The Story of Cotton
Cotton was making a lot of money.
By 1850 cotton was Britain's biggest export. There are 4 possible reasons as to
why cotton had become so important.
| Reason 1: The
Population Was Increasing |
Reason 2: The Supply
of Raw Cotton Grew |
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After North America became independent in 1783
the Americans were free to look for new products to sell. Cotton
plantations soon became very successful. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented a
"cotton gin" which helped slaves to prepare cotton 50 times
faster than before. Imports of cheap raw cotton from the United States of
America into Britain grew.
Click
here for a very different look at the slave trade! |
| The number of people in the British Isles went up from 10.7
million in 1750 to nearly 27.4 million in 1850. That's a doubling in
population in only 100 years. Textile producers knew they could become
rich by producing more. The demand for textiles was growing. |
| Reason 3: People
spent more money in the 18 century |
Reason 4: There was
a great expansion in trade |
| Some of this money was spent on clothes. There
was therefore an increase in demand for cotton. |
Britain was the world's leading trading nation in the late
18th century. British ships carried goods all over the world. By the early
19th century cotton goods made up nearly half of all British exports. |
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The great invention of the water
frame by Richard Arkwright in 1769 was the first type of machine used in
the cotton mills. Any
significant weaving machine used before that was used in the home, thus
making them part of the domestic system. These included the Flying
Shuttle and the Spinning Jenny.
Before the factories, cotton was made at home, usually by all the family.
First of all the raw cotton was combed by hand. This job was often done by
children. Then the cotton was twisted on a very small spinning wheel, powered by
hands or feet. This job was often done by women, while men wove the already spun
cotton by hand.
The Flying Shuttle
Then came the Spinning Jenny. That made it a lot faster to weave at home
because it could spin 8 yarns at once, therefore 8 times faster.
The Spinning Jenny
People would have these relatively small machines in their houses. This work
would probably be combined with some other domestic work, and when the family
wanted to eat the machines would be pushed against the wall to make more space.
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BUT it still wasn't enough! The whole point of
factories is that 1 machine powered by hand wasn't enough to meet the
demands of people. They wanted more cotton than the amount that could be
made domestically. 1 machine wasn't big enough or powerful enough. You
needed lots of machines. In factories. |
Weaving in the domestic system
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