Before this lecture I will admit I was completely clueless when it came to British history, which is why I am thanking Brian for slowly easing me into what is know as the turning point for Britain... The Industrial Revolution and everything else that came with it.
To begin, the French revolution was known as the turning point in European politics where as the Industrial revolution transformed Britain alone as well as the rest of the world.
The Act of Union 1707
In 1685 Scotland attempted to set up a colony in New Caledonia, Central America which was
known as the Darien scheme. This alone cost Scotland one fifth of its wealth, unfortunately leading Scotland to its downfall as the colony soon realised they had settled on a malarial swamp, leading the settlers to fall sick with fever, resulting in starvation and forcing them to flee.
This had a knackering effect on Scotland, both financially and psychologically ultimately ending in them having to surrender their sovereignty in the 1707 Act of Union with England.
England did extremely well out of the French revolution although during the period of the Napoleonic war, it was incredibly expensive leading to the creation of income tax in 1799 to beat the French and pay for the war efforts. This ended in the British Navy having absolute control over all the French docs, leading to trading power.
This created a "boom" for British exports - to such an extent that British manufacturers were actually clothing the French Army.
With other European armies occupied, the Brits started building its empire throughout; India, Singapore, South America, South Africa, Shrilanka ect. It was undoubtedly the making of one of the biggest trading monopoly's in history.
The Transatlantic Triangle Trade; 16th century -18th century
The "boom" continued due to the profit that came out of the Atlantic trade as one million slaves were transported from Africa to America in the 16th century. The slaves were made to work on plantations to produce goods that were arriving in Britain. These products ranged from cotton to coffee and sugar which were proved to be three of the most profitable items. The Atlantic slave trade continued through the 17th century where the number of slaves increased to three million and then to seven million in the 18th century. An unpleasant historical event for the British to
have been a part of however Britain created an incredible amount of profit from this trade.
The end of the war meant the end of the "boom" causing widespread unemployment and a steep fall in wages. People could no longer afford food meaning farms in Britain were struggling.
As a response to this the government brought in the Corn Laws in 1815 to prevent the struggle meaning a tariff was put on imported grains, however people still couldn't afford the food. In the end this caused a political battle which coincidently was when Cobbet wrote Rural Rides.
The government then set up the Enclosure Act alongside the Corn Laws which forced people living on farms to move to cities and work in workhouses. This ultimately left farms and countryside desolated.
The Industrial Revolution
England was now seen as the "workshop of the world" with cities such as Manchester being at the centre of the revolution in 1850. It was known as the most important place on earth as well as being known as "hell on earth" as rickets and infection spread amongst citizens. The conditions in cities and towns were dire as most people lived in slums with cholera as a common disease found throughout households. Pollution, malnutrition and poverty were caused because of the millions of workers arriving in cities at various workhouses. It was a dark time filled with misery.
The Poor - Utilitarianism
The New Poor Act was introduced in 1834, stating that no able bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except when working in a workhouse.
Bentham, an English jurist, philosopher and legal and social reformer was a utilitarian. He believed that "happiness is a pleasure and the absence of pain" supporting the idea of the workhouse believing this was the answer to poverty.
On first sight, utilitarianism is extremely appealing, as by judging actions by consequences it is favouring those that promote happiness and reduce pain, for example if you were to imagine you were on a train and an obstacle approaches meaning that one person had to be killed rather than a hundred then the train would kill this one person without any doubt or looking back arriving safely at the next station with all one hundred passengers.
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