This invention was a breakthrough in machine technology around this time. The Industrial Revolution is often associated with the textile industry. In earlier times, the spinning of yarn and the weaving of cloth occurred primarily in the home, this pattern lasted for many centuries (The Industrial Revolution In US history, 41). In 18th-century Great Britain a series of extraordinary innovations reduced and then replaced the human labor required to make cloth.
The industrialization of cities in England dramatically altered the tenor of urban life. People who were farmers moved where they had factories. The factories were built by water and coal supply. When these factories were built people were moving where these factories were.
Most of the effects of the first Industrial Revolution were positive like the invention of iron, steam engine, growth of the cities and textile industry, and may others. But also there were some negative effects to this. Poor working conditions and child labor were probably one of the worst effects of the first Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution speeded across all industrializing nations in the eighteenth century.
The economic successes of Great Britain soon led other nations to try to follow the same path. In the young US, Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander called for an Industrial Revolution on his report on manufactures (History Resources, 2). Many Americans felt that the US had to become economically strong in order to maintain its recently won independence from Britain. The Industrial Revolution unfolded in the United States even more vigorously than it had in Britain. In 1790, more than three-quarters of the labor force worked in agriculture (Encarta Encyclopedia, 3). Many producers from nations gathered to display their industrial triumphs at the first word fair, at the Crystal Palace in London. Americans got the most attention from this fair.
