The Luddites: Raging Against the Machines

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The first Industrial Revolution, which occurred in Europe and America from roughly the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, was a period of rapid and sometimes dramatic change. It is sometimes defined as the period which saw the shift from a largely agrarian society, with manufactured goods produced by craftsmen, to an industrialized society. Machines took over roles previously filled by men and women, and in doing so eliminated long-standing occupations. As just one example, the spinning of yarn and thread, long the domain of the women of the household, became mechanized. Yarn and thread became less expensive and more readily available for consumers. At the same time, households in small towns and rural locales lost a long-held source of income.

As the industrial revolution ran on, manufactories emerged, powered by wind, water, and eventually steam. For decades, water provided the most reliable power source, and it drove a continually expanding number of machines; gristmills, sawmills, looms, spinners, and other innovations of industry. Some were also powered by human feet operating pedals, and the treadmill led to the employment of children. Many labor-intensive jobs in the factories became the occupation of children, and child labor evolved into a social issue as well as an industrial one.

Cities expanded as workers flocked to urban environments seeking employment for themselves and the other members of their households. Few cities were able to easily absorb the increases in population, and tenements and slums became a curse on many. Appalling living and working conditions were just part of the price of progress. Crime became a problem in crowded cities. Ethnic neighborhoods emerged, bringing with them the signs of intolerance and prejudice. While the owners of the factories grew fortunes from their profits, the workers found themselves largely unable to purchase the fruits of their labors.

The result was resistance to progress, to innovation, and to change. Each new invention found those who opposed it. Each new system found those desiring to retain the old. The one certainty throughout the period was change, a certainty which some greatly feared.

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Further Reading:

https://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/the-industrial-revolution

https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/05/09/a-revolution-in-stockings/

https://statutes.org.uk/site/the-statutes/eighteenth-century/1788-28-george-3-c-55-for-the-protection-of-stocking-frames/

https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106480.html

https://www.historycrunch.com/child-labor-in-the-industrial-revolution.html#/

https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijsell/v2-i2/1.pdf

https://www.history.com/news/industrial-revolution-cities

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2191/agriculture-in-the-british-industrial-revolution/

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/why-did-the-luddites-protest/

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/why-did-the-luddites-protest/#:~:text=In%201812%2C%20machine%2Dbreaking%20became,relatively%20few%20arrests%20and%20executions.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/