INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution was the change from the old way of life, in which every man made everything he needed himself, to the new way in which most people worked in a factory and had to buy things instead of making it themselves. Things that used to be made in small shops now were being made in large factories. Also, manual labor was shifted over to the running of machines. Many people working in the factories were those who used to be farmers and now gave up that way of life and moved to the city to work. This move is called urbanization. The efficiency of producing an item went way up by advancments in the manufacturing process.

The major portion of the Industrial Revolution took place between the dates 1750 and 1850. It started  in the country of Britain for many reasons. The first reason that the Industrial Revolution started in Britain is that Britain had many resources. Another reason that it started there was because Britain had many skilled inventors that came up with new technology to speed up the production process. A third reason that the Revolution started in Britain was that Britain had a very good and developed economy. They had many wealthy citizens willing to risk investing capital into the new compainies. And a fourth reason that the Revolution started in Britain is that they had a very stable goverment and the classes of people got along reasonably well.

After the Revolution started in Britain, it quickly spread to other countries and one of the most important of these countries was the United States of America. Once the Industrial Revolution reached America there were already many new and better machines produced in Europe that allowed the small farmers of America to urbanize and work in the factories. By using the much faster tools of farming that were invented, all of the farmer's labor did not have to be done manually and therefore one farmer could farm many times more than he used to.

Overall, the Industrial Revolution made great economical improvement in the societies of the day by many of the people having great prosperity and better health than before. This was not always the case, although, for the lower class people.

Below is an image of a farm before the industrial revolution and later many of these farms were deserted and the people who lived in them went to work in a factory such as this.

There were many changes that took place in the industrial revolution such as:

1. There were many new Inventions that were made.

2. There were many changes in Agriculture.

3. There was also many improvements in Transportation and Communication.

4. Certain Natural Resources  were important to the Industrial Revolution.

5. The Social Effect of the Industrial Revolution was great.

Along with the Industrial Revolution came many good things, but also many bad things. These things included:

Good things that happened:

1) New technology was discovered.

2) New forms of producing things were invented, such as interchangable parts and using an assembly line.

3) The Industrial Revolution provided lots of jobs.

4) There was an abundance of goods and they were made available more cheaply.

5) There were many health improvments and better sanitation.

Bad things that happened:

1) Child Labor

2) Poor Wages

3) Long hours

4) Bad working conditions

5) Bad living spaces for the working class

From a Christian perspective, there were many good things that happened in the Industrial Revolution, but there were also many bad things that happened.

One good thing that happened was conversion of many of the poor working class people to Christianity. In all their struggles with poverty and poor living conditions, many came to Christianity because they saw that it offered a better life to come.

Another good thing that happened was the new health and sanitation methods that were found out. These improved the health of the people so that they could better serve their Lord and Creator, God the Father.

One bad thing that happened was the formation of labor unions. This was wrong because labor unions force the employer to do the will of the employees rather than the employees obeying their employers for the Lord's sake, as instructed in Ephesians 6. Labor unions were also bad because they required the member to take an oath to be loyal to the union and, as Christians, we should not take this kind of oath since our loyalty can only be to God.

The second bad thing that happened was the bad treatment of employees by many employers. These employers tried to get every ounce of work possible out of their workers and yet payed them poorly, causing the establishment of labor unions to seem more justified and necessary. They also hired children which should have been in school and doing the normal things that children do, but because the parents did not make enough money, they had to have their children work also in order to survive.

The Christian today should view the Industrial Revolution as all a part of God's plan to benefit his people. Through the Industrial Revolution, more people are able to go to church each week because of the better means of travel.  Many of us today would have a difficult time faithfully attending church and Bible studies without the use of our cars. The Industrial Revolution also helped mission work because of better and easier ways of communication, first with the use of printed materials and now with the use of the internet.  Believers from all over the world can also now communicate with one another with the use of today's technology.

The world which we live in with it's fast pace and modern conveniences all began with the Industrial Revolution.  Our families are affected by it every day with all the choices available to spend our time and our money.  We need to be wise in the ways that we use the time and technoloy we have so that we use it for good and to the glory of God.

Images

http://www.trentonhomesguide.com/img/historic-farm-in-holmdel.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/turning_world/factory.gif

Text

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577952/Industrial_Revolution.html

Ellis, Elisabeth G., and Anthony Esler. World History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Prentice Hall, 2005.