From Past and Present: To Revolution and Struggle

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In the mid nineteenth century, England found themselves in the struggle of the Industrial Revolution. It was a time of uncontrollable technological advancement, producing social and economic conflicts. In 1843, there was a report of one and a half million unemployed in England (out of their current population of eighteen million people). The closing of factories and reduction of wages led to the start of severe rioting in the manufacturing districts. Unemployed angry protesters in those districts caused many observers to dread that a large-scale revolution was about to rise. Thomas Carlyle, a respected writer, after his work on the French Revolution, social critic, and bleak satirist, was so interested by the protesters that he postpones his studies into life and the times of Cromwell, to start his new views on the contemporary crisis. He didn’t believe that all races were created equal, but he supported the organization of labor and emigration. In seven weeks, Carlyle wrote From Past and Present to call for heroic leadership, since the aristocracy was preoccupied with getting wealthier as the labor classes struggled. He was aware that democracy was starting to spread, and it was unavoidable, but he didn’t believe that democracy could produce the heroic leaders he needed. In From Past and Present, Carlyle provides deep meanings to his views on liberty, his ideas of social classes, and his beliefs for the Leaders of Industry. But before his ideas of social classes appeared as well as his Leaders of Industry, he had a strong prospect over Liberty. Thomas Carlyle, during his time mainly supported Liberty for negroes and individual rights, especially for the working class. In From Past and Present, mainly focuses on the Liberty for th... ... middle of paper ... ...m the Conqueror, England’s labor class wouldn’t be protesting, as it would be during that era. Works Cited Dieterle, David Anthony. Economic Thinkers : A Biographical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2013. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Fleming, James E., and Linda C. McClain. Ordered Liberty : Rights, Responsibilities, And Virtues. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2013. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Freeman, Edward Augustus. William The Conqueror. Champaign, Ill. [P.O. Box 2782, Champaign 61825]: Project Gutenberg, n.d. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 9 Mar. 2014. Roshwald, Mordecai. Liberty : Its Meaning And Scope. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2000. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 9 Mar. 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/william_i_king.shtml

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