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A New Nation
(1776-1830)

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 4 to 5
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.75

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    interchangeable, loom, successful, mechanic, easily, material, textile, jobs, earn, people, working, goods, government, secret, wife, life
     content words:    United States, Industrial Revolution, James Hargreaves, Samuel Slater, Rhode Island, Eli Whitney

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Industrial Revolution
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     When people first moved to the United States, most of them were farmers. Most of the things that people used were made by hand. It took a long time to do things or make items that people needed. In the 1800s, this slowly began to change. This change was called the Industrial Revolution.
 
2     The Industrial Revolution started in Britain. In the 1700s inventors made new machines. These machines changed the textile industry. This industry made material that people could use for clothes and other items.
 
3     For hundreds of years, spinning wheels had been used to make thread. But the spinning wheel was very slow. It could only spin one thread at a time. James Hargreaves invented a machine called the spinning jenny. It could spin many threads at one time.
 
4     Other inventions helped to make cloth faster. One man built a loom that used water for power. This helped the workers make the material faster. One man could make more cloth in one day than he ever could before.
 
5     These new inventions changed how people worked. Before the inventions, many goods were made at home. After the new machines were invented, factories were started. Many people would come to one place and make the goods. These people would earn money for when they worked.

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