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The industrial revolution effects on society
Industrial revolution and its impact
What is the impact of the industrial revolution
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The Industrial Revolution is considered by historians as both a blessing, but also a curse. It lasted from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century in, which means it went on for 80 years. By the end of the Industrial Revolution, it change the old world into the modern one that we see today. In this essay, we’ll discuss how the reasons of Slavery, urbanization, and effects due to the revolution. Slavery’s end came first in the continent of Europe when serfs were kicked off the land of nobles due to machines powered by the steam engine. However in America, the ending of slavery was after a bloody civil war. Many historians agree or disagree that slavery in the America could have been ended due to the Industrial Revolution. The inventions
Robinson (1984) affirms that there exists a close relationship between the growth of capitalism and slavery. Slaves were the property of slave owners; slaves were dehumanised because they were commodities that were sold and they represented unfree labour (Robinson, 1984). According to Marx (1984, 45), the profits made by the slaves were prime to the primitive accumulation which then led to the growth of manufacturing and industrial capitalism. The value created by slave labour was appropriated by the metropole, and this created immeasurable disparities of wealthy between the colonies and the metropole, both historical wealth and contemporary wealth (Robinson, 1984). For example, the raw material used in production of textiles, which led the Industrial Revolution in Britain, was slave-produced. Robinson (1984:46) argues that the economic footing of slave labour and slavery formed the economic basis of the political ideologies that emerged from the French Revolution, i.e. liberty, equality and fraternity – thus the economy and politics are inseparable. One may thus argue that when colonialism (politics) was established, then capitalism (economy) was expanded, for example, the more colonies Britain had, the more capitalism grew. Slavery, says W.E.B du Bois, was a significant subsystem of capitalism and that at the centre of the economics of slavery was the idea of the racial superiority of non-black people (Robinson, 1984: 61). The underlying principle for the development of capitalism was slavery and it was thus not coincidental (Robinson, 1984: 47).
Slavery existed long before colonial times. Beginning in the 15 century, Portuguese slave traders adopted the slavery and plantation system, followed by the Spanish who virtually developed and perfected the two (Johnson 14). In 1452, the Portuguese colony of Madeira became the biggest exporter and supplier of sugar for Europe in the west (Johnson 14). Ultimately, the wealth they had made attracted thousands to the industry. For this reason, servants and slaves existed before Europeans came to North America. However, the difference between servants and slaves was based on economical and social factors. Between 1619 and 1750, racism and immeasurable profit from agricultural commerce together, became an incentive
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.
The Civil War lasted from 1861 until 1865 and became the deadliest war in United States history. Nobody had any idea that this war would become the deadliest war in American history. The Civil War was one of the coldest war in American history, Many army soldiers died during that war. Abraham Lincoln was a big help because of him slaves were free. At the time slavery was one of the main issues in America that caused a disagreement between the north and south.
"Perhaps worse than the physical pain was the psychological damage done to the slaves who were whipped" (Currie 47). If a person wasn't born a slave, they were forced into being one. Slaves were commonly captives from the losing side of a battle, even the defeated soldiers' families could be enslaved. People would also sell their children to pay off a large debt. Once a slave was captured, there was a journey to survive. They were transported in large cargo ships named slave ships. Here, they would travel up to months while suffering from mental and physical abuse. While on board, each slave was stripped naked and inspected by the captain or a surgeon. Men were shoved under the deck and fixed with heavily painful leg irons. At times, they were not even able to move, or stand, from being too crammed together. The women and children were kept in w different section of the ship. Occasionally, they would be let onto the deck of the ship to move around. Although, this often brought them sexual abuse from the crew. On days with good weather, slaves would be woken up in the middle of the morning to exercise on the deck. Usually, slaves were fed twice a day, but if they refused to eat they would be force fed ("Life" 2-3). Also, horrible hygienic conditions meant they were in constant risk of getting infected with diseases. A harmless disease could easily turn into a deadly one on a slave ship, and if a slave were to die, their dead body would be thrown overboard.
Slavery, like many ill-fated and evil inventions reached epidemic levels in early Europe and the American colonies. The history of slavery is documented most acutely during the period when slaves first arrived to the new land and when the colonies had first developed into the fledging United States of America. This would lead us to believe that slavery had not existed before this period or that the consequences and relevance of it had little historical, social, or economical importance. While some of this might be true, the act of enslaving other human being has existed for hundreds of before the Europeans ever reached and explored the continent of Africa. Proponents of slavery could argue that it is just a natural step in the evolution and development of civilized man. Historic data revealed that the African people form of enslavement on one another was drastically different then European and American way. Although slavery as we know it has been abolished, the consequences have had and will surely have everlasting effects on you, me and the future of every child
In summarising the impacts of slavery it is necessary to examine how economic impacts changed America. This then led to a political and cultural change as seen in Source A and Source B. One major impact was on society which later showed environmental disaster, especially in America.
Everybody has something they feel that makes their lives easier, something a person becomes so accustomed to they could not live without it. This is what African slaves were to the Southern colonists. Slavery was a huge factor in the Southerner’s lives. Originally the colonists used indentured servants to work in their homes and on their plantations. This situation was not ideal because the Southern farmers wanted more control over their workers (orange). Virginian farmers heard about the success of slavery in the Caribbean and thought it would be a good solution to their problems (blue). The southern colonists had a very different way of earning a living than in the north. They needed people to work through “the harsh realities of a land-rich, but labor-scarce economy…” (Purple). The plantation owners had all the land and resources, but no one to work on their grounds long term. Throughout the years 1607-1775, slavery rose as an important contributor to the South’s economy due to social, geographic and economic aspects.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change and increased efficiency. No more would be goods be produced by sole means of farming and agriculture, but now by the use of machinery and factories. Technology was beginning to increase along with the food supply as well as the population. However, this increase in population would greatly impact the social aspect of that time. Urbanization was becoming much more widespread. Cities were becoming overwhelmingly crowded and there was an increase in disease as well as harsh child labor. Although child labor would be reduced somewhat due to unions, the Industrial Revolution still contained both it’s positive and negative results.
The conclusion that can be made about slavery in the United States and across the world is a simple one: slavery is wrong. Slavery has been the cause of death for millions of people, is seen as a bloodstain in the blanket of America and lives on as the deeply planted root of racism in our country today. Yet, without it, it is also evident that the United States would be a completely different country, or quite possibly, not even a nation at all. Slavery has been a factor in the development of the United States since colonization of the Americas first began.
According to Wikipedia, Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human chattel that existed in the United State of America in the 18th and 19th centuries after it gained independence and before the end of the American Civil War. Slavery was practiced in British North America from the early colonial days. It was also in all of the thirteen colonies of the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. BY the time of the American Revolution (1775-183), the slaves already had associated with African Ancestry.
Industrial Revolution, which took place over much of the nineteenth century, had many advantages. It provided people with tools for a better life; people were no longer dependent on the land for all of their goods. The Industrial Revolution made it possible for people to control nature more than they ever had before. However, now people were dependent on the new machines of the Industrial Age (1). The Revolution brought with it radical changes in the textile and engine worlds; it was a time of reason and innovations. Although it was a time of progress, there were drawbacks to the headway made in the Industrial Revolution. Granted, it provided solutions to the problems of a world without industry. However, it also created problems with its mechanized inventions that provided new ways of killing. Ironically, there was much public faith in these innovations; however, these were the same inventions that killed so many and contributed to a massive loss of faith. These new inventions made their debut in the first world war (2) ).
The rise and output of slavery was the driving factor that built the economy in the Americas. As colonists spread throughout the americas obtaining more land, the need for labor increased dramatically. Tobacco production was booming and the need to keep up and obtain the crops increased as they realized the profit for the crop.
Beginning in the fifteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade refers to the process of trading goods for slaves. It was the practice in which African people were captured and exploited in labour, which provided mainly for the increasing consumerism of the developing new world. Africans were imported to America under the terms that they would benefit the uprising of America and the nation’s impression as a new colony in an international setting. However, conditions suffered by Africans through chattel slavery in America were inhumane and brutal, questioning whether the human cost of slavery was just by the means of the economic success of America. This argument will be justified through the study of the slave trade’s conduction, entitlement
From the 15th century to the 19th century, Britain was the leading European country in the slave trade market, transporting roughly 3.4 million slaves during this period. Most of the slaves were bought from Western or Central African countries such as Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. The slaves were then taken to newly colonized portions of the Americas, predominantly to islands in the Caribbean. The theological differences and commercial rivalry with Spain was only further aggravated the already contentious relationship when Cromwell began his Western Design campaign against them in 1654. In 1655, during the Anglo-Spanish war, the Cromwell lead military seized Jamaica, one of the major producers of sugar of the time. Through the Western Design, Cromwell sought to “shift the balance of power between the major European colonial powers in the Caribbean ”. This drive for economic and colonial expansion lead to the industrialization of Great Britain, something that would have never been possible if not for the capital growth and economic development vis-à-vis the Atlantic slave trade. In other words the establishment of slavery and the trade that it gave rise to, were the catalyst for an industrial revolution in Great Britain.