Cottage Industry vs The Factory System

LESSON 54/58-Factory System/Textile Mills/Working Conditions

We will identify the economic factors that brought about the development of the factory system using a reading selection. We will identify the economic contributions of women to American society using a reading selection.

Guiding Questions

• How did technological innovations contribute to the development of the factory system?

• How did industrialization change the role of women in the early 1800s? Working Conditions?

Vocabulary Words to Look for:

• Manufacturing

• Factory system

• Factory

• Textile Mills

• Urbanization

• Spinning Jenny

• Rural

Factory System

In colonial times, most Americans lived in the same place that they worked, which was usually a farm. When they wanted or needed something, they made it. Using their hands and simple tools, people made much of their own furniture, farm equipment, household items, and clothing.

The Industrial Revolution reached the United States around 1800. Mills and factories first appeared in New England because of its geography. First, New England's poor soil made farming difficult. People willingly gave up farm work to earn wages in mills and factories. Second, New England's many rivers and streams offered the waterpower needed to run factory machinery. Third, the area had many ports. These ports allowed the shipping in of raw materials, such as cotton, and the shipping out of finished goods, such as cloth.

Multiple Choice

In what region were the first factories located in the United States?

• West

• North

• South

Spinning Jenny & Other Technological Advancements

At the heart of the Industrial Revolution was technology. New machines changed the way people made cloth. Inventions such as the water frame and spinning jenny spun thread, and the power loom wove the thread into cloth. Compared to making thread or cloth by hand, the machines saved time and money.

Multiple Choice

How was the Lowell System different from the Rhode Island System? (Think of the video you watched.)

• Mechanized looms allowed weaving to be done in the factory rather than at home.

• Workers were housed in towns far away from the factory rather than in nearby company villages.

• Interchangeable parts were abandoned in favor of handmade ones.

Multiple Choice

Which of these occurred during early U.S. industrialization?

• Manufacturers instituted a five-day workweek.

• Labor laws required factories to provide a safe working environment.

• Workers were required to attend schools to develop technical skills.

• Production of goods transitioned from homes to factories.

Textile Mills

In the mid-1700s, people began producing goods through new methods. In Great Britain, inventors built machines that did some of the work involved in cloth making, such as spinning thread. These new machines ran on the power of flowing water. British cloth makers built factories along rivers. A textile mill is a manufacturing facility where textiles, or types of cloth, are produced or processed into finished products, such as clothing.

To tend the machines, mill owners paid people wages, regular payment of money in return for work. People, especially young women, began to leave their homes and farms to work in the mills and collect wages. Also, with the rise of industry, some children started working in mines and factories.

Multiple Choice

During the early 1800s many young women in New England were employed outside their homes as?

• crew members on cargo ships.

• cloth weavers in textile mills.

• H staff reporters for local newspapers.

• legal counselors in state courts.

Working Conditions in Early Factories/Textile Mills

• Factory hours - avg. 11.4 hours long - led to many injuries and deaths

• No laws to protect the workers

• Factories were either too hot or too cold

• Women earned $$, but half of what a man made;

• Air quality was bad leading to respiratory issues for the workers

• If you lost a finger or limb, or died, too bad...YOU'RE FIRED!!

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was NOT associated with early factory working conditions?

• Minimum Wages for workers

• Dangerous working conditions

• Widespread pollution

• Long hours

Impact of the Factory System

The Factory system eventually allowed for mass production of better and efficient manufactured goods. Factories led to people, especially women, leaving the farm and moving to the cities for job opportunities. This led to URBANIZATION.

Multiple Choice

How did the factory system contribute to the rapid industrialization of the United States?

• By using slave labor to mass-produce goods

• By relying on skilled artisans to create custom goods

• By making the production of goods more efficient

• By making the distribution of goods less costly

Multiple Choice

How did the Industrial Revolution affect the cities?

• Made the crime rate decrease

• Led to an increase in farm workers

• Make the cities cleaner and safer

• Led to an increase in population in the cities