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Turning Points in History - Industrial Revolution

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    In the late 1700's, most people worked in
    the fields on land they did not own.
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    Those who owned the land,
    called aristocrats,
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    lived refined lives in elegant
    manor houses.
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    Servants raised their children
    and did their house work.
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    The landowners and the people
    who worked for them
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    depended upon each other.
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    It was a system that had
    existed for centuries.
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    In towns across England and
    the United States,
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    a series of extraordinary innovations
    would alter the way
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    people lived and worked for the
    next 150 years.
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    Inventors had found new ways
    to harness nature's energy.
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    They built new kinds of machines powered
    by water, steam, and coal.
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    The new machines replaced
    hand-powered tools.
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    They did the same work only
    cheaper and faster.
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    Much of the work was done
    outside the home in
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    specially designed buildings -
    the first factories.
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    Mechanization began in the
    textile mills of England
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    where one machine attached
    to a spinning wheel
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    could do the work of 50 people.
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    Fuel, clothing, and food all
    became more affordable.
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    With the development of locomotives
    and steamboats,
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    manufactured goods could now be sold
    half way around the world.
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    Families moved from the villages of
    their ancestors to new industrial towns.
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    And a new class of people emerged -
    workers who produced goods.
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    Industrialists, the people who
    owned the factories,
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    employed hundreds, sometimes
    thousands of people.
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    And they made enormous profits
    in their industrial centers.
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    But while the industrial revolution
    brought wealth to some
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    and jobs for others, it came with
    a price tag.
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    Pollution from coal-powered factories
    turned the cities black.
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    Lack of housing created the
    first urban slums.
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    And the demand for more and more
    goods and higher profits,
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    brought the exploitation of workers
    including children.
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    Some of the worst conditions were seen
    in the textile mills of New England.
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    In the 1830's, a ten-year-old mill girl
    described her life.
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    "We are paid two dollars a week and the
    working hours of all the girls extended
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    from five o'clock in the morning 'til
    seven in the evening with one half hour
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    for breakfast and for dinner.
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    It was the hiring of children,
    some as young as five years old
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    throughout the 1800's and early 1900's
    that outraged the public.
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    Workers and reformers protested.
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    They formed unions and associations
    and fought for government regulations
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    to limit the work day and
    protect children.
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    These laws helped address many
    of the abuses brought on by
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    the industrial revolution.
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    Today, we are in the middle of
    another revolution -
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    a technological revolution.
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    We live in what's called,
    The Global Village,
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    because we can connect with
    people around the world
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    as if they lived next door.
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    And we can now work anytime
    and anywhere.
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    We will have to wait and see
    where this new revolution leads.
Title:
Turning Points in History - Industrial Revolution
Video Language:
English
Duration:
03:31

English subtitles

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