Leader of The Fight for Women'S Rights Susan B. Anthony

The Industrial Revolution has many positives, negatives, and leaders like Susan B. Anthony. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain started in the 1700s with the steam engine. It was successful because they had natural resources like iron and coal, lots of skilled workers, and colonies to provide raw materials and to buy goods. One inventor was James Watt who helped start the Industrial Revolution by improving the steam engine. The keys materials of the Industrial Revolution were fast transportation, less cost on machines and less people to hire and pay. James Watt improved the steam engine and could power big machines. George Stephenson took the steam engine and put it on wheels and rails to make the steam train. Robert Fulton improved the steamboat to make it better and go faster on water and to hold more items. All of this helped with making and selling products.

Factories were being made because there was a demand for more products and lots of companies started so they could make the products. The workers were usually women and children and they would work in factories for money for their family. Children would die and lose limbs climbing in small spaces and would put their hands in little places. In the factories, there was bad air quality, loud noises, and the women and children would not get paid very much because they were considered less than and less skilled than men. They had to work 12 to 15 hours every day but Sunday.

One of the jobs in the factories for kids was being a match girl where you had to work in match factories and use the chemical phosphorus which caused them to lose teeth. Kids in factories would range in age anywhere from 4 to 16 years old. The kids not in match factories would have different jobs, like the coal mines. Factories were important because machines could make products faster than humans and were powered by steam but sometimes they had problems. Machines were less expensive and could make factory owners not have to hire a lot of people. Some positives of the Industrial Revolution were that there was faster transportation and use of machines and not a lot of people to hire. Factory owners made lots of money and there were more products and inventions.

The negatives of the Industrial Revolution were bad air quality at work, losing limbs, and living in tenement buildings, which were small apartments that were cramped. During the Industrial Revolution, people called reformers wanted capitalism to become better and change. They created labor unions, which were groups of people who would go on strikes and fight for more rights and improved conditions. They were successful.

The Second Industrial Revolution was in the 1850s in the United States. It started because factories were being created, companies were making products, and inventions were being made. Materials that were being used were oil, steel, and electricity. Henry Ford helped start the second Industrial Revolution because he made the assembly line which made the production of products faster. The leaders in the Second Industrial Revolution were Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Thomas Edison is the person who made the long-lasting light bulb this was useful because it would stay on all day or as long as you kept it on and wouldn’t turn off randomly. Henry Ford created the assembly line and the Model T car. The Second Industrial Revolution was fueled by electricity powering the machines and money which kept companies and factories in business.

Susan B. Anthony was a leader in fighting for women’s rights during the Industrial Revolution. She was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts and she grew up there for a part of her life because her family moved two times. Her family first moved to Battenville, New York, then they moved to Rochester, New York. She lived with her mom, Lucy, and dad, Daniel, and her eight siblings, but only five lived to be adults because one died at two years old. Her dad was a cotton mill owner and her mom worked at home in the house. Her family was poor when her dad’s mill went out of business.

She went to Quaker school to study and she went there up until college time, in which she didn’t go to. She developed a strong sense of judging people’s characters by their actions early in her life. She listened to Willam Lloyd Garrison and Fredrick Douglas talking about stopping slavery. They influenced her by making her a good fighter. In most parts of her life, she focused on social causes like slavery and drugs.

She worked at home after school she would help her mom around the house. Susan B. Anthony’s goals were for women to vote and she wanted to stop slavery. She was a suffragist, abolitionist, author, and speaker. She also was a writer, lecturer, and a significant part of the Women’s Rights Movement. She was a leader of the National American Suffrage Association and founded the Women’s New York State Society with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They debated for women’s rights and founded programs like the American Equal Rights Association, National Women’s Suffrage Association, and The Revolution, which was a weekly issue about women’s rights. She gave speeches all over the United States like in New York, Washington D.C., and other places. She was a part of women’s rights protests and the women’s rights movement.

She did not get married because she wanted to focus on fighting for rights. Susan and Elizabeth traveled all over the United States. Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s rights for many years and got women the right to vote 14 years later. She died on March 13, 1906, at the age of 86 in Rochester at home. It says in her obituary that she told her friend Anna Shaw before she died that “To think I have had more than 60 years struggle for a little liberty and then to die without seems so cruel.” Fighting all her life for women’s rights and getting women the right to vote was her passion. She is valuable and recognized with her dollar coin and her statue at the Smithsonian. She is remembered for fighting to not pay her $100 dollar fine and being arrested, as well as giving her protests and speeches like when she gave the Declaration of Rights speech written by Matilda Joslyn Gage, who was a suffragist. Her books also help to remember her and everything she did. People remember her today because of all she fought for, for women and their rights.

Overall, the Industrial Revolution had an impact by giving people the ability to transport goods all over the world in a faster timeframe instead of using a horse and carriage because people could use a train or boat. It also gave people today a good working, lasting light bulb, the assembly line, and cars to drive places. Today, the light bulb continues to give people the ability to work as long as they want without having to turn the bulb again. The assembly line still is used and provides the ability to make products faster. The car gives the ability to get places faster and not take a long time, and it is still getting better today. The Industrial Revolution was a huge success and a big part of how today got to be today.

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