Introduction to the Industrial Revolution

      Today we finished our two day presentation on the Introduction to the Industrial Revolution.  

I want you to examine the I.R. from the point of view of one of the owners of the mill or the plantation. 

   Men like Francis Cabot Lowell and Samuel Slater had some decisions to make for their business ventures.  Where will they construct their mills?  Who will work the machines?  How will they get people to work in their mills?  

First Issue: Location, Location, Location.

New England is rich in natural resources.  Beautiful coastlines, excellent harbors, forests, fertile land, ice cream parlors... But, the most important resource are the rivers.  Rivers like the Merimack, Connecticut, and Pawtucket provide a constant supply of energy.  Water power is the first energy source for the Industrial Revolution.  New England has plenty of fast moving rivers and streams so it was the perfect location for the early mills.

Second Issue: Good Help is Hard to Find.

     These owners needed to have a cheap reliable source of labor. Who could they get to work for less money?  Women!  Slater and Lowell both advertised for women to work in their mills.  They believed that female workers would be more docile and obedient then male workers.  In other words, they would not protest as much as make workers if they did not like their working conditions.   

     We saw that the women that went to work for these mills had their own agendas and various backgrounds.  Some were poor farm girls who were hoping to make some extra money and then eventually leave and find a new job or get married.  Some mill workers were educated women who were trying to earn some of their own income for the first time.  Traveling to a city to start a new life allowed them to meet new people and be introduced to new ideas and beliefs.  They did not plan on settling down at the mills for more then a few years.

     Third Problem:  Advertising.

  How was life in the mills advertised?  What did the owners promise the families of New England?  Why did the owners make all these claims about what life would be like for the mill workers. 

Finally,

Here are some higher level questions.  Feel free to respond in class.

1.) In the L.M.G. reading it is mentioned that the owners were looking for a temporary source of labor.  What does that mean?  How might conditions in the mills have been different if they were looking for life time employees?

2.)  How did Lowell Mill Girls find themselves competing against the Irish for jobs?  How did the massive amounts of immigrants force the average salary of a mill worker to go down?