The Industrial Revolution in North America The industrial revolution started around 1750. It began in Britain and it spread through out the World. England was known as the worlds workshop because at that point in time, England was the major manufacturing center of the World.(Bailey) It took about ten years for the industrial revolution to spread to other places. It spread to America. The Industrial Revolution was favorable to the American colonies by bringing the factory system to America, supplying more employment which increased urban growth, and raising the national economy.The factory system was the key to the industrial revolution. The factory system was a combination of Humans and new technology. New technology was arriving every day. The greatest invention during this time was the steam engine. The creation of the steam engine was credited to James Watt. There had been other steam engines before James Watts but none of them were efficient. Watts engine was the first efficient engine that could be used in a factory. The steam engine had the strength of ten thousand men.(Pollard) This was not the only invention that helped the factory system evolve. Textiles were a major product of the Industrial Revolution. Production was slow at first in the factory. In 1764, a British inventor named James Hargraves invented the Spinning Jenny. This lowered production time which enabled the factory to produce more per day. In 1773, John Kay, an English inventor, created the flying shuttle which lowered the production time even more.(Encarta) If production had not been speed up, the Industrial Revolution would have not had that big of effect as it did in North America.The Industrial Revolution brought more jobs to North America, because the factories needed the workers. Before the Industrial Revolution, most Americans lived on small, self-sufficient farms and were widely spaced. They produced most of there own things including food, clothes, fue...
