ABSTRACT: The Industrial Revolution brought about new changes with technology. Many inventions were innovated including the steam engine, electric power, railroads, advances in transportation, and also the steamship as well. This went into a world of "higher incomes and cheaper commodities, unheard-of-devices and materials, insatiable appetites. New, new, new. Money, money, money". Dr. Samuel Johnson said "all the business of the world is to be done in a new way".

The Industrial Revolution

~Mental or Material?~

by Alexandra Butler

The process of the Industrial Revolution could be interpreted by being either mostly a mental or mostly a physical revolution. There are many ways to look at how the Industrial Revolution changed the way things were done in many instances. It brought about new innovations and that in turn made this period of time 'the Industrial Revolution'. People 'industrialized' technology and that helped to industrialize the way that many things were done by humans. "The Industrial Revolution brought the world closer together, made it smaller and more homogenous. But the same revolution fragmented the globe by estranging winners and losers. It begat multiple worlds".

The Industrial Revolution could be defined as the time of power machinery turned to manufacturing. It is still going on in some places in thw world as well. Europe, in the eighteenth century, began to industrialize very quickly, although this whole process was probably most quickly industrialized in England. Although, by 1850, western Europe was fairly industrialized because of the coming of electricity as well as cheap steel speeded up the whole process.

There were many technological changes during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries including methods of making glass, clocks, and also chemicals. During this time, these methods advanced greatly with technology. By the start of the eighteenth century in England, many people were already using machines in manufacturing. The steam engine was one of the machines which helped the industrial development in Europe. The use of electricity for machines was limited and cost very high prices through the nineteenth century. Up until about 1900, the only cheap electricity that was used was the electricity made by generators using falling water in mountains of parts of France as well as Italy. Europe eventually gained electricity to use, in the twentieth century. Germany gained electricity in the 1920's, and Great Britain had electricity nearly all over the country by 1936. Electricity was also a huge factor in the quickly changing industrialization of Russia during the 1930's.

What these changes and innovations meant was that machines would now be substituted for human work, effort and skill. This also meant that sources of power opened up a new limitless supply of energy. During the Industrial Revolution (as stated in The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, pg. 187), both the economy and knowledge were growing fast enough to generate a continuing flow of improvements. It also changed political power in nations, between nations, and also between civilizations. It also changed the social order. The Industrial Revolution changed ways that people thought as much as ways that people did things. The word 'revolution' could mean many varying things. It could mean simply 'transformation' or it could mean a 'turning'. In the book The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David S. Landes uses revolution to mean "instance of great change or alteration in affairs or some particular thing". Revolutions can be considered good, or something that changes everything. Or they can be considered bad, or destructive of things of value. Revolutions note that it takes many small, as well as large, improvements to make an idea into a way of doing things.

On page 191 of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, it says that "innovation was catching because the principles that underlay a given technique could take many forms, find many uses". This means that there could be many ideas put together to make one thing work, and that these ideas could also be used in another way with other ideas, to make other things work. Examples from the book include; if you could print or make fabric by using cylinders, you could also print or make wallpaper that same way. You could use it to print text faster than by using a press, and make cheap tabliods and novels by the hundreds of thousands. The early economists did not have statistical proof. They relied on history and on personal observations. "We now put our trust in hard data provided they are sanctioned by theory". We probably expect the economic historians to have put their own trust in hard, numerical data, although only if they are proved by historical evidence.

We can see that through the Industrial Revolution came many new ideas and thoughts as how to do things mostly involving manufacturing. It can be seen that there was a lot of thought put into making new innovations in technology and thinking about how things would work and work together. It seems that the Industrial Revolution took a lot of mental skill from humans to 'industrialize' ways of doing things. This also meant that once things were 'industrialized' people did not have to work as hard to get things done, they relied on 'materials' to do things for them. Thinking of the Industrial Revolution like this, you can see how people could consider it either a mental revolution or a material revolution.

Alexandra Butler

Mr. Viles

Honors History 10

12/18/2007

High Street Congregational Church

~United Church of Christ~

High Street Congregational Church is one of the oldest churches in Newport, Maine. The church is located, fittingly, at 24 High Street in Newport. It has grown immensely over 176 years and over generations of people and families.

The high street church grew from an organization, on February 25, 1831, which wanted a Christian church in Newport. Elder Joseph Merrill (who lived and grew up in Cornville, Maine) as well as nine other members, helped organized the church. This organization gained two more members by Sunday February 27, 1831. The first monthly conference was held later that year on March 5^th. The first communion was held on April 2, 1831. The population of Newport grew and different religious groups started to appear alongside the Christian church. These different groups included Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalists, and Universalists. For lack of a better place, all of the religious groups had to meet in private homes.

In the spring of 1837, the Christian church, as well as the other religious groups, decided to build a joint meeting house. It was called the Union Church and the minister of each group was able to use it one Sunday per month. The group raised a total of about $1, 500 was raised. In the late fall of 1837the new high street union meeting house was built and given and dedicated to the members of the Christian community who was attending.

Over the sixty-five years from 1837 through 1902 the church continued to be successful, even though there may have been very difficult things to deal with during these times. Starting about 1850, the Methodists started to have their own meetings and slowly, the other religious groups went their own separate ways as well. In 1902, the church society made as decision that they needed a building that was newer. They again raised money, about $3, 000 total. The old church was then redesigned. More seating was added, electricity, city water, a new kitchen, as well as a ladies parlor. In 1915 the parsonage was built next to the church. With this a new parking lot had to be found to keep the horses and buggies.

The church did not keep a complete record of all the ministers for the church. Starting only at the decade before the 20^th century was anything recorded. Reverend John Webster was the pastor from 1889 to 1916; it was believed that there were sixteen pastors before him. Reverend John Reynolds came to the church in 1925 and was there until he retired in 1941. From 1941 through 1971 the church was served by eleven ministers, ten of which happened to be student pastors during their academic years at Bangor Theological Seminary. In 1971, Reverend Terry Dinsmore became the full time minister at High Street Church. The church flourished under the authority of Dinsmore, while he reached out to both the church community and local community. Under the new leadership, Dinsmore Hall (a new building) was added. Dinsmore Hall included Sunday school rooms, a big meeting room, and a kitchen.

Between 1980 and 1998, six different ministers served the church. During this time, the church had started to fall behind financially. It could not afford a full time minister anymore. Reverend Dr. Henry Wyman, who was a ‘fill in minister’, led the decision for the church to go back to a part time minister. In July of 1998, Al Warden (who was a member of the church) became the new Pastor of the church.

Generous members of the church helped to make many changes in and around the church. They added a new elevator, handicapped accessible restrooms, coverings for the stained glass windows, low voltage lighting for the windows at night, new landscaping, and new siding for the outside of the church building. The parsonage was taken out in 2001.

The High Street Congregational Church has a lot of history dating back for many years. It has developed and has grown through many generations. Thanks to the many contributions and changes so many people made, it has only grown better and stronger over the almost two centuries that it has been open. Newport may be a fairly small town, but every town has history to be looked back on.