The Industrial Revolution

18th Century Population Growth1701-1751: 14%1751-1801: 50%1801-1851: 100%Reasons for Growth?Younger age of

marriageDecreased death rate

End of “gin mania”?Better food?Use of soap?Improved medicine?

William Hogarth, “Gin Lane,” 1750

Gin, cursed Fiend with Fury fraught,Makes human Race a prey; It enters by a deadly Draught,And steals our Life away.

Virtue and Truth, driv’n to Despair,It’s Rage compells to fly,But cherishes, with hellish Care,Theft, murder, perjury.

Damn’d Cup! That on the vitals preys,That liquid fire containsWhich Madness to the Heart conveysAnd rolls it thro’ the veins.

William Hogarth1751

Beer, happy produce of our IsleCan sinewy Strength impart, And wearied with fatigue and ToilCan cheer each manly Heart.

Labour and Art upheld by TheeSuccessfully advance,We quaff Thy balmy Juice with GleeAnd water leave to France.

Genius of Health, thy Grateful TasteRivals the Cup of Jove,And warms each English generous BreastWith Liberty and Love.

William Hogarth1751

Reality of GrowthIntroduction of better food, particularly the

potato:Adam Smith characterized it as “being peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution”

Stimulates population growth most significantly in Ireland, but Scotland and England as well

Widespread inoculation against smallpoxAbsence of widespread epidemics

Birth of IndustryNecessary

Components:A supply of natural

resources: coal and iron

A system of agriculture flexible enough to feed growing numbers of workers: Enclosures between 1750 and 1780

A Berkshire Enclosure Map

Birth of IndustryA large and accessible market: overseas

trade to the coloniesCapital for new industries, roads, and

waterways: Joint-Stock CompaniesA flexible social structureDemand for mass consumer goodsAn environment favorable to innovation and

technology

The ProcessCottage Industry

Centralization of Labor: The Factory

New Technology

Cotton and TextilesNew raw materials

from colonial spacesCotton versus wool

John Kay improves looms in 1733 with the flying shuttle

James Hargreaves 1764 Spinning Jenny

Arkwright creates the 1771 Water Frame

Energy DemandsSteam power and mining

Social ConsequencesRapid growth of Manchester, Liverpool,

and Birmingham, lack of sufficient infrastructure

Creation of the institutional work dayMill whistle and the factory clock

Replacement of the artisan with the unskilled worker

Division of Labor, rise of class consciousness

Child LaborIn 1835 40% of mill workers were under the

age of 18

New Social Figures: The BourgeoisieIndustrialization created not only factory

owners and management, but also created increased need for lawyers, bankers, accountants, and merchants

These individuals began to intermarry with the struggling landed gentry, accumulating capital and credibility

As a dominant source of progress, this class demands more political power in Britain

New Ideologies

LiberalismLiberty and equalityBentham and utilitarianism

SocialismEconomic planning, greater

economic equality, state regulation of property

Utopianism: burden falls on middle class to help the poor

Marxism: middle class and working class interests opposed to each other

NationalismEach people had its own genius

and its own cultural unityTurn cultural unity into political

reality

The Romantic MovementIndividualistic

the full development of one’s unique potential the supreme goal of life

Reject materialismSeek spirituality through artSee history as the art of change over time

Nature is awesome and inspirational: “Nature is Spirit Visible”—John ConstableHuman beings should accept the natural

laws in placeFlee from industry’s attack on nature

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Looking over a Sea of Fog (1815)

John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral from Bishop’s Grounds (1823)

William Wordsworth, “Daffodils”

The waves beside them danced, but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:-A poet could not but be gayIn such a jocund company:I gazed-and gazed-but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude,And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the Daffodils.

-1815

I wandered lonely as a CloudThat floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Politics and Reform

Industrial Impact

OutlineNew Popular Platforms

Push for political reform from the bottom up

Franchise ReformFear of Revolution in

EnglandEfforts at Reform in the

1820sReaction to PeterlooIntroduction of Liberal

Reform1832 Reform Bill

Post-Reform Bill PoliticsPaternalism

Anti-SlaveryWorking-Class Reforms

Work-hour reforms Safety reforms Child labor reforms

Industrial ReformPoor Law (Welfare)

Reform

The New Popular Platform, ca. 1815

More frequent Parliamentary electionsLower taxesEnd to political corruption

Less concern for landowners than for urban merchants and shopkeepers

New OrganizingPetitioningPamphleteeringSymbols (badges, medals, rings)fundraising

Broad appeal: London and beyond

The New Popular Platform: Franchise

New Political DemandsAbolition of all rotten boroughs (municipal districts)

Old Sarum in Wiltshire had 3 houses, and a population of 15Dunwich in Suffolk had nearly eroded into the sea, and only

had a population of 32 votersBroader franchiseMore frequent electionsMembers of Parliament sworn to serve the interest of

their constituentsProtection of the individual against executive or

legislative persecution

Fear of RevolutionUnited States, 1776France, 1789France, 1830

The 1820sPeterloo Massacres

Manchester, 181960,000-80,000 peopleEleven killed, 400 injured (100 women)

Moves toward reformPartial repeal of Combination Acts (unions)Simplified Criminal codeLower tariffs on importsRepeal of the Test and Corporation Acts

Catholics can sit in Parliament and hold offices

Liberal Reform: The Bill, 1832Borough Reform

Redistribution of parliamentary seats: who gets what?

Franchise ReformUrban, male, £10 freeholders

Key missing reform?

Post-Reform PoliticsAfter the 1832 Reform Bill, the newly

enfranchised take a paternalistic attitude to the new “working class”In the 1840s Factories employed a small minority

of workersEngland: 5%France: 3%Prussia: 2%

Increased state focus on the condition of the workersLiving conditionsWorking conditionsSanitary conditions: cities with over 50,000 people had

twice the death rates of the countryside

Post-Reform PoliticsLiberal Reform

1833: Abolition of slaverySlave trade ended in 1807

1833: Factory ActSets minimum age requirement9-Hour limits for the youngest workers (ages 9 to 13)Minimum schooling requirementsAdolescents only work 12 hours/day

Post-Reform Politics

1834: New Poor LawPoor Law introduced in Elizabethan times: outdoor

reliefno able-bodied person was to receive money or other help

from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse conditions in workhouses made very harsh to

discourage people from wanting to receive help Workhouses built in every parishratepayers in each parish or union had to elect a

Board of Guardians to supervise the workhouse, to collect the Poor Rate and to send reports to the Central Poor Law Commission

the three man Central Poor Law Commission would be appointed by the government

Reaction to the Bill

The Workhouse

Post-Reform Politics1842: Mines Act

How does this act limit the workforce in the mines?

1847: 10-hour work day

How the urban workers live