A Blessing or a Curse? By Loujain Atieh, Hour 6

The first Industrial Revolution started in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century when inventions were starting to get big. The biggest was the invention of the cotton gin and how it helped people that had to separate cotton from seeds. It made the work of one man 50 times faster. Also, the revolution improved a lot of things like communication, transportation, immigration, and it led to more job opportunities. It also caused some bad things to happen. Child labor was happening in work places and the amount of slaves increased. Rapid industrial development has been a blessing because of improved transportation, new inventions, and it increased the population because of immigrants.

Improved Transportation

The Steamboat

The improved transportation is one way the Industrial Revolution was a blessing. Waterways was the way people shipped raw materials and goods, but it was too slow, so British engineers widened and deepened the waterways. They built canals to connect cities and in 1807, they built the first commercial successful steamboat. It made everything faster and easier to send things. During the early 1800's, two men decided to start reconstructing the roads because no one used them anymore. The article said they used "crushed rock packed into thin layers" to build the roads. Also, railroads were made and they were used to haul freight at coal mines and ironworks. They made things easier to travel with.

New Inventions

The Cottin Gin

In addition to improved transportation, the new inventions were really good. The most important one that helped the most was the cotton gin. The cotton gin was a machine that would separate the seeds from the cotton. It did the work 50 times faster than one could do. The power loom was also a really good invention. The loom was a way to speed up the weaving process of cotton when they were to make things out of it. It was used to make cloth. The whale oil lamps were lamps that people used. They were better than normal lamps because the oil from whales burned brightly and didn't leave a bad odor. It made people have more freedom and people could do more.

Increased Immigration

Immigrants eating their first Christmas dinner.

Lastly, there was an increase in immigration. People migrated from all over the world to come to the United States. They came because of the new inventions and because of the factories. Samuel Slater was one man that migrated to the United States. He established the spinning wheel in Rhode Island. "William Cockerill, a Lancashire carpenter, moved to Belgium in 1799 and began to manufacture textile machinery." He also migrated to the United States. After some of these people migrated to the U.S., more people started to come because of all these new inventions being created.

Citations

Cotton Gin. N.d. Brittanica. Bettmann Archive. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

"Industrial Revolution." Britannica School. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

Immigration. N.d. Brittanica. By Bettmann. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Jacob, Margeret C. "Industrial Revolution." World Book Student. N.p., n.d. Web. 2017.

Jacob, Margaret C. "Industrial Revolution." World Book Student, World Book, 2017. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.

Jacob, Margaret C. "Industrial Revolution." World Book Student, World Book, 2017, Accessed 10 Mar. 2017

"Loom: Power Loom." Brittannica. State Library of Kansas, n.d. Web. 2017

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