Chapter 20- Industrial Revolution Flashcards
Chartists
Led by Robert Owen, sought political democracy. The key demand was that all men should be given the right to vote.
Class Consciousness
Awareness of belonging to a distinct social and economic class whose interests might conflict with those of other classes.
Combination Acts
British laws passed in 1799 that that outlawed unions and strikes, favoring capitalist business people over skilled artisans. Bitterly resented and widely disregarded by many craft guilds, the acts were repealed by Parliament in 1824.
Corporate Banks
Banks received permission from the growth-oriented government to establish themselves as corporations enjoying limited liability, attracted more investors, promoted industrial development.
Crystal Palace Exhibition
The Great Exhibition was hosted at the Crystal Palace, which was a building made entirely out of glass and iron. The exhibition celebrated the new era of industrial technology and the king’s role as world economic leader.
Factory Laws
English laws passed from 1802 to 1833 that limited the workday of child workers and set minimum hygiene and safety requirements.
Industrial Revolution
A term first coined in 1799 to describe the burst of major inventions and economic expansion that began in Britain in the late eighteenth century.
Iron Law of Wages
Theory proposed by English economist Davis Ricardo suggesting that the pressure of population growth prevents wages from rising above the subsistence level.
Luddites
Group of handicraft workers who attacked factories in northern England in 1811 and later, smashing the new machines that they believed were putting them out of work.
Mines Act of 1842
English law prohibiting underground work for all women and girls as well as for boys under ten.
The Rocket
The name given to George Stephenson’s effective locomotive that was first tested in 1829 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at 24 miles per hour.
Proletariat
The industrial working class who, according to Marx, were unfairly exploited by the profit-seeking bourgeoisie.
Separate Spheres
A gender division of labor with the wife at home as mother and homemaker and the husband as the wage earner.
Spinning Jenny
A simple, inexpensive, hand-powered spinning machine created by James Hargreaves in 1765.
Steam Engine
A breakthrough invention by Thomas Savery in 1698 and Thomas Newcomen in 1705 that burned coal to produce steam, which was then used to operate a pump; the early models were superseded by James Watt’s more efficient steam engine, patented in 1769.
