the harsh conditions and long hours are the wealthy men that own the factories. Not only the woman and children, but all of the factory workers were permanently affected by the laboring, but their only choices were to tolerate it or have no job at all. Out of all the primary sources that line that struck me the most was, "They (the children) stood or squatted before me in all the shapes of the letters of the alphabet." The industrial revolution was an important milestone in human history, but was also a time period of labor exploitation.

Response to The Physical Deterioration of the Textile Workers

I found this article to be shocking to me. Before I read this article, I knew that the factories had bad working conditions ,but I didn't know that there were severe effects to the conditions. Some of the things that I have found shocking were that many people had spinal problems because of the posture that they had to stay in. Also, I didn't realize that using only one muscle system could really damage the body. This article shows how horrible the working conditions in factories could be during the Industrial Revolution.

Testimony concerning Women/Child Labour

This primary source is a testimony given by Dr. Samuel Smith to the house of commons. He was interviewed about women/child workers and whether they are good or bad. This hearing was about making an act to improve working conditions for workers and to address whether women or children make capable employees. This hearing took place in 1832 in Britain.

Adam Smith

This is a quote said by Adam Smith. It states, "The division of labor, however, so far as it can be introduced, occasions, in every art, a proportionate increase of the productive powers of labour." Basically, in my opinion, he is saying that because labor has divisions and a system, it pushes more people to unionize together within their divisions.

Working Conditions during the Industrial Revolution

After reading this entry about the working conditions during this time period, it was shocking to me how unsanitary the factories were. According top what the writer saw, the factories were very hot and humid. Also, the factory was said to be unsanitary and not fit for people to work in. Since there were not any laws about working conditions, owners of businesses could treat their workers like this. Also the owner did not have to pay the workers much money. In fact, the workers did not earn much money at all! The conditions for working during the Industrial Revolution were not sanitary or beneficial.

Edwin Chadwick Industrial Revolution

This is Chadwicks report about the conditions of the workplaces for people during the industrial revolution. Basically hes pointing out that it would be safer working in a nuclear power plant with no radiation suit. He talks about the air being bad the floors being bad and overcrowding and many other things that shows how working conditions back then were horrible.

Letter from Leeds Cloth Merchants, 1791

This statement was written by the cloth merchants of leeds, which was a major center of wool manufacture in Yorkshire. In this statement the merchants of this wool company were defending machines and explained how it would make improvements in cloth-dressing. They explained that if they had the use of machines their trade would have greater advantages and create amazing success. They also pointed out that the other manufacturing companies have done so well with the use of machines and that it would greatly help them too

Slave Management in the Industrial Revolution

This article came from the Farmer's Register which was a periodical for farmers in 1837. Two Virginia slaveholders discuss how to treat and manage slaves during this time period. They say that many slave owners underestimate their slaves and that they actually are able to learn and be smart. Also, they say that slaves must obey them at all times and that the relationship between a slave owner and his slave is like the relationship between parent and child. I think that this article shows how people started to think of others as below them and they thought that they could own them and that was okay.

Elias Nason

In this letter, written by a man named Elias Nason in 1835, he talks to his parents about how his normal day. However, he gets into females working in the factories. His sister works in a Cotton Mill. The factory jobs were the lowest for females, however, these were all intelligent and wonderful personality type women. The talk of money value in this letter was also a very interesting retrospect to the 1800. This letter seems pretty legit, so I hope it is in fact a real retrospect into the 1800s Industrial Revolution.

Website for help

This link is a help to everyone who needs first hand experianced people in the Industrial Revolution.

Glass Blower

This link has alot of primary sources but I thought that numbers 2 and 3 were the best examples and I found the most interesting. I thought that all these short interviews were sad and also disturbing because of how people would als take orphan kids and just throw them into factories.

Child Labor

This article gives several excerpts from people who were overlookers, child workers, or witnesses of things that happened in the factories. In one quote a girl who used to work in a cotton factory states that she has seen 2 young girls beaten to death, one beaten out of her mind, and said that as punishment for talking to a guy, all of your hair was cut off. Another quote says that the overlookers would beat you with leather straps lathered in oil with a iron buckle on the end causing anyone who got hit with it to bleed. Many of the quotes were talking about children getting up as early at 4 in the mornning and working until working to as late at 10 or 11'o clock at night. To me all of the quotes I read were very shocking and I couldn't imagine living during this time because I can only imagine how awful it had to have been.

Spinning Machines in Manchester

Spinning machines were used to make wool into thread, and at first were only used in small scales in rural areas. This article goes into how it came about that children got jobs with spinning machines. When using these machines, people had to sit in an awkward position. However, people found that children didn't have to sit in this awkward position, and could spin much faster, leading to the hiring of children for such jobs. Manchester, which had many manufacturers of thread, very much benefited from this. I like this because it is looking at how Manchester became an important city in the industrial revolution from the point of view of a person who was there.

Poem About Child Labor

The primary source that I found was a poem about a girls day in a factory. It basically talks about how her day starts at the break of dawn and she works outrageous hours. As soon as she gets to the factory she is abused by the overseer and exploited by the company. She knows that she will probably never escape this reality or that she will end up dead like her little brother. At the end of the poem she does end up dying after her shift, probably from starvation or exhaustion. This account may not be real, since it is a poem, but it still gives us a window into the reality of factory workers.