This period was defined by two revolutions, the French revolution and the industrial revolution. The French revolution changed the face of Europe and the Industrial Revolution changed the face of the world. Though history has been forever changed by the British Empire, it was a hairs breadth away from being the Scottish empire. The Act of Union in 1707 created the United Kingdom but it could’ve been far different. In 1698 Scotland attempted to set up a colony in Central America. They settled in a place called Darian and called it New Caledonia. It cost one fifth of the country’s wealth and was an utter disaster. It was malaria ridden and the natives chased them out. The whole venture left the country bankrupted. Britain ended up bribing the scots to join them. This was the start of the first Empire which consisted of Britain, Ireland and Scotland. Even though the Scottish were desperately beaten there was one last attempt at rebellion which was the battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellion was defeated by Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Once this small empire was established the French revolution was in full swing. Throughout this the English stood back and calmly looked at what was going on, even going so far as hiring mercenaries to try and stop Napoleon. During this period the British navy became the dominant force in the world. No one could match it and it stopped French trade through domination of the seas. This meant that British exports were flooding out across the world. The industrial revolution was in full flow and British produce was going out all over the world. As a sign of how dominant the British power was, they were supplying the French Army with uniforms. With other armies occupied Britain concentrated on exploiting the lack of concentration by establishing colonies and trade with countries like India, Singapore, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The dominant navy ensured the Transatlantic Triangular Trade, which was enormously profitable for Britain. This was the Slave trade, in the 16th century one million slaves were transported from Africa to America, by the 17th century three million were transported and by the 18th century it was seven million.
The end of the Napoleonic war meant that the boom was over. There were falls in wages and rises in unemployment. In response to this the government brought in the Corn Laws (1815) which put a tariff on all the food coming into the UK. This meant that the food that was produced in the UK was cheaper than the imported produce. This was good because it protected the farming system but made it so that the food produced locally was almost unaffordable. The same debate is happening in America today as they wish to promote US made goods by introducing protectionist ideals. Thomas Malthus believed that the population was growing rapidly and that the farms would be unable to support them. He believed that there would be famine or war that would lower the population. He was dismissed for a long time but is having a resurgence now.
Due to the industrial revolution, Manchester essentially became the centre of the world. The population rose from 17000 people in 1760 to 180,000 people in 1830. People came to marvel at the city because of all the wonders that were being produced. The price of this growth was terrible. The pollution was so bad that the buildings themselves were covered in soot, rickets and chest infections were common and the average height of people actually fell because of widespread malnutrition. This wasn’t just localised to Manchester, the conditions in most towns and cities in this period were uniform, with massive outbreaks of cholera being common.
The politics of the time was changing because of the massive changes that were going on in the country. When the world around you starts changing people ask why there can’t be change for them as well. With the amount of people moving into the cities there was a concentration of working class people for the first time. People became very class conscious since they were all going through the same hardships. The Governments response was brutal, people were often exported. For example, the Tolpuddle Martyrs were exported to either Australia or Tasmania for starting a union. The Peterloo massacre occurred in Manchester in 1819. People were gathered to express their dislike of the system and so the mounted police charged the crowd killing 11 people. The political system was completely corrupt, less than 2% of the population had the vote and rotten boroughs were common. One of the most famous rotten boroughs was Old Sarum, which had 11 voters and 2 MPs whereas Manchester had none.
The Corn Laws were brought in because the government were scared that farming in Britain would fade away. Ricardo argued that the farmers would have to either get more efficient or give up and accept foreign dominance. The farming at the time was very different to how it is now, they produced very little and what they did produce was very expensive. The government wanted people off the land and into the city. The Enclosures Act did exactly this; it was introduced so that there would be a higher workforce in the cities and more space for bigger farms in the country. This created the countryside that is present around Britain today, dominated by enormous fields. The Enclosures act had a crippling effect on Hampshire, forcing almost the entire adult male population into the army.
Because of the Enclosures Act there was an even larger amount of people in the towns and factories. The Prime Minister at the time (Peel) was campaigning for the repeal of the Corn Laws. The reasoning behind this was that by removing the corn laws, the price of food in the country would go down and the factory owners, of which Peel was one of them, could lower the wages given to their workers. The Corn Laws were repealed and wages fell; the utter lack of money that people had led to the creation of the Workhouse, inspired by Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarian’s believe that there should be lots of happiness and no pain, Bentham said that they need to give a solution to the poor but that the solution needed to be so awful that they wouldn’t want to do it. They cared about the poor but they don’t want to support them. The answer to this was the workhouse. You give people just enough food so that they survive but will doubtlessly die because of the lack of nutrition. The alternative was to work in the factories and get enough money that you can afford bread. Work in a factory and live or work in the workhouse and slowly but surely die.
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