The Industrial Revolution
With the new political system of constitutional monarchy ensuring stability in the country，Great Britain developed quickly over the two centuries following the Glorious Revolution.The leading merchants and entrepreneurs mostly controlled the Parliament，which passed many laws to support commerce and industry.The policies they adopted helped to enable the many technological breakthroughs and great increases in productivity which formed the basis of the Industrial Revolution.The Industrial Revolution brought great prosperity and transformed Great Britain from an agricultural country into an industrial one，and from a rural society into an urban one.The country’s increased power led to rapid colonial territorial expansion，and to the establishment of the largest empire in the world in the 19th century.
The Industrial Revolution was based on foundations laid in the previous century.By the mid⁃18th century，England had the necessary conditions for rapid industrial development，including the availability of markets，capital and labor.In terms of markets，the Act of Union of 1707 removed trade barriers between England and Scotland and created the single largest domestic market in Europe.Britain also gained new international markets through victories in a series of wars against France and Spain，including the War of the Spanish Succession（1701—1714）and the Seven Years’War（1756—1763）.From Spain，Britain won control of Gibraltar，a strategic fortress at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea，as well as important trade concessions，including monopoly of the slave trade to the Spanish colonies in America.From France，Britain gained Nova Scotia，Newfoundland，and Hudson Bay in North America in 1714.Then in 1763，the English drove the French out of North America and controlled most of its colonial territories，including today’s Canada and the territory between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountain.The English also took over the French trading colonies in India.These large colonial territories provided Britain with necessary raw materials for its industry and large markets for British industrial products.
Financially，the English had accumulated a large capital stock through trade by the mid⁃18th century.Guided by mercantilist theory，the British government established overseas colonies and encouraged foreign trade，especially export.It chartered trading companies which carried out trade throughout the world.The East India Company held a monopoly on trade with India and other parts of East Asia，while the Royal African Company was involved in trade，and the slave trade in particular，with Africa.New financial organizations also emerged.The Bank of England，a central bank established in 1694，allowed the government to utilize the nation’s surplus capital and to create a national debt.This in turn benefited the moneyed classes who received high interest on loans to the government and thereby accumulated yet more capital to invest.
Meanwhile，greater efficiency in agriculture from the mid⁃17th century to the early 18th century resulted in a labor surplus which provided the necessary workforce for the rapid development of industry by the mid⁃18th century.New techniques such as seed drills，the triangular plough and the threshing machine saved large amounts of manpower，while the population grew quickly due to greater availability of food.In addition，the Enclosure Movement also contributed to the labor surplus and transformed British agriculture from subsistence farming to capitalist farming.By the mid⁃18th century，many farmers were producing for the market instead of home consumption.All these helped to enlarge the domestic market as more people relied on commerce instead of the land for their daily necessities.
Encouraged by entrepreneurs who offered prizes starting in the mid⁃1760s to encourage innovation，people began to invent new means of production.The number of patents skyrocketed from the 1760s on，which greatly increased the productivity of different industries beginning notably with textile manufacturing.A series of technological breakthrough in spinning stimulated the development of the cotton industry.James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny，which allowed one person to spin many threads at one time.Richard Arkwright’s water frame，a yarn⁃spinning machine that worked automatically and used water power rather than manpower，produced stronger yarn and moved cotton textile manufacturing from homes to factories and changed the way of production completely.Samuel Crompton created the spinning mule which combined the advantages of the jenny and the water frame.Edmond Cartwright invented the power loom which increased the speed of weaving dramatically.Henry Cort’s reverberatory furnace produced stronger iron that was needed to make better steam engines to drive the mule and the power loom.James Watt created a new steam engine which provided the necessary power for the new machines.Then in 1792 in the United States，Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which efficiently removed cotton seeds from the valuable fiber.This solved the problem of limited raw cotton supply.Taken together，these inventions radically advanced the mechanization of the textile industry and prepared the way for a new system of production：large⁃scale factory⁃based industry.By 1812，one spinner was producing as much as 200 spinners did before the invention of the jenny in 1864.In about 30 years，the cotton textile industry developed from one of the least important industries to the leading industry in the country.
The development of the cotton textile industry also stimulated the growth of the iron and steel industries.The use of coke and the reverberatory furnace invented by Henry Cort in 1783 made it possible for the iron industry to improve the volume and quality of its production.Between 1788 and 1806，output of British pig iron quadrupled.In 1814，George Stephenson invented the locomotive，and the first commercial railway was completed in 1825.By 1850，Britain had established a railroad network of 6，308 miles of track.Meanwhile，it had also built a large merchant fleet，which carried British manufactured goods to all parts of the world.Britain by then produced 70％ of the world’s coal，50％ of the world’s cotton cloth，and 40％ of the world’s hardware.The Industrial Revolution turned England into the“workshop of the world”.
The Industrial Revolution had profound effects on British society.By 1871，Britain was clearly an industrialized country.Agriculture made up only 14％ of national income，while trade and industry made up 60％.At the same time，the country had undergone the process of urbanization.Before the Industrial Revolution，only 16％ of the population lived in cities，but in 1851，more than half of the population lived in cities.
The Industrial Revolution also caused changes in class structure.It elevated the capitalist class to the top of the social scale，replacing the old nobility as the most important force in the country.The economic transformation also created a large proletariat class who owned neither the means of production nor the products.The peasants as a class largely disappeared.The conflict between capitalists and proletarians replaced that between the nobility and the peasants as the most important political issue in Britain.
With the rise in their social status，capitalists sought more political power.They attacked the old electoral system for the House of Commons which was no longer representative because of population movements into the cities.Some districts controlled by influential old families had been sending representatives to the House of Commons year after year although most of the people who previously lived there had since moved to the cities where more jobs were available.At the same time，the newly rising cities had no representatives in Parliament at all.So the capitalists and merchants demanded political reforms，and with the support of the working class，they ultimately succeeded.In 1832，Parliament passed the Reform Bill which redistributed the seats in the House of Commons.It reduced the number of MPs representing the old boroughs and transferred those seats to the new industrial towns like Manchester，Birmingham and Leeds.The Reform Bill was a great victory for the capitalist class.The bill also extended voting right to those who owned a property of ten pounds a year who made up about 11％ of the total adult male population.
Government trade policy also changed during the Industrial Revolution，from mercantilism to laissez⁃faire，a theory raised by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations，that advocates free trade between countries with minimal government regulation.Encouraged by this theory and the reality that British industrial productivity was stronger than that of other countries，Parliament abolished in 1846 all the Corn Laws which imposed restrictions and tariffs on all imported grains since 1815，and repealed the Navigation Acts in 1849.
By 1850，Britain had largely completed its process of industrialization.In 1851，it organized the world’s first Industrial Exhibition in the new Crystal Palace in London，which demonstrated Britain’s industrial achievements to the world.
Britain’s industrial advancement did not，however，benefit its entire people.Although British people’s average standard of living was higher than before，life for many factory workers and miners did not improve.For some of them，it was actually deteriorated.They were bound to the new machines and had to work long hours under very poor conditions.Children as young as five or six years old worked 12 hours or more each day in factories or mines.Charles Dickens described the miserable situation very vividly in Hard Times：
“Whilst the engine runs the people must work—men，women and children are yoked together with iron and steam.The animal machine breakable in the best case，subject to a thousand sources of suffering…is chained fast to the iron machine，which knows no suffering and no weariness.”
Many workers contracted diseases or suffered injuries.As a result，workers’life expectancy was reduced while the life expectancy of the wealthy classes increased due to factors including better medical technology.
Workers fought against the oppressions in various ways.At first，some tried to slow down the working speed by destroying machines.Then they organized trade unions and held strikes for better working conditions，shorter working days and higher wages.But these activities were suppressed by the government which was heavily influenced by the big capitalists and wealthy merchants.Various laws were passed that made union activities illegal.Although the unions continued to organize strikes，they had limited success.In the 1830s，the workers joined the middle class in the campaign for the Reform Bill，but they did not receive any significant benefits from it.The Reform Bill of 1832 made no mention the conditions of the workers.Many workers then realized that they had to fight as an independent class for their political rights and economic interests.They believed that if they had representatives in Parliament，they could compel the government to do something for the workers.This led to the Chartist Movement in 1837.
The Chartist Movement presented petitions（known as the Charter）to Parliament，calling for universal suffrage for men;secret ballots;equal parliamentary representation from equal districts;annual meetings of Parliament;elimination of property holdings as a qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament;and salaries for Members of Parliament.In 1838 and 1839，the Chartists held large⁃scale demonstrations.Chartist newspapers appeared in great numbers advocating the workers’demands.The Charter was twice presented to Parliament with millions of signatures in 1839 and in 1842，but it was rejected each time.Then in 1848，the movement revived for the third time.Distressed by economic miseries and encouraged by revolutions in that year on the European continent，workers’groups organized huge processions to present the Charter to Parliament once again.But this time，the demonstrators didn’t even reach the Parliament because the government sent out troops to guard London and stopped the workers outside the city.After that，the movement faded away.
The Chartist Movement failed for several reasons.First，the different groups of workers involved in the movement had varying objectives，so it was difficult to weld them into a unified political movement.In addition，most workers were more concerned about immediate economic gains than the vague long⁃term political goals the Chartist Movement was fighting for.Finally，the working class leadership was not yet mature and the capitalist class was still ascendant.
Although the Chartist Movement failed，it played an important role in the development of British history.It was the first conscious political movement of the proletariat class，which demonstrated the power of the workers and compelled the ruling class to carry out social reforms in the latter half of the 19th century.In 1867，workers in the cities got the vote，and most of the demands raised in the Charter were later realized.