The Industrial Revolution 18 th Century Population Growth

The Industrial Revolution

18 th Century Population Growth � 1701 -1751: 14% � 1751 -1801: 50% � 1801 -1851: 100% Reasons for Growth? Ø Younger age of marriage Ø Decreased death rate Ø End of “gin mania”? Ø Better food? Ø Use of soap? Ø 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 contains Which Madness to the Heart conveys And rolls it thro’ the veins. William Hogarth 1751

Beer, happy produce of our Isle Can sinewy Strength impart, And wearied with fatigue and Toil Can cheer each manly Heart. Labour and Art upheld by Thee Successfully advance, We quaff Thy balmy Juice with Glee And water leave to France. Genius of Health, thy Grateful Taste Rivals the Cup of Jove, And warms each English generous Breast With Liberty and Love. William Hogarth 1751

Reality of Growth �Introduction 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 England as well �Widespread inoculation against smallpox �Absence of widespread epidemics

Birth of Industry �Necessary 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 Industry �A large and accessible market: overseas trade to the colonies �Capital for new industries, roads, and waterways: Joint-Stock Companies �A flexible social structure �Demand for mass consumer goods �An environment favorable to innovation and technology

The Process �Cottage Industry

Centralization of Labor: The Factory

New Technology �Cotton and Textiles �New raw materials from colonial spaces �Cotton versus wool �John Kay improves looms in 1733 with the flying shuttle �James Hargreaves 1764 Spinning Jenny � Arkwright creates the 1771 Water Frame

Energy Demands �Steam power and mining

Social Consequences �Rapid growth of Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, lack of sufficient infrastructure �Creation of the institutional work day �Mill whistle and the factory clock �Replacement of the artisan with the unskilled worker �Division of Labor, rise of class consciousness �Child Labor �In 1835 40% of mill workers were under the age of 18

New Social Figures: The Bourgeoisie �Industrialization 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 � Liberalism �Liberty and equality �Bentham and utilitarianism � Socialism �Economic 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 � Nationalism �Each people had its own genius and its own cultural unity �Turn cultural unity into political reality

The Romantic Movement �Individualistic � the full development of one’s unique potential the supreme goal of life �Reject materialism � Seek spirituality through art � See history as the art of change over time �Nature is awesome and inspirational: “Nature is Spirit Visible”—John Constable � Human beings should accept the natural laws in place � Flee 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” I wandered lonely as a Cloud That 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 shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay In such a jocund company: I gazed-and gazed-but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the Daffodils. -1815

Industrial Impact Politics and Reform

Outline � New Popular Platforms �Push for political reform from the bottom up �Franchise Reform � Fear of Revolution in England � Efforts at Reform in the 1820 s �Reaction to Peterloo �Introduction of Liberal Reform � 1832 Reform Bill � Post-Reform Bill Politics �Paternalism � Anti-Slavery � Working-Class Reforms � Work-hour reforms � Safety reforms � Child labor reforms � Industrial Reform � Poor Law (Welfare) Reform

The New Popular Platform, ca. 1815 �More frequent Parliamentary elections �Lower taxes �End to political corruption �Less concern for landowners than for urban merchants and shopkeepers �New Organizing �Petitioning �Pamphleteering �Symbols (badges, medals, rings) �fundraising �Broad appeal: London and beyond

The New Popular Platform: Franchise �New Political Demands �Abolition of all rotten boroughs (municipal districts) � Old Sarum in Wiltshire had 3 houses, and a population of 15 � Dunwich in Suffolk had nearly eroded into the sea, and only had a population of 32 voters �Broader franchise �More frequent elections �Members of Parliament sworn to serve the interest of their constituents �Protection of the individual against executive or legislative persecution

Fear of Revolution �United States, 1776 �France, 1789 �France, 1830

The 1820 s �Peterloo Massacres �Manchester, 1819 � 60, 000 -80, 000 people �Eleven killed, 400 injured (100 women) �Moves toward reform �Partial repeal of Combination Acts (unions) �Simplified Criminal code �Lower tariffs on imports �Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts �Catholics can sit in Parliament and hold offices

Liberal Reform: The Bill, 1832 �Borough Reform �Redistribution of parliamentary seats: who gets what? �Franchise Reform �Urban, male, £ 10 freeholders �Key missing reform?

Post-Reform Politics �After the 1832 Reform Bill, the newly enfranchised take a paternalistic attitude to the new “working class” �In the 1840 s Factories employed a small minority of workers �England: 5% �France: 3% �Prussia: 2% �Increased state focus on the condition of the workers �Living conditions �Working conditions �Sanitary conditions: cities with over 50, 000 people had twice the death rates of the countryside

Post-Reform Politics �Liberal Reform � 1833: Abolition of slavery �Slave trade ended in 1807 � 1833: Factory Act �Sets minimum age requirement � 9 -Hour limits for the youngest workers (ages 9 to 13) �Minimum schooling requirements �Adolescents only work 12 hours/day

Post-Reform Politics � 1834: New Poor Law �Poor Law introduced in Elizabethan times: outdoor relief �no 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 parish �ratepayers 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 Politics � 1842: Mines Act �How does this act limit the workforce in the mines? � 1847: 10 -hour work day

How the urban workers live