How did changes to the source and use of power and agriculture drive economic developments (1783-1812)?

Question 1

What was steam power like in 1783?

Answer 1

• man, horse, wind and water were the main sources of power
• steam power was only cost-effective at coal mines; inefficient

Question 2

What were the causes of change in steam power?

Answer 2

• Watt improved Newcomen’s steam engine by making a separate condenser
• Boulton funded this enterprise
• there was an increasing demand for resources and consumer goods due to the iR and growing population = more trade needed

Question 3

When did Watt make improvements to the steam engine?

Answer 3

• 1764

Question 4

What was steam power like in 1812? What were limitations?

Answer 4

• caused developments in all industries
• Lancashire: made 1/2 of world’s cotton
• used in tin, coal and iron mines
• used in the engineering of canals
• only a few hundred in use (LIMITATION)
• replaced workers in cotton mills etc. (LIMITATION)

Question 5

What was agriculture like in 1800?

Answer 5

one farmer produced enough food for 2.5 people, was 1.7 the century before

Question 6

What were causes of the change in agriculture?

Answer 6

• rapid population increase due to increased production of food
• 4 crop rotation system
• Bakewell’s use of selective breeding
• phasing out the use of leaving land fallow
• 1801: Parliamentary Enclosure act
• technological innovations (i.e. seed drill)

Question 7

What was the 4-crop rotation?

Answer 7

first year: wheat
2nd: barley
3rd: clover
4th: turnips

Question 8

What were the benefits of the 4-crop rotation system?

Answer 8

• more food for livestock and people
• more fertile soil = higher yield

Question 9

What was enclosure?

Answer 9

• division of farm and arable land

Question 10

What were the benefits of enclosure?

Answer 10

• animal diseases less likely to spread
• by 1851: 80% of farmland was more than 100 acres
• less land wastage
• separate land for animals = selective breeding

Question 11

What were the negatives of enclosure?

Answer 11

• eviction of farmers and villagers who failed to prove they had a right to land
• villagers couldn’t use the common land for their animals
• forced to work in poor conditions for low wages in industrial cities and towns
• yeomen failed to compete with large landholders

Question 12

When was the Parliamentary Enclosure Act? What did it allow?

Answer 12

• 1801
• easier to separate land

Question 13

What was the effect of enclosure on the rural landscape?

Answer 13

• like today; hedges and ditches

Question 14

How did the percent of land left fallow change?

Answer 14

• 1751: 20%
• 1851: 4%

Question 15

What was agriculture like in 1812?

Answer 15

• farming more effective; could sustain a population over 5 million
• amount of arable land doubled
• food became cheaper
• petitions and riots due to polarisation of farming industry due to enclosure
• changed rural landscape