5 The thought of moving your body from this crowded bed is more than you can handle Your roommates are getting dressed They whisper that you will get in trouble if you miss the next bell A girl not much older than your 14 years hands you a wad of cotton to put in your ears Here she tells you It will dull the sound You won’t get a headache if you wear them FROM FARMS TO FACTORIES CHAPTER ONE Many children in the Industrial Revolution found work in factories
New inventions such as the Bessemer steel converter spurred economic change Every part of your body screams with pain as you sit up But your family needs every penny it can get This factory pays more than the others and you are grateful for the work The Rise of Industry Can you imagine working in a factory 12 hours a day During the period in US history known as the Industrial Revolution many children began doing just that When people think of a revolution they usually think of bloody soldiers and smoky battlefields 6
PERSPECTIVES Native Americans and the Industrial Revolution European settlement in North America devastated Native American populations Millions of Native Americans lost their lives to disease and warfare More Native Americans were forced off lands they had lived on for thousands of years as European colonists expanded west The newcomers hunted bison which many Native Americans depended on for survival nearly to extinction The US government forced Native Americans off western land so white settlers could use the land to grow crops For Native Americans the Industrial Revolution caused even more of their customs to be lost 7 However the Industrial Revolution didn’t involve any battle plans The Industrial Revolution was the transition from an agricultural economy to one based on manufacturing The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the late 1700s During this time many British citizens immigrated to the United States They brought their knowledge and experience of the technological innovations in Britain Soon the United States was experiencing its own Industrial
