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2023

Estudios Interculturales en
Lengua Inglesa II

Colegio Ward
Colegio Ward Prof. Mariana Abia
Booklet I - Track I
( primer cuatrimestre)
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UNIT 1
1- The Last of the Stuarts

2- The War against France

3- Queen Anne and the politicians

4- The Act of Union 1707

5- The Succession question –

the change of dynasties

Queen Anne statue, St Paul's

The original statue was
erected on this spot in the
year 1712 to commemorate
the completion of Saint
Paul's Cathedral.
Francis Bird - sculptor.
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UNIT 2
1. Georgian politics . 1714 – 1763 . George I.

2. The new dynasty . The ruling class. The Cabinet.

3. Political developments, 1714 – 1754.

4. Prime Minister : Walpole

5. The Seven Years´ War

6. George II.

7. The expansion of Britain. William Pitt.

8. George III and the loss of American colonies.

9. The quarrel with the colonies. The road to revolution. Taxation without
representation.

10. The War of American Independence. Causes and consequences.

11. The Confederation and the Constitution.

12. North America: colonial life on the eve of revolt.

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 73

5
C O L ON IAL LIF E I N A M E RI C A

By th e year 1733 the English owned thi rteen ~<:para (c

co lonies alo ng the Atlantic coas t o f North Amer ica.
T h c- colo nies st retched fro m New Ha mpsh ire III the
north to Georgia in th e so uth. Most peo ple divid ed
rhcm iTHO three main g ro ups. Each g rou p had its
OW II w ay o fl ifc and character.

In the f ar no rth w as th e N ew England g rou p.

centered 0 11 M assachu setts. Since rhc"tim e of the
Pilg rim s the peo ple of New En gland had spread
inlan d and along the coast. Most w en.' sm all farmers
or craftsm en. working the stony so il an d governing
th em selves in sm all (ow ns and villages.
Oth er N ew Englan de rs depend ed o n ti l t' sea for a
living. They felled the trees of the reg ion's forests to
ML build ships. In th ese they sailed to carch cod or ( 0
trade w ith England and the WCSt Indies. B OS lOll and
ot her coas tal towns g rew int o busy po ns. Their
• prosperity depended on trade.
•> •
. 1.

- .-5-
T•
A;LA~TJC
aCEA"
The ne ares t colonies to the so uth of New England
w ere called the Middle C olonies. The biggest w -crc
N ew Yo rk and Pen nsyl vani a. A'i> III New England .
m ost o f their peo ple lived by farm ing . But in the
ei t il~ o f N ew York and Philadel phi a there w ere
g ro w ing nu mbers o f cra ftsmen and merchants.
Philade lphia wa s the capital ofPennsylv ania. ll)" 1770
it wa s th e largest cit y in Am eri ca. wi th 2g.000
inh abiranrs.

I'i"'"lSenl'<lbetore
Lid 1650
~ Senled belween
I.S...J 16SO and 1700

A bbr~" iali ons:

M E. . ..h inc N.J. N cw Jt·n.<:>·

N.H. N ........Ilam psbire DEL. Ot-b ....arc-
M A SS. M n s.., h uS("lt ' MO. Maryb nd
R.I. Rhud e' " b nd VA . Virgini.1
N.Y. N e.... Yo rk N .C . North Ca rolina
CONN . C o nn«t in n S.C. Soulh Carolina
PA . I'rn n. ylu nia GA . G.:o rgia
20

Cities and trade
In 17(10 most Am eri cans were far me rs. But
important towns had grown IIp w hose people
earned their living by trade and manufact uring.
Philadelphia. wit h its 28,000 inhabitants. was the
largest. An Engli sh visitor marveled at the speed
with w hich it had grown. "It IS not ;111 hun dred
years since the first tree was cut where the city
now stands," he wrote. "and now it has more
than three thousand six hundred houses."
The size of Philadelphia was not the only thing
that impressed visitors. Long before most English
cities. its street s we re paved with brick and srrccr
lamps were lit e\'cry night. The only exception to
this was when the moon was shining. to r 'the
citizens of Philadelphia did not believe in wasting
money!
The next biggest cities afte r Philadelphia we re
New York and Boston, with about 25,IXX) people
each. All three towns owed much of their pros-
perity to the profits of the transatlantic tra de tha t
they carried on with England . Their ships exporte-d
furs, rirnbcr. tobacco, and cotton , and brought
back fashion able clothes. fine furniture , and other
manufactured goods. Their merchants also traded
with one another.
This inrcr-Amcn can rrade helped to produce a
feelin g between the cities that they all belonged to
the same Ame rican nat ion.
I I... .-, ,,"" I " . " /.·.·1 d I"
1'liil .I,I J" . II' n k r ( ."tl r
,
, "
74
5 COl.(lN I A. L u e IN AMERIC A
Th e people of the M iddle Colonies we re- usually
more toleran t of religiou s and other differences than
the New Englanders. Many of thc m also had
Ge-rman, Dutch or Swedish ancestors rathe r than
English ones.
'I'he Southern Col oni es of Virgini a. rhc C arolinas
and Georgia fo rmed the third group. In th eir hot and
fertile river valleys wealthy landowners farmed large
plantations, T he y lived in fine hou ses, w ith wide.
cool verandahs from w hich tht'y cou ld look out OVCT
their fields of to bacco or corron. Most of the work III
the fields was done by black slaves. Slavery w as rare
111 the other American colonies. Bur the pros perity of
the plantation-owning southerne rs was already
beginning to depend upo n it.
The houses o f the southern plantation owne rs had
exp ensive fu rniture, m uch o f it imported from
Europe. Close b y stood groups o f smaller, mort'
simple buildin gs -c srablcs. was hho uses, blacksmiths'
shops and the linlc hut s in which the black slaves
lived. And almost always a river flowed near by. w ith
a w harf wher e sea-going ships coul d be loaded to
carr y the planta tion's crops to England .
In all three grou ps o f colonies mos t people still lived
less than fifty miles from the Coast, This was called
"t he tid ewater' period o fse ttlemen t. Those peopl e
furthest inland had traveled up tid al riv ers like the
James ami the H udson, clearin g the trees and setting
up farms alo ng their bank s,
During the fift y years after 1733 sett lers moved
deeper into rhc counucur . T hey tra veled west IIll0
 75
A Ne w W OItIIJ

central Penn sylvani a. cutt ing down forests o f oak

trees to make hilly farms . T hey spr ead wes twar d
along the river valleys in Virg inia, the C aroli nas and
Georgia. T hey moved no rth alon g the ferti le valley
ofrhc Mohavv·k River o f New Yo rk .
Making a new settlement always bega n in the same
w ay. The sett lers cleared the land oft rees, then cut
the trees into logs and planks. They used thes e to
bu ild Ahouse and a ba rn . They then ploughed
bet ween the tree stumps. sowed their seeds, and four
months later harvested the crops ofco m ami w heat.
If thei r soil was fertil e the sett lers lived well. But If
the soil was rocky. or poor in plant foods. life could
be hard and disa ppointing. Settl ers with po or soil
often left their farms and moved wes twa rd, to tr y
again on more ferti le land. As they trave led inland
they passed fewer and fewe r far ms and villages. At
lasr there we re none at all. This area. where Euro pean
set tlement carne to an end and the fo rest ho melan ds
of the A merindians began, was called the frontier .
Daniel Boone and the
Wilderness Road
In th e 1760s land-hungry Am erican settle rs mov-
lIlg westwards w ere stopped by a major obs tacle,
the Appalachian Mountains. This thickly fores ted
mountain tJnge runs rou ghl y parallel to the
Atlantic coast of N orth America and stretc hes for
hund reds of miles.
When sett lers reached the foot hills of the Appal-
achians the y fou nd waterfalls and rapids bloc king
the rivers they had been followi ng wes twards. In
In s a hunter and explorer nam ed D aniel Boone
led a party of settlers mro the mountain s. Boone is
said to have claimed that he had been " o rdained by
Go d to settle the wilderness;" With a party o f
thi rty axmc n he cut A track called the Wilderness
Road throug h the forested Cumberland G Ap, a
natural pass in the Ap palachians.

Fresh waves ofsettlers pu shed the frontier steadily Beyond the Cumberland Gap lay rich. roll ing
wes twa rds in their sea rch fo r fertile soil. T hey would grasslands. In the years which followed , Boone's
often pass by land that seemed unsuitable for Wilderness Road enabled thousands of settlers to
farming . Because of rhis, frontier farms and villages move with horses, w agons. and cattle inro these
we re often separated by milt'S of unse ttled land. A fertile: lands. They now make up the American
fam ily m ight be a da y's journey from its near est sta tes of Kentucky and Tennessee.
neigh bors. Fo r such reasons the people cffron ticr
ro m munitics had to rely upo n themselves fo r almost
everyth ing th ey needed . They grew their own food
and built their own houses. They made the clot hing
they wore and the tools they used . They developed
their own kinds of music, cntcrrainm cnr. a rt and
form s of religious worship.
A special spirit, or attitude, grew out of th is fron tier
wa y o flife . People needed to be to ugh, ind ependent
and self-reli ant . Yet the y also needed to work
to gether, helping each other with such tasks JS
d earing land and building hou ses and barns. The
com binatio n of these ew e idcas c-a strong belief that
individuals had to help themselves and J need fo r
them to cooperate with aile anorh cr--csrrengrhcncd
the feeling that people were equal and th at nobod y
should have special rights and privileges.
Th e fronti er wa y of life helped democratic ideas to
flourish in Ameri ca. T oda y's Am eri cans like to think
rhar m any of the best values and att itudes of the
modern United Stat es CJn be tr aced back to the Danit/ &>""t tMoni".Il MI/en "" Iht lI'i/J,.",tu R....J
frontier experiences of their pioneer ancestors.
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 76
5 C O LU N IAL L I H . IN A ."lLRI CA

.i pI"",,,,;,,,, p"n in Ch"s.lp.." k.. Bar .

Governors and assemblies

All th e Eng lish colon ies In America sha red a
tradition of represent ative govern m..nt . This
means that in all of them peo ple had a say in ho w
they w er e governed. Each colo ny had its own
gov ernmen t . At th e head of th is governme nt was
a go vernor, chosen in most cases by th e En glish
king . T o rule effectively , these govern o rs de-
pended upo n th e cooperat ion of assemblies elected
by th e colo nists .
In most o f th e colo nies all white male s who o w ned
some land had the right to vote, Sinc e so m any
colon ists owned land. this m eant that far more
peo ple had the vote in America th an in England
itself-or in any other European country at thi s
run e.

2J

6
TH E R O OTS OF R EV OLU TI ON
In the: eighteenth cen tury Britain and Prance fough t
several m aj or wars. T he struggle betwee n th em W l '!H
a ll in Europe. Asia and N o rth Am erica.
In North Amer ica. France claim ed to O W II Ca nada
and Lo uisiana. Ca nada. or N ew Fralin ', ex ten ded
no rth fro m th e Sf. L J. \ \'f CIl CT Ri ver and so ut h
towards th e frontie r areas ofth e En gl ish co lo n ies 0 11
the Atlantic coas t. Lo uisiana. nam ed for th e Frenc h
king, Lo uis X IV. stretched across th e cen ter of the
continent . It includ ed all th e land s drained by the
Mi ssissippi River and its rnburatic s.
In th e middle of the eig hteent h n ' lH u ry most of the
for ests and plains of bot h o f thcsc vas t areas we re still
un expl or ed by Europeans. 'n it' French claim to
own rhcm was based upon journeys ma de in the
previo us cen tury by tw o fam ous ex plo rers.
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T he first o f't hcsc explorer'> was Samuel de
Champlain. From 1603 onwards , ChJ.tIIp1J.in
explored the lands on both sides o f th e St. Lawrence
River and set up trading posts there. T he two most
impo rtant of these poses late r grew into the cities of
Q uebec and Montreal.
The o ther French e xplo rer was Ik nr: La Salle. La
Salk' was J. fur. trade r, explorer and em pire builder all
III o ne. ln th e 1670s he ex plo red th e valley of the
Mississippi. " lr is ucar fy all so beaut iful and so
fertile," he wrote. "So full of meadows. brooks and
rivers: so abo unding III fish and veniso n that one can
find here all Chat is needed to support flo ur ishin g
col on it's. Th e soil w ill produ ce everyt hi ng tha t is
g rown in France."
TI,,· HririlJ. "'M"~· <'11 Qu<lH-i.

La Salk' paddled for thousands of mi les down the
Mississip pi. At last he reached th e Gulf of M exico .
where the g n·ar nvcr em pties into the sca. Some
year s later the French set up a tradin g post th ere. In
future years thi s became the city of N ew Orleans.
The French claim th at Louis iana belon ged to them
worr ied both the British government and the
American co lo nists. A glance at a map explains why .
Suppose France sent sol diers to occupy the
Mississip pi valley. They would be able to kee p lilt'
co lonists to the cast ofthe Ap palachian M ount ains
an d stop th em fro m m oving westwards.
Aft er several wars earl ier in the eig hteenth centur y,
III 175(, Bri tain and France bega n figh ting the Seven
Years War . This is known to Am erican s :IS the
f-rench and Ind ian Wa r.
Led by their forcefu l Prim e Mi nister . Williant Pitt the
Elder , the British sent m oney an d soldiers to N orth
America. In 1758 Hrinsh and co lon ial fo rces cap tu red
the Fren ch strongholds of Lo uisbur g 0 11 th e Gulf of
SL Law ren ce and Fort D uq uesne 011 the Ohio River.
In 1759 th ey took Quebec. In 17(,0 M ont real fell to
them . TtK' war w as ended by the Peace o f liaris,
whi ch wa s signed in 1763. Fra nce ga\'t' up its claim to
Canada an d to all ofNorrh Am erica east of the
Mississippi River.
Britain had wall an Em pire. But its victory led
directl y to conflict wi th its American co lo nies. Even
befo re rhc final defeat of the French. colonists in
search of better land began to m o ve over the
App alach ian M o unt ains into the Oh io valley. T o
prev cm wa r with th e Amerindian tr ibes w ho live d III
the area. th e Eng lish king . Geo rge 111. issued a
procla m ation in 1763. It fo rbade co lonists to set tle
west of'thc Ap palachians unt il propl'r treaties had
been m ade wi th th e Am erindians.
The king 's pr oclam at io n angere d the co lonists. They
became ang rier still when the British govern me nt
told them that they must pay new tax es on im ports
ofsuga r, co ffee. textiles, and other go ods. The
gove rnm en t also told them rhar the y m ust feed and
find sh elt er for British so ldiers it planned to keep III
the colonies. Thes e o rders seem ed perfectly fair to
Brit ish politician s. It had cos t Bri tish taxpayt"rs a lor
of money to defend the colo nies during th e French
and Ind ian War. Surely. th ey reasoned. th e co lonists
could no r o bjecr ro repa yin g: SOl11 l' oft his money?
(, T ill, n oo n
78
01 REVO L U T IO N
Trade laws and "sleeping dogs"
Until th e 1760s most A m erican s see med q uite
co nte nt to be ruled by Bri tai n. An llu p0rtant
reason for th is w as th e presen ce of rhc Fren ch in
N orth Am erica. So lon g as Fran ce held Canada
and Loui siana. rhe colonists felr tha t they need ed
th e British na\'y and so ld iers to protect the m.
Another re aso n th e coloni sts accep ted British rul e
wa s that rhc British govern me nt rar ely interfered
in co lonial affairs.
A cent ur y earlier the B rit ish Parliamen t had passed
some laws called Navigat io n Act s. These listed
certa in products called "enu m era ted co mmodities"
th at the co lo nies we re forbi dden to e xpo rt to allY
count ry ex cept Eng land, It w as easy for the
colonists to avo id obeying th ese law s, The long
American coa stline made sm uggling easy,
T he co lonists di d not care m uch eithe r ab o ut
import taxes , or duti es . that they wer e supposed
to pay 011 goods from abroad, T he d ut ies we re
light and carclcsslv collected . Few merchants
bothe red to pay them . And agai n. smuggling w as
eJ.s}" . Ships could unload th eir carg oes o n h un-
dr eds of lo nclv wharves wi tho ut customs o ffi cers
kno wi ng.
When a Uritish Prim e M inister named Ho bert
Wa lpok was asked why he did not do more to
enforce the tr ade laws. he replied: " Let slee ping
do gs lie. " He knew the independent spi rit o f the
British co lonists in America and w an ted no
trouble with them. The trouble began w he n late r
British politicians forgot his ad vice and aw o ke the
"sleeping dogs."
Bur the colonists di d o bject. M erch an ts believed th at
the new im po rt taxes w ou ld m ake it more diffi cu lt
fo r the m to tude at a pr ofit. Other co lon ists bel ieved
th at the tax es would raise th eir cos ts ofliving. T hey
also feared that if British troops stayed in Amer ica
th ey mi gh t be used to for ce them to obey rhc Uritish
govern me nt. This last o bjectio n was all carlv
example o f 3 belief that became an import ant
rradir io n in American political life-that peopl e
sho uld !lot allow governments to become too
powe rfu l.
 79

In 17(,5 the British Parliament passed ano ther new

law called the Stamp Act. T his too w as intended ro
rai ~l' money to pay fo r the dcf..use of th e colo nies. It
said that the col oni sts had to buy special ta x stam ps
and attach rhem to newspapn s, licenses, and legal
paper s suc h as wills and mortg ages.
Ever since the earlv yea rs of th e Vir ginia settlement
Americans had claimed till." right to elect
rcp rcscut aeivcs to dec ide the taxes they paid. Now
they insisted that as "freeborn Englishmen" th ey
could be taxed only by their own colonial assem blies.
We hav e no rcprcscntanvcs in the Uritish Parliament ,
they said, so what right do cs it have to tax LIS? "N o
taxation without representation' bec ame their
dema nd.
In 1765 representat ives from nine colonie, met in
N ew York . They fo rmed the " Stam p Act Cong ress"
and o rganized o ppos ition to the Stamp Act. All over
rhc colonies merchant s and shopkeepe rs refused to
sell British goods until the Act w as wi thdrawn . In
Boston and other cities ang r y mobs attacked
government officials selling the stamps. Most
colon ists SImp ly refused to use them .
T ile /1"-,,,,.. Tea 1'.trty.

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Samuel A da ms a n d the Boston
Massacre
Samuel Ad ams w as a polit ician and writer who
organized op position in M assachusetts TO the
British tax laws. He believed in the idea of "no
tax ation w itho ut rep resentation ." In articles and
speeches he attac ked rhc Brit ish govern me nt 's
claim that it had the righ t to tax the col onis ts.
On March 5. 1no, a Boston mob began to shou t
insult s at a group o f British sold iers. Angry words
w ere e xchanged. St icks and STOnes beg an to fly
through the air at the so ldiers. One of the crowd
tried to rake a soldie r's gu n and the soldier shor
him. Without any o rde r fro m the officer in charge.
more shots were fi red and rhree mo re members o f
the crowd fell dead . Seve ral others we re wounded.
Samuel Ad ams used this "Boston Massacre " to
stir up A merican opinion against the British. H e
w ro re a letter w hic h inaccur ately described the
happeni ng as an unprovoked attack on a peaceful
grou p of citizens. H e sent om copies of the lette r
to all the colon ies. T o make his account mo re
All this o pposi tion forced the British governm ent to
withdraw the Stamp A ct . But it was determined TO
show the colo nists that it had the right TO tax them.
Parliament passed another law called the D eclaratory
Act. This stated that the British governme nt had
"fi.11I power and aut hori ty (o ver) the colonies and
people of Am eri ca in all cases whatsoever; "
In 1767 the British plac.-d new taxes 0 11 tea, paper,
paint, and various othe r goo ds that the colonies
imported from abro ad. A special customs office w as
set up in Bosron to collect the ne w duties. Again the
colonists refused to pay. Riot s broke out in Boston
and the Briti sh sent so ldiers to kee p order. It was no t
until 1770 , w hen the British removed all the duties
C'xcept for the one on tea, that there was less t rouble.
But some co lonists in M assachusett s wer e
determined to keep th e qua rrel go ing. In December
1773, a group of them disguised them selves as
Mohawk Am erindians. T hey boa rded British
merchant ships in Boston harbor and threw 3-12 cases
of tea mro the sea. "l hope that King Geo rge like s salt
In his tea;" said one of the m.
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(, T ill. HOOTS OF H EVOLFIION
convincin g. he asked a Boston silve rs mith na med
Paul Rever e to make a d ramatic pictu re o f the
"Massacre. " H un dreds of co pies were printed.
Adams' letter and Rever e's picture were seen by
thousands of people throughout the colonies.
T ogcrhcr they did a great deal to strengthen
o pposition to B ritish rule.
T he Brit ish reply to this " BOSlOlI Tea Part y" was to
pass a set oflaws to pu nish Massachusett s. Col onis ts
soon began calling these laws the " Intolerable Acts."
Boston har bor was closed to all trade until the tea
w as paid for . More soldiers were sent there to keep
order. T he po wer s of the colo nial assembly of
Massachusett s wac greatly reduced.
O n june 1, 1774, llritish warships rook up position at
the mout h of BOSTOn harbo r to make sure that no
ships sailed in or o ut. A few months later, in
Septem ber 1774, a gro up of colonial leaders came
to geth er III Philadelphia. T hey fo rmed the First
C on tinental Congress to 0 ppOSt' w hat the y saw as
British oppression.
The Continent al Cong ress claimed to be loya l to the
British kin g. But it called upon all Americans to
support the peop le o f M assachu setts by refusing to
buy British goods. M any colonis ts we nt furth er than
this. T hey began to organize themselves into grou ps
of part-time so ldiers. or "militias," and TO gather
together w ea.pons and am m unition.
27

7
FI GHT IN G FO R I N D EP E N D E N C E
O n the night of Ap ril 18. 1775. 700 British soldiers
m arched silently out o f Bosto n. Their order s we re to
.scizc w eapons and am m unitio n that rebellious
colo nists had stored III Conco rd. a nearb y [O\ ",T I.
13m th e colo n ists w e re warne d th at th e so ld iers were
co rning. Sig nal ligh ts were hung fro m th e spire o f
Bosto n's ralles r church and rwo fast ride rs, Paul
Revere and Willia m Dawt"S.jum pcd m ro thei r
sad dles and galloped o ff wi th the n ew s.
In th e village of Lexingto n th e British fo und scvc lHy
American m iliti am en, farmers and tradesm en .
barri ng th eir way. These par t-ri m e so ldie rs w ere
known as "Minu rcm cn.v- Tbis was because th ey had
prom ised to rake up ar ms im mcdiarcly -c in a
m inutc- w he ne ver rhl')' we re need ed.
T he British co mma nde r ordered the M inut em en to
return to th eir homes. T hey refused. T I1l'n so meone,
no bod y knows w ho , ti red a shot. O ther sho ts carne
fro m the lin es of British so ldiers. Eight M inut emen
fell dead. The fi rst sho ts had been fin-d III w hat was
to beco m e the A me rican War of lndcpcnd cncc.
81
The British soldier s reached C o nco rd <I few hours
later and destroyed so me of th e we apo ns and
g un po w der there. But by th e time they set off ro
retur n to Hosron hund reds more M inut em en had
gathered. Fro m th e th ick woods o n each side o f the
Boston road they sho t do wn. on e b y one, 273 British
soldiers. T he soldiers we re still und er arrack w hen
they arrived back in Bosto n. A ring ofarmed
A meri cans gathered rou nd the city.
T he next month. May 1775, a second Conti nent al
Cong ress m et in Philadelphia and began to an as an
A meri can natio nal government. It set up an arm y of
17,000 m en under the comma nd of George
Washi ngton. Wash ington w as a Virginia landow ne r
and sur veyo r wi th "ex perience of fightin g in the
French and Indian War. T he Cont inenta l C ongress
also sent rep resent atives ro SC1.,k aid from friendly
European na tion s - especially fro m France, Britain's
old enem y .
itr;,i,l, joIJ ;.-n firi..g " " ,II.. .\f;ru'lno,m " I l1.>:i".I:'"'' i .. l iiS. :\
(ourm 'pomry mgr" ";".1: Nsd orr" , ktub by a" tyt· ..·;,,,..u,

IN COXG RESS,
The Ilc cb u u Ol1 of
Indrp<Tuk1K..-.
By the following yea r th e fig hting had spread beyo nd
Massach usetts. It had gro w n in to a fu ll-scale w ar.
On July 2, 1776, the Continen tal C o ng ress finally
took th e step that mall YAmericans believed w as
inevi table . It n it all po litical tics w ith Britain and
declared that " these U ni ted C o lonies an.', and of rig ht
ough t to be, free and independent states." ·1\ v 0 da ys
later. on J uly ~, it issued the [)a larati" " of
Independence,
Th e D edaronon ,~f lndependcnc c is the m ost un po n anr
document in American histo ry. lt was w ritten by
Tho ma s j eff erso n. a Landowne r and law yer fro m
Virg inia. Aft er repea ting that th e colonies were now
"free and ind ependent sta tes." it officially na med
them the United Slates of America .
One o f th e first m embers o f the Conrincnral
Cong ress to sign th e D cdaratio n oj bJdl'pmdmlt' w as
82
JULY 4, '716.
J oh n H anco ck o f M assach usett s. Hanco ck picked up
the pen and w rot e his name in large. clear letters-
" large enough," he said, "for King George to read
wi thout his spectacles."
The D cciaratiou of JlldCI'ClldCJ1(Cw as m o re than a
statem ent th at the co lo nies we re a ne w nation. It abo
set our the ideas behind th e chan ge that w as bein g
made. It claimed [hat all m en had a natural right to
" Life, libert y and the pursui t of happiness. " It also
said that govern me nts can only justly claim th e TIght
to rule if they have th e agreement of those they
govern - "the consent of the governed . "
Ideas such as the se were a central part of the-po litical
traditions that the co lon ists' ancesto rs had brought
w it h th em from England. Colonial leaders had also
studied them in the writings ofa n Engli sh political
thinker named j o hn Locke. M enlike J etTerso n
co m bined Lo cke's ideas with their o w n l'xpcn encc o f
29

A Nt.w WOR LII
Thomas Paine, the voice of
revolution
O ne of th..: most influc urial vo ices calling for
American indepe ndence was tha t of an En glish-
man . H e W;(S a Republican named T homas Paine,
who immigrated to America in 1774.
T w o years later. in a brilliantly written pamphlet
called CommOIl Sense. Paine beca me om: of the
first to persuade Americans to make a co m plete
break with Br itain . "Ever yt hing that is right o r
reaso nable cries fo r separa tion." he claimed. '''T is
time to part! "
eMl l lIIOII S Cl/St' made Paine famous. It had an
eno rm ous effect on Am erican op inion and pre-
pared people's minds for independence. It was
read on fronnc r farms and on city street s. Officers
life in America to produce a new defi nition o f
democra tic government. T his new definition said
that governments should cons ist of represent atives
elected by the people. It also said that the main reason
that govern men ts existed w as to protect the rights of
individual citizens.
"
.
83
read pans of it to their troops. George Washington
descr ibed its arguments as "sound and un answ er -
able.''
Later in 1776, as Washin gt on's discouraged ar my
retreated from the advancing British, Paine rallied
the Americans wi th a new pamp hlet called The
Crisis. Its words ate still remem bered in times o f
difficulty by Americans today. 'These arc the
times th at rry men' s souls," Paine w rote. "The
sum me r sol dier and the sunsh ine patriot w ill, m
this crisis, shri nk fro m the service of his count ry;
bu t he that stands /l OW dese rves the love and
thanks of man and woman ." In one of the darkest
hours of the war Paine's words hel ped to save
Washin gto n 's armie s from melt ing aw ay and
inspired new suppo rters to join th e American
cause.
After some early successes . the American s did bad ly
in the w ar against the Bri nsh. Wash ington's army
w as more o f all armed mob than an effective fighting
fo rce. Few of the men had any mili tar y tr aining and
many obeyed onl y those orders rhar suited them .
O fficers quarr eled cons tantly ove r th eir rank and
.-Imn;("" gOln,,1 .' ·"11,,,,,
Heard
u ddi".1: lilt lJ<-dudtion of
In.kpm<knu ,,, his " ""ps.
 84
7 r i Gl ITINC f O il l r.:l ll f't N D EN C L

authority. Washington set to work to tr ain his me n

and turn them into disciplined soldie rs. Our thi s took The Marquis de Lafayette
time. and meanw hik the Americans suffered dcfca r
after defeat. In September 1776, only tw o 11I0mhs In 1777 the M arquis de Lafayett e, a rwc nt y- vcar-
aft er the Dedaration of independence. the British old French aristocrat. landed in Am erica. He carne
captured New York City. Wdshington wrorc to Ius partly to fight for a new and free society, Bu r he
brother that he feared that the Am ericans w ere very came also to avenge the death of his father. w ho
close to losing thr- w ar. had died figh ting the Brit ish in the French and
Ind ian War.
Success began to come to rhc Americans in O ctober
1777. They rrapped a British army of almos t ("OOO Lafayette served without Pay in (he American
men at Sara tog a in northern New York . The British arlllY and became a major-general on the sta ff o f
com man der was cur otffrom his supplies and his George Washin gton , In the next four years he
men we re facing starvation. lie was forced to fough t in nlJny batt les. provmg himself to be J
su rrender. The Am ericans marched their prisoners to brave and dcrcrrnmed so ldier. H e won Washing-
Boston . H ere. after swea ring never again to fight ton's respect and fnendship and played a part in
agains t the Americans. rhc prisoners were pur o n the final defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781.
board ships and sent back to En gland.
When the wa r ended Lafayett e returned to Prance.
Uenj ami n Frank lin. the American ambassado r to Th ere he continued to su ppo rt Am erican int erests.
France, w as delighted w hen he received t he news of Whl'll the French revolution brok e our in 1789,
the vicro r v at Saratoga, l ie used it to persuade the political 0PPOlll'lltS had Lafayette imprisoned and
French go vern ment to j oin in the Stru ggle again st cook aw ay his estates. But LafJyeu l"s American
Britain. In Februar y 1 77~ , the French king, Lou is friend s di d not forget him . In 1794 Congress
X V l. signed an alliance w ith the A mericans, Frenc h vot ed him his unclaimed general's pay of S24, 424.
ships, sold iers and mo ney we re soon playing all A few years later it granted him land in Louisi ana .
impo rtant part in the war.
In 1824 the now agin g Lafavene returned to visit
From 1nH onwa rds most of the figh ting rook place the U nited Stares. The Ameri can peo ple greeted
in the sou thern colonies . It was here that the wa r him JS a hero, J living sy mbol o f the birth o f their
came to an end. In Sept em ber 1781. George nation.
Washington. leadin g a com bined American and
French army. surrounded 8,000 British troop s under
Gl'neral Cornwallis at Yo rktown, 0 11 the coast o f
Virgi nia, C ornw allis was worried. bur he expected
Bnrish ships to arrive and rescue or reinforce his
army , When shi ps arrived off Yorktown , however,
the y were French ones. Com wnllis was trap ped.
O n October 17, 178 1, he sur rendered his ar my to
Washin gton. Whe n the news reached Lo ndon the
British Prim e MlIlister. Lord North. thre w up his
hands in despair. ..It is all over!" he cried.
No rth was righ t. T he Briti vh star red to withdraw
(heir forces from Ame rica and Brit ish and American
representatives began to discuss peace term s. In ti ll'
Treaty of Paris. which was signed in September
1783, Britain officiall y recognized her former
colonies as an ind ependent nation. T he treaty granted
the new U nite d Stares all of North America from
Canad a in the nort h to Florida ill the sou th, and from
the Atlantic coas t to rhc M ississippi River

31

A NEW NATION
8
FORMIN G T HE NEW NATION
T he T reaty of Paris had recognized the U nited States
as an in de pend ent nation. B'Jt it wa s not one natio n
as It is today . In 1783 m ost Americans felt more
lo ya lt y to their o wn state tha n to the new U nited
States. T hey saw themselves fir st as Virginians or
N ew Yo rkers rathe r tha n as Am ericans.
n tt p..l.iMit slrnbo.,ls "flht Ilt'U' rut;"" ..•\liss l.i /lnt r h<,ld. fI,,·
" ' " 'jl.l.( .mJpl"'N lh. I.m"' U'Tt"lh ofv;a,,'Y" 11 Gr,"g.
I f "shi.,.~r.m 's IIro1<l. Thr .1 ",..,;(,... ('<I.ek flits ",·crnr"J.
32
85
Each ind ivid ual A me rican state had its OW II
govern ment and behaved vcry much like an
independent co untry. It mad e its own law s and its
o w n decisio ns ab out ho w to Hill its affairs. T he first
big problem that faced th e new U nited States w as
ho w to join together these so me times quarrels o m e
little co untries into on e uni ted na tion.
During th e War of Independence the sta res had
ag reed to w or k to geth er in a na tion al C on gr ess to
w hich each sta te sent rcprcseneauves. T he ag ree m ent
tha t set u p this piau for the sta tes to coo perate with
o ne another w as called the Anicks of Confede ratio n.
It had beg uu to o perate in 1781.
U uder th e Articles o f C on fedcrario n th e central
government of the United Stares w as \'er y weak. h
was given cert ain rig ht s. but it had no power to ma ke
those rights effec t ive. C o ngr ess could vot e to set up a
United States army and navy, but it co uld o nly
obtain soldiers an d sailors by asking th e sta tes fo r
them . It could vo te to spend m on ey. but ir had no
power to co llect taxes to raise th e m o m'y. T his
caused serio us problems. W hen. fo r ex ample,
Cong ress need ed mone y to pay debt s owed to
Fran ce, so me states refused to pay.
Wh en th e War o f Independence was over. individual
states bega n to be ha ve m ore and m o re like
ind ep endent nat ions. Some set up tax bar riers against
others. N ew Yo rk placed heavy im port du ties o n
firew ood impo rted from th e neigh bo ring state of
Connecticut and on chickens and eg gs fro m ano ther
neig h bo r. N ew J ersey. In some places states ev en
began fig hting one an ot her to decid e the o w ne rship
of part icula r pieces of fron tier land.
T he weak ness ofits government m ade it di fficult fo r
the new U nited States to win th e respect o r th e hel p
offoreign na tions. The Bri tish felt that th e Am erican
go vernm ent was so weak th at it was no t wort h
dealing w ith. Geo rge III w as sure rhar the Americans
would soon be begging to rej o in the British Em pire .
 1'1 F O Il ."II N G Til E New
86
N.\TlON

Even Fran ce. the ally of the Americans d uring th e cen tral governme nt. All o f th em were rich men .
Wat of ln dcpcudence. re fu sed to recogniz e Cong ress T hey believed tha t a stro nge r cent ral government
as a real government. Thomas j eff erso n. now th e would pro tect their property and business inter ests.
Am erican rcp rcscnranvc in France, wrote ho m e sadly
The o rigi na l pu rpose of the Constitu tional
that the United States was th e least import ant and
Convcn non was simply to revise the Art icles of
least respected ofall the nations w ith e mbassies in
C on federation. But the delega tes did mort" than th is.
Pans.
They starte d afresh and worked out a co mpletely
Many A me ricans became worried about the future. new sys tem o f government for the U ni ted States.
How could thcv w in the trust ofother nat ions if they They set o ut th e plan for this government in a
refused to pay their debts? H o w could the Count ry do cument called th e C onstitution Ofthe UI/ited S tiltes.
prosper if the states contin ued to q uarrel among
The Constitution gave the U nit ed Sta res a " fede ral"
therusclvcsf George Washing to n w as usually all
system of govern me nt. A federa l system is on e in
optimist. But even he w ro te: " I predict the worst
which the power 10 rule IS shared . A cen tral. o r
cotlSequell ces from a half-s tarved . limping
federal, autho rity has so me of it and till' rest is in the
government, alw ays m ov ing on crut ches and
hand s oflocal autho rities ill th e separate regions tha t
to ttering at eve ry step."
m ake up the co un try.
It was clea r t hat fo r the United Stat es to sur vive there
T he new Co nstitut io n still left th e individual state
would ha vc to be.' changes in the Articlcs of
gov ern ment s wi th a wide range of powers. Hut it
Co nfederat ion . In February 1787, Congress asked
m ade the federal government much stronger than
each state to send delegat es to a meeting o r
befo re. It gan' it the po wer to collect taxes, to
"conven tion;" in Philadelp hia to talk about such
organ ize arm ed fo rces, to ma ke treaties w ith fo reign
changes. T he smallest state, Rh od e Island, refused ,
co untries and to co ntrol tr ade ofall kinds.
but the other twelve ag reed. T he mee ting became
known as the Constitutional Convention. It bega n III The Constitmion ma de arrangements for the election
May I7H7, and fifty-five m en attended. They chose of a nat io nalleader called the Presiden t to take cha rge
Ccorgc Washington 10 lead th eir discuss ions. of th e federal government. He would head th e
"execu tive" side ofthe natio n's government. It
The delegates to the Constitu tional Convention
would be his job to run the country's everyday affairs
disag reed about th e changes th at were needed. So m e
and to sec thai people obeyed th e laws.
were anxious to protect the rights of the indi vidual
stares. At till" same tim e most wa nted a stronger

.'-..
THE LEG ISLATIVE
BRANCH THE JUOIC IA J
BRANCH
' j)
,_ H _.
~~
/ --'""

E~p lains and

i nt erp ret s the Law s
and the Const itution
S ec.etaries - V ice -P resid e nt
Se nate appoi nt ed b~ - elect ed ..... it h
t he P reSident t he Pre s ident

CONGRESS THE PRESIDENT THE SUPREME COURT

A p po int ed by th e P reside nt wit h
Eleel the advice and consent of t ho
Senate
I
Electoral Vot ers N .B. The rules and a rra nge me nt s for
Ihe Government of t he U. S. A. shown
here are laid do wn in the COIIslitutlOfl .
This ..... ntten document defines and
limits the po ..... e rs of th e Fede ral
Government and div ides t hem belween
Tnr l l ruCIIl rr .1".r ntu· Elect --1 THE PEOPLE ~Elect
the Go vernme nt's three main branChes
- Leg islati ve. h ec ut ive a nd Judicial.
~'vrn""n!' .

33

A NEW NATION
George Washington and the
Whiskey Rebellion
In 1788 George Washing to n was electe d as the first
President of the U nited States. N ew York was
then the country's capital city. O n Ap ril 30, 1789,
Washing ton stood on a bakony there and sw ore
a solemn oa th " to preser ve, protect and defend
the Constitu tio n of the U nited States." Whe n
the ce remony came to an end he officially took
cont rol o f th e nation's go vern me nt.
Washingto n believed that political parties we re
har mful. H e said late r that it was " the int erest and
duty o f a w ise people to discourage " them. Even
so , he favo red a strong feder al govern me nt , so he
tended to go vern in a f ederalist mann er. The way
that he dealt with the " Whiskey Rebellion" of
1794 w as an exam ple of thi s.
The main crop grow n by farmers in wes te rn
Pennsylvania w as corn. Some of thi s they mad e
The law-makin g, or "legislative, " powers of the
federal go vern ment we re given to a Congress. This
was mad e up of representatives elected by the peo ple.
Congress wa s to consis t oftwo part s, the Senate and
the I louse of Representatives. In the Senate each sta te
would be equally rep resented, with two me mbers,
whatever the size ofits population . T he numbe r of
representatives a state had in the I louse of
34
87
into w his key. w hich they then sold . When the
federal governme nt placed a tax on th e whiskey
t he Pennsylvania farmers refu sed to pay it. They
bu rned do w n the houses of th e federal tax
collectors. or " revenue agents." w ho tried to
ma ke them pay.
Washingto n sent an army of IS,tXX) me n to
suppo rt the rights of the federa l government .
Faced by soldiers, the rebels went ho me quietly.
The Wh iskey Rebellion collapsed wit hout any
figh ting. The soldie rs arrested a few of the leade rs,
but later the President pardoned them .
Aft er thi s there was no more organi zed resistance
to paying the w hiskey tax. But ma ny fro ntier
farmers went on making w hiskey that was never
taxed . They made it in st ills hidden away in the
w oods. in places that revenue agents could not
find . Such illegal " moonsh ine" whiskey-so called
becau se it was often made at night-continues to
be made to this day.
''rfJide,,(
Wa,hini("ton
rf l'i fwi ug the
troop, at Fori
Cr""I>n-I~ "d,
M~ ryl~"d duri".!!.
fh e IYhi,kcy
Rt""m<'ll.
Representatives, however, would depend upon its
populat ion .
Finally, the Constitution set up a Supreme Court to
cont rol the "j udicial" part o f the nation's
govern me nt. The j ob of the Supre me C ourt w as to
mak e decisions in any disagreem ents about the
meaning of the laws and the C onstitu tion.

The Constitution made sure rhar there was a "balance
ofpo wer" between these th ree mai n parts, or '
" branches," of the fede ral government. T o each
bu nch it gan' powt'rs that the or her two did not
have; each had ways ofsro pping w ron gful actions by
either of the other two. T his was to make sure that
no one person or group could become powerful
eno ugh to take complete control ofthe nation 's
govcmmcm. The American peo ple had rebelled
agamst being ruled in an undemocratic fashion by
Britain. T hey did not want to replace the
unrepresentative rule of the kin g and parliament in
Lon don w ith the rule ofa tyranni cal cent ral
gove rnment in the U nited States itself
Many Am er icans had another fear. T his w as that the
federal governme nt might try to we aken tilt' Pvwcr
of the stat es to run their own individ ual affairs. To
rem ov e thi s danger the C onstitution said e xactly
what pow ers the federal governme nt sho uld have
and w hat pow ers should be reserved for rhc states. It
said that the states would be allowed [Q ru n their
internal affairs as they wished. provided that they
kept to the r ules ofthe C onstitution.
Before the new sys te m ofgovernment set OUt in the
C on stitution cou ld begi n. it had to be app roved by a
majority of the citizens In at least nine o f the thirtee n
states. People made speeches and w rote newspaper
articles both fo r and against the Cons titu tion.
Finally, those in favo r won the argume nt. In june
1788. the assembly of the sta te of N ew Ham pshire
voted to accep t. or " ratify ." the C onstitution. It was
the ninth state to do so .
The C on stitut ion we nt into effect in M arch 1789.
But it w as still not really complete. In 179 1 ten
amendment s, or add itions , were made to it .
Together these tell amendments arc called the Bill of
Rights.
The reason fo r the Bill of Rights w as that the original
Co nstitu tion had said no thing about the righ ts and
freedoms o f indi vid ual citizens. T he UiH of Rights
altered this. It pro mi sed all Americans freedo m o f
religion , .1 free press, free speech. the righ t to carry
arms, the right to a fair trial by j ur y, and protect ion
against"crud and unusual punishments...
In 1801 j ohn Adams. wh o in 1797 had succeeded
George Washington as President ofthe Uni ted
Stares. appointed a new head of rhe Supreme Cou rt.
88
T he Court'S new C hiefjusricc. to give him his
official title, was j oh n Marshall. Marshall was a
-le-vear-old lawyer and politician who had fought in
the A merican army du ring rhe War o fbrdcpcn dcncc.
M arshall was to be Chiefj ust ice of' rhe Supreme
Court for thirty- five years. But he made his mos t
nnpc rt anr decision as a judge only [\\, 0 years afte r
he was appoi nted . In an 1803 legal case kno wn as
JI<lrbury v. M" disl.l1I , Ma rshall Slated that the Supreme
C ourt has the power to decide w heth er part icular
Am erican laws arc acco rdi ng to the C onstitu tion.
If the Suprem e C ourt decides that any law is
" repug nant to the C onsnrunon" thnt is, docs not
-c
agre e w ith it- the C ou rt call declare the law illegal.
or "void, .. and so prevent it from being enforced .
T his POWtT became known as the " power ofj udicial
revi ew ." In claiming it. Marshall established firmly
the mo st important basic idea III American
constitut io nal law . T his is, th at the Supreme Court
is the final authority In deciding the meaning o f rhc
Constitut ion. lfitsjusciccs decid e tha t any law
is "unconstitutional." rhar Iaw can no longer be
enfo rced.
The first political parties
The Constitution and the Hill of Rights illustrated
two diff erent sides of American po litical life. On
the one hand peo ple saw that the country needed a
strong and efficient central aut hority. O n the
other hand they wa nted to protect individual
right s and freedo ms. D iffcring ideas abo ut the
importance of these issues gave birth to the first
political panics in the U nited Stat es.
The Federa list Party favo red a stro ng Presi dent
and fe deral govern ment . For t his reason it appealed
to richer people. who believed that a st rong
central government would make their propen y
safer. Th e Democratic Republican Party att racted
the less wea lthy. This was because it support ed the
righ ts of the indi vidual states. T o peo ple such as
sma ll farm ers and craftsmen this seemed likely to
make it easier for people like themselves to control
go vern men t actions.
JS

9
Y EARS OF GROWTH
Land was beco m ing scarcer and m o re expensive in
th e A meri can colome's by th e tim e they qua rreled
with Britain . After 1783 m ore and mo re peo ple set
off fur th e new territories between the Ap palachi an
Mountain s and th e Mississi ppi Riv er th at the T reaty
of Pari s had g ranted to th e United States. Ar me d
only w ith axes, g uns, and plent y of self-co nfidence,
they j o urneyed acros s the m ountains to make new
farms and sett lements o ut o f th e wil dern ess.
Many o f the new settlers mo ved to land s nor th of the
Ohio River. Am erindians who already lived on these
land s 5J.W the settlers as thi eves who had co m e to
stea l thei r hunting g ro unds. T hey made fierce attacks
36
89
o n the newcomers' farms and settle me nts. T he
sc rrlcrs struck back. so me times des troying entire
Amerindian villages.
The new government o f the United Sta tes tried at
first to keep the peace by making treaties with rhc
A merindians. It also rried ro m ake su re th at settlers
treated th em fairl y. A law of1 787 called th e
N o rt hw est O rdinance said that th e Amerindians '
" lands and property shall never be taken fro m thcm
wi tho ut their consent; and in their property, rights
and libert y they never shall be invaded o r disturbed. "
Uut the American government soo n chang ed its ideas
about not taking aw ay the Am eri ndians' " lands and
property." By 1817 President j ames Monroe was
writing rhar their hunting w ay o fJife "requires a
g rea ter extent o f terrirory th an is co m patible w ith the
prog ress of civilized life and must yield to it. If the
Indian trib es do no t aband o n tha t sta te and beco m e
civilized th ey will decline and become e xtinct. "
Monroe bel ieved that th ere was o nly o ne way for th e
Am erindians to survi ve. T hey would have to be
moved from lands that w hite settlers wa nte d to o ther
land s, further wes t. There, undisturbed by settlers,
they would be free either to co nti nue t heir old ways
ofJife o r to adopt those of white Am eri cans.
In liD O the United States go vernment passed a law
called th e Indian Removal Act to put thi s po licy into
pract ice. T he law said th at al1 lndi ans living cast o f
th e M ississippi River would be mo ved v-est to a place
called Indian T errito ry. T his was an are a beyond the
M ississippi that w as thought to be uns uitab le fo r
w hite farmers. Some peo ple claim ed that the Indian
Rem o val Act was a way of saving rhc Amerin dians.
Hut most saw it simply as a w ay to ger rid o f rhem
and seize th eir land.
The C herokees were an Am erindian peo ple who
su ffer ed g reatly from th e Indian Rem o val policy.
Their land s lay between the sta te ofGeorgia and the
Mi ssissippi River. By th e ea rly ninet eenth cent ury
th e C hero kees had cha nge d th em selves from a stone
age tri be mro a civilized com m unity.

O ld Hickory
T he first six Presidents of rhc Un ited Stares we re
all from rich families. Also. all of them came from
lo ng-settled states along the Atlantic coast. Then,
in 1828. a different sort of President was elected.
His name was Andrew Jackson and he had been
born into a poor family on rhc w'estern frontie r.
Jackson had commanded the American army at
the Bank of New Orleans in 1814. By 1828 he
was a rich lando..... ner. Bur frontier far mers always
felt that he was one of them and called him " Ol d
Hi cko ry." Hickory is a part icularl y tou gh kind of
wood that grows in American forests.
Jackson was one of the foun ders of the Democratic
Party. lie said that governme nt sho uld be organ-
ized to benefit " the great bod y of the United
States- the plant er , the farmer, the mechanic and
th e laborer." Ir was the votes of such people tha t
made him President in 1828 and then again in
1832.
90
9 YE""~ Ot GROWTH
j ackson rewarded the people who voted for him
by int roducing government policies to give them
what they warned. And w hat they wanted above
all were three rhings- cheap money. cheap manu-
factu red goods and cheap land.
Jackson provided cheap money by encouuglllg
ban ks to make loans at low rates of interest.
He pro vided cheap manufactured goods by re-
ducing import du ties. And he provided chea p land
by forcing the C herokees and other eastern
Amerindians to move west of the Mississipp i.
Opinion s about Jackson 's motives arc di vided.
Some believe that he was conce rned only abou t
winning popularity and th e power that went w ith
it. But others say that his po licies of giv ing vo ters
wh ar they wa nted- "Jackson ian dcmocracy"-.
were an important landmark in maki ng the United
States a mo re genuinely democratic country.
37

A N t.w NA TION
Many owned large farms and lived in European- style
hou ses built o f brick. They had become Christians
and artcudcd ch urch and sen t the ir child ren to schoo l.
Their to wns had stores, saw m ills and bla cksmi ths'
shops. T hey had a written language and publ ishe d
th eir own l1e\vspaper in bo th C herokee and Englis h .
T hey even w ro te fo r themselves a C o nst itut ion
mo deled on that of the United States .
N on e of this saved the C herokees. In the 1830s
Congress declared that th eir lands belonged to th e
stat e of Georgia and they we re divi ded up for sale to
white settlers. T he Cherokees we re d riven from their
ho mes and forccd to march hundreds of m iles
ov erland to what is no w th e state of Oklah o m a.
T he worst year was 1838. In bi tterly cold winter
w eather American soldiers gathered th ousands of
Chero kee men, women, and children . and drove
them west. Th e nighrma rc journcv lasted alm ost five
m on ths. By the rime it was over. 4.000 of th e
A m erindians - a quarter of the w hole C herokee
narion c-wcrc dead. This episode IS st ill reme mbered
w ith sha me by modern Americans . It cam e to be
called "The Trail ofT ears."
Lo ng before the Indian Rem o val An th e feder al
go vCTn llle!H had begun to orga nize the ne w w estern
lands for settlement. It ordered that the land s should
be sur veyed and divided into square uni ts called
" to w nships.,. Each to w nsh ip was to be six mile s by
six m iles in size and each was to be furthe r divided
into sm aller square units, aile m ile by one mil e,
called "sections."
As each township was surveyed and marked out III
sections the land was so ld by aucti on. Land dealers
sometimes bought whole townships. They usually
so ld the land later. at a higher price. to set tlers
arriving from the East.
Ever y year m o re settlers moved in Man y floa ted on
rafts down the westward- flow ing O hio River. T hey
used th e river as a roa d to carry them selves, thei r
goods and their animals into the new land s. Others
moved west along routes like the Wilderness Road
th at D aniel Boo ne's ax mcn had cut thro ug h the
Cum berland Gap 1Il the Appalachians . Such road s
we re simply rough t racks, Just w ide enough fo r a
w ago n and full of holes, rocks and tr ee stu m ps. 'lhe
ave rage speed at which t ravelers co uld m o ve alon g
the m was about two miles an hour.
3R
91
Samuel Slater imports the
Industrial Revolution
At the end of th e War of Ind ependence the U nited
States was m ainly a land of far mers. It remai ned so
for another hundred years . It earned its living by
selling food and raw materials to other coun m cs.
In rerum it impo rted th eir m an ufactu red prod ucts.
Yet as ea rly as the 1790s America's first factor y
op ened.
During th e eigh teenth century an Industrial Rev-
olution had co me to Britain . N ew mac hines
d riven by water and steam power had made
poss ible g reat increases in production.
In 1789 an English mechanic nam ed Sam uel Slater
took th e Ind ustrial Revolut io n across the Atlantic
to Am er ica. Befo re leaving England, Slater
memorized the details o f the latest English co tt on
sp inning m achines. H e carried them in his mcm o ry
because it was against the law to take plans o f the
m achines ou t of England.
In the United States Slater we nt into partnership
with a bu siness ma n name d Moses Brown . To-
get her they opened a m ill, or factory, to Spill
cotton at Pawtucket. Rhode Island. Slater bui lt the
m achinery for the mill from m em o ry. It w as a
great su ccess and Slater became a wealthy ma n.
T he success of Slate r's colton mill began a p ro cl~s s
of change in the U ni ted Sta tes. In time tha t
process turned the no rtheast of the nation into its
first Important manufarrurmg regio n.
T ilt (<'I{'lII mill ,1I1'<lw{J/ikn, RI",Je hland.
 ') Y I' A~ 5 IH G II O W TH
92

Fo r pur poses o f go vern m ent th e federa l auth o rities
div id ed the lands between the Appalachians and the
Mississippi into two. T he Oh io Ri ver ma rked the
bo undary be tw een them . T he area south of th e O hio
was called th e Sou rhwcsr T err ito ry and that to the
north th e N o rth west T err ito ry.
As the number of peo ple living in them inc reased,
each of these tw o big terr ito ries was divided ag am
int o smaller o nes. Ohio, Ind iana. Illinois, M ichiga n,
an d Wisconsin w en- evenruallv m ade out of the
N o rt h w est Terr itory. As each w as for me d it w as
placed under the ru le of a go n'rn o r appointed by
Co ng ress. When th e number of w hite males living in
a territory reached 5,000 it co uld elect its own law-
makin ~ bo rly. It coul d also send a represent ative to
give its poi nt of view in Cong ress . When the
po pu latio n of a te rr itory reached 60,000 it became a
new state, w ith the same rights and powers as the
ori ginal thirteen states .
T hese arrangements for go vern ing new territo ries
were first in troduced by th e Northwest Ord inance of
1787. T he plan tha t th e Ordina nce laid dow n for
co nt roll ing th e g rowth of the U nited States has been
follo w ed ever since. T he im po rtance of the pla n is
th at it m ade su re that th e o rig inal thi rt een sta tes we re
not able to control fo r th eir own benefi t lands that
w ere settled later. This mea nt th at as the United
States gr ew bigger it w ent on be ing a democra tic
unio n of equals.

The War of1812

Bet w een 1803 and 1815 B ritain and Fran ce were
at w ar. Both countries' warships in terfered w ith
Am erican trade. T hey stopped Amer ican mer-
chant ships and so metimes seized the ir cargoes.
Americans bec am e angry. They we re esp ecially
angry at the British because the Bri tish took
seamen off American sh ips and fo rced the m to
serve ill the British na v y.
In J une 1812. Congress de clared wa r on Britai n. 111
the ear ly months of this War o f 1812 A merican
ships won a n umber of tigh ts at sea . Bur the m uch
stronger British navy soon ga med complete con -
trol of th e coastal waters of the U nited States and
blockaded American ports. Ame rican attempts to Tilt· A ma ir,m .<hip C0I1S1illl!iOIl ~r",rI<i".I! tl,,- tJ,i f;$!l .<!lip Ja\'J
Invade British- rul ed Canada ended in d isaster.
Even marc hu m iliat ing fo r the Americans. British
blockade of U nited States po rts had cur off the
forces captured and burned Wash ington. thei r
impo rt ed Euro pean m anufactured goods u pon
new capital city.
wh ich the cou nt ry relied . T his fo rced Americans
In Decem ber 181-1, the U nited States and Britain to beg in m aki ng goods of their own and so ga ve J
signed a tre aty of peace in Euro pe. Two weeks stan to Am erican m an ufact urin g industry.
later, before the news reac hed America, British
Thomas J effer son was one of m any people w ho
forces attacked the city of New Orleans . They
had been against the growth of ind ustry in th e
were defeated by American soldiers led by General
U nited States. Now he saw ho w Importa nt it was
Andre w Jackson.
to the fut ur e safet y and prosperity of th e country.
In mallY ways the whole of the War of 1812 wa s as Soo n after th e Wa r of 1812 he w ro te; " We m ust
pointle ss as this last bank. lim it taught Americans no w place th e m anufactu rer by th e side of th e
an important lesso n . T he British navy's wartime agriculturist . "

31)

- - 10 - -
W EST TO THE PACIFI C
or
III 1800 th e western boundary the U nited Sta tes
was the Mississippi Rive r. Beyon d its wide and
muddy warcrs there w ere g rea t area s of lan d th rough
winch few white peo ple had traveled . The land
s tretched w est to r m o re than 600 miles to the
foot hills of the Ro ck y M o untains . It w as known at
the time as Lo uisiana.
lu 1800 Louisian a belo nged to france. The rule r of
France at thi s tim e was Napoleon . who would. SO Ol1
become th e country's emperor. Americans feared
that Napoleon migh t sen d Fren ch soldiers an d
settlers to Lo u isiana and so b lock th e fur th er
westward g ro wth of the United States .
Then th e Am eri can s were vcry luc k y. [11 1803
N ap oleo n was ab out to go to WJ r w ith Britain an d
n eed ed m O llC Y. For fifteen m illion dollars he sol d
Lo uisian a to the United States. " \Vc have liv ed lo ng
but this is th e noblest work o f our whole lives ," said
o ne of th e Am erican repr esen tat ives who signed the
agreement .
Lo uisian a st retc hed north fro m the Gulf of M exico to
the Canadian b o rder and wes t fro m the Mississipp i to
40
93
Territorial Growth to 1853
A41_l'I'_....
"'""'1'...... G«.. _ " """'''''
1842
the Rocky M ountain s. Its pur ch ase alm ost do ubled
the lan d area o f the United Stares. In rim e, all or pJ.rts
o f th irteen n ew st ares would be for med there.
T he Lou isian a Purchase W;\S authorize d by Presiden t
Tho m as J efferso n, Even before this Jefferson had
been planning to send an expedi tion to ex plo re
LOUISian a. He w as a kee n amateur SCien tist an d
wanted to kn ow more ab ou t the gccg rap h v, the
people, the an imals an d the plants of the lands to the
w est of the United Sta tes. He als o hoped th at the
ex plorers might rind an easy way across N orth
Am erica to the Pacific Ocean.
T he expedition was led by M eriw eth er Lew is and
William Clark. In the spring of 180-1 it s tw ent y-m n c
men left th e tr adin g post o f St. Lou is. where the
Misso u ri River tlo ws in from the northwest to meet
the M ississippi. T he explorers scr offup th e Missouri
by bo at. Am on g their supplies rhey earn ed -1,6UO
need les. 2,800 fishing ho oks. 132 knives an d 72
piec es of striped "ilk ribbo n, T hey carr ied these
goods to trade With Amerind ian" along th e way .

For months till' explo re rs rowed and sailed their
boats up the Missouri , hoping that it would lead
rhcm to the Pacific. Some times t1lt'y had to w ade
sho ulder-deep in the rive r. pulling th e boats forward
agai nst fast and dangerous cu rre nts. When the
Missouri beca me roo shallow ro fo llow any furt her.
they m arched lo r ten weeks across th e Ro ck y
Mountains, killing their horses for food and wit h
on ly melted snow to d rink. At la..r they reached the
wcs twa rd-rlowing Colu mbia River . The)" tloarcd
down it to th e Pacific. O n a pine tree growlllg by rhc
sh ore Clark ca rved a message- "Will. C lark. D ec. J.
IS05. By land fro m rhc United Scares in It>U4 and
ISU5."
Lewis and Clark arrived back in St. l.o uis in larc
September 1806. T hey had been J.WJ.y lor [WOand J.
half years and had traveled almost 4,000 m iles. T hey
had failed to find an l'asy overlan d ro ute to the
Pacific. bur thcv had sho wn rhar rhc j ourncv was
possible. T hl' y had also brought back much usefu l
informaricn about bot h Lo uisiana and the western
lands rhat lay beyond it,
These lands bcvond Lo uisiana we re known as
Oregon. T hcv stretched from Alaska in rhc north to
California III the so uth and inland throu gh th e Rocky
:t,~rri~dj,,~s J;m" ·(r;".~
Leu,;, "lid CI",k .
94
111 wt.s r 10 11110 I' Al I H C
Moun tains to th e undefined bo rde rs ofLouisiana . In
1R05 four co unt ries claim ed to OWI1 O regon - Russia.
Spain , Britai n and till' United States.
Russia owned Alaska, and Spain rule d C alifornia.
Hut in O regon the British and the AIIlt'Ticans were in
the strongest position , Both already had tr adin g
pos ts scatt er ed along O regon's coas ts and T1Yt'TS.
Soon they had mort'. At thes e posts t raders bought
beaver and o ther anim al furs from Ame rindian and
Europ ean trappa'S. Such tr ap pcrs we re called
"mountain-men' because rhcv spe llt their lives
wa ndering th e m o untains o fO rego n and Cal ifornia
ill search of turs.
By the 183tk the British hold mort' scnlcmcnrs and
trading posts III Orego n rhan the Americans.
Ameri can political k 'Hk rs began (0 fear [hat Britain
w o uld soon gain co mplete control of the area. T o
preve nt rbis they made g rcat c tfo rrs to persuade mo rt'
Am ericans to SUr[ farms in O regon .
At first Americans tr aveling to O regon went by sh ip.
T hey sailed from rhc cast coast po rts of the U nited
Stat es. aro un d South America and up th e long Pacific
coast. Thcjcu m cv was expensive and it lasted (or
m onths. Settlers bq~all traveling to O rego n by land
in IHJ1. They usually set out fro m lnd cpcndcucc.
.,

A N EW NATION
Zebulon Pike and the Great
American Desert
Whi k· Lew is and Clark we re crossing th e plains
and mountains o f the American Northw est. an-
o ther expedition was exploring th ose of the
Southwest. The leader of the expedi tion wa s a
young lieutenant in the American ar my named
Zebulo n M. Pike.
In November 1806, Pike and his me n reached th e
Rocky Mountains ncar where the city of Pueblo,
Colorado, no w sta nds . The following spri ng Pike
traveled further int o the m o un tains, into lands that
were then ruled by Spain. Even tua lly he was ar-
rested by Spanish so ldiers. Altho ugh th e Span iards
tr eated him with co urtesy. th ey to o k a\vay his
no tes and papers and sen t hi m back to th e United
States.
Pike is remembered today for two thi ngs. One is
Pikes Peak, a high mountain III Colo rado w hich
he first sighted on November 15, 1806, and which
is named after him. The other is for his opinion
that the entire cent ral region of Nort h America
between the M ississippi and the Rockies w as litt le
better than a desert and " incapable of cultivation ."
For years after Pike 's jo urney th is area was
des cribed on m aps as " T he Gre at A merican
Desert ." But both Pi ke and the ma pmakcrs were
wrong . By the 1870s impro ved seeds and better
me thods o f cul tivatio n were mak ing it possible for
farmers to turn these lands into o ne of the richest
gram-growin g areas in th e world .
Missouri. a town on the Mississip pi River. From
Independence they follo wed a twisting trail of about
2,000 miles across plains and moun tai n s to the mou th
of the Colu mbia River,
This overland route to the Pacific coast became
known as the O regon T rail. T he wheels of th e
wagons that traveled along it m ade deep ruts. These
ruts can still be seen in d ry areas of the Am erican
West today. But th e Oregon Trail was never a single
trail. It w as more a collectio n of trails , all headi ng in
the sam e genera l direct ion acro ss wcsr cm North
Am erica and mee ting occasionally at river- crossin g
POllltS and passes th ro ugh the mountains.
42
95
J-lolllllaill-mm sNri"g Iro1p~fi'r br'' ''tr _
Settlers faced many dangers all the w ay to O regon.
Floo ds and blizza rds , prairie fires and accidents,
dis ease and starvation-v all these too k m any lives .
O ne sett ler recorded in his dia ry a co m m on sight
alon g the trail: " At noon came upon a frcsh grave
wi th a note tied o n a stick , informin g us it was the
grave ofJoel H embree, aged six years . killed by a
wagon runn ing over his body.·' -
But , m spite of the danger s. sett lers co ntinued to
make the lon g journe y. In 1843 " O reg on fever "
cam e to many parts of the U nited States. Peo ple left
rhcir worn-alit farms in the East. packed their
possc su oo s on w agons and set off for the Wes t. " I
have seen hard times, faced th e da nge rs of disease and
ex pos ure and per ils ofall kin ds," w ro te one, "but I
do nor care abo ut them if the y enab le me to place
myselfand my fami ly in comfortable Circums tan ces
[better conditions] ."
A merican settlers soon o ut nu mbered the British m
O rego n. American new spapers and political leader s
began to express an idea called " manifest desti ny ."
T hi s was a claim that it w as th e clear (vmanifcst ")
inte nti o n o f fate (vdcsnny") that the territo ry of the
U nited States should stretch across North America
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Supporters of
ma nifes t desti ny dema nded that the U nited States
should take the wh ole of O regon , all the way north
to the boundary w ith Alaska at latitud e 54 deg rees 40
mmutcs. T hey bega n using the sloga n "Fifty four
fo rty or figh t" and threatened th e British with w ar.
 96
') Yl.\ ~ ~ 0 1 GR OWTH

In 1844 James K. Polk was elected President of the

Un ited Scares. Polk believed strong ly in ma nifest Wagon trains
destiny . In the speech at the start o f his
Most of the settlers w ho traveled to O rego n made
presi dency - his "inaugu ral" add ress - he said that the
the jo urney in four- wheeled wagons. A group of
American claim " to the whole o f O regon is clear and
these w agons rravclmg toge ther w as called a
unquestion able." For a time wa r seemed poss ible.
"wagon train. " A wagon tr ain usua lly consis ted of
But by the su mmer of 1846 the United Stat es wa s about twenty- five w agons, each w ith a canv as
already at war wi th M exico . In June Polk agreed to cov er to prot ect its co ntents fro m the w eather.
divid e O regon with Britain in two almost eq ual Seen from a distance, these covers made the
sectio ns. The dividing line was the 49th parallel wa gons look like shi ps sailing across J. sea of grass.
ot latirudc. w hich already formed the boundary Because o f this, people often called wagons
between the United Stares and Ca nada to th e cast of "prairie schooners. " A schooner was a type of
the Rock y Mounta ins. sailing ship.
T he 1846 wa r with M exico had grown out ofevents Each w agon could ca rry a load of between 2 and
that had been taking place in T exas. T housand s of 2V2 to ns and was pulled by a tea m o f eithe r mules
Americans had settled in Texas, but up to the 18.30s it o r oxen. Settlers argued fi ercely about which
was ruled by M exico . T he Te xas A mericans. or animals we re better. Some claimed that mul es
T exans, came to dislike Mex ican ru le. In October w ere faster and toughe r than oxe n. O thers argued
1835. they rebelled . Led by Ge neral Sam Houston, that ox en were stro nge r than mules and easier to
they defeated a much large r Mexican army in 1836 at conrrol . So me people believe that the ph rase "as
the Barrie ofSanJacimo and made T e xas an stu bborn as a mule" became part of the English
indepe ndent republic. langu age at this tim e.
lim most Texans did not want thei r indepen dence to Cost usually settled the arguments. A settle r coul d
be permanent . T hey wanted their coun try to ja m the buy three oxen for the price of only one mu le. For
U nited Stares. Eventually the two cou nt ries reached this reaso n o xen we re used marc than any other
an agreement about this and in 1845 T exas becam e ani mals to pu ll the wagons tha t traveled the
part of the United Stares. O regon T rail.
In April 1846, there was figh tin g between American
and Mexican so ldiers along the bo rder betw een
Texas and Mex ico. President Polk saw an
opportunity to take land from Mexi co and he
dccl.ucd war. A me rican soldiers invaded Me xico and
defeated the Mexican ar my. By September 1847,
they had occup ied Mexi co C ity, li lt, co unt ry's capital.
The Mexican- American War \\';\ S ended b y a peace
treaty sign ed in Februa ry Il::l4K T he treaty force d
Mexico to hand over enor mous stretches of its
territory to th e U nited Sta tes. Today these lands
form the Am er ican states o f Ca liforn ia. A rizo na,
Nevada. U tah. New M exico and C olorado.
The ann exa tion of these Mexican lands completed
the "manifest destiny" of the United Stares. it now
stretched across the North Am erican continen t from
ocean to ocean. In little more than half a centur y it
had grown fro m a sma ll nat ion on the shores o f the
Atlantic int o one of the largest coun tries in the
world.
43

- -11--
NORTH AND SOU TH
In the yea r 1810 the re we re 7. "2 mi llion people ill the
United Sta tes. For 1.2 mill ion of these people th e
words of th e Declaration ofIndependence " tha t all men
arc created eq ual" were far fro m true. T hey were
black and they w ere sla ves.
Thomas j efferso n, who w ro te the Declaration of
Independence, owned slaves himself. So did George
Washingto n an d other leaders o f the movemen t for
American ind ependence and freedom. Borh jcffcrson
and Washing to n had uneasy co nsciences about this.
13mo ther big landow ner s in southern states such as
Vi rgmia defe nded slavery . T hey asked what th ey
thoug ht was an una nswera ble q uestio n . How could
th ey cult i va te their field s o f tobacco, ri ce an d cotton
w ith out slave workers?
44
97
In th e n orth of the U n ited States far m s were sm aller
and the climate wa s cooler. Farmers there did no t
need slav es to work the lan d fo r th e m. Som e
no rtherner s oppos ed slavery fo r m oral and religio us
reasons also . Many were abo litio n ists - that is, people
who wa nted to en d o r abolish slavery b y law. 13y the
early nineteenth centur y m an y no rthern states ha d
passed laws abolish ing slavery insid e their own
boundaries. In 180 8 th ey also pe rsua ded Congress to
m ake it illegal for ships to b ring an y new slaves from
Africa into the U n it ed Sta tes.
B y th e 1820s so uthern and no rthern politicians w ere
arguin g fiercel y abou t w hether slaver y sho u ld be
perm itt ed in the new terr ito ries that we re then be ing
set tled III the Wes t. T he arg u ment centered o n the

MIssouri ter rito ry. \vhich was part of the Louis iana
Purchase. Southern ers argued th at slave labo r sho uld
be allowed in Mi sso uri an d all t he othe r lands that
fo r med pan of the Louisiana Purchase. Bo th
abolitionists and o ther northerners objected stro ngly
to this. N orth ern farm ers moving west di d not wa nt
to find thcmscl vcs competing fo r land ag ams r
so uthe rne rs who had sian's to do their w ork for
th em. Eventually the two sides agreed on a
co m pro mise. Slavery would be permi tted in the
Mis souri and Arkansas territories bur banned III lands
to th e west and north of M issouri.
The Mi sso uri Compro mise, as it was called. did no t
end the di sput es bet ween North and So ut h. By th e
early 1830s another angry argu ment was gomg o n.
This tinu- the argument began over im po rt d uties.
N orth ern states favored such d ut ies beca use they
protected their young industries aga inst th e
co m petition offoreign manu factu red goods.
Southern stares o pposed them because so utherne rs
relied upon fo reign manufacturers for both
necessities and luxuries of ma ny kinds. Im po rt duties
would raise the prices of such goods.
During th e argument about import d uti es a southern
polit ical leader named J oh n C. Calhou n raised a
muc h more S~T10US q ues tio n. H e claimed th at a state
had th e right to disobey any fede ral law if the state
believed that the law would harm its int erest s. This
II NOR TI I ....x n
98
xo u ru
idea was stro ngly sup po rted by other so ut he rne rs. It
became kn o wn as the "states' righ ts doct rine."
Cal ho un 's claim w as stro ng ly de nied by Sena tor
D aniel Webs ter of Massachusetts. T he po wer to
decide whether the fe-deral au thorities we re acting
righ tly or wrongly belonged to the Sup re me C ourt.
said We bster, not to individual states, If states were
given th e rig ht to disobey the fede ral govern me nt, he
said, it would become "a mere rope of sand" and lose
its power to ho ld rhe country together. Webster's
speech was a wa rn ing to America ns that the stares'
rig hts doctri ne co uld become a serious threat t o the
unity o f th e United States.
In the next twenty years the United Stares grew
much bigger. In 1846 it divided the Oregon
T er rit or y wirh Britain . In 18-l8it too k vast areas of
th e Southw est from M exico . Obtaini ng these new
lands raised again the question that the Mi ssouri
Compro mi se of 182n had tried to scnlc-. sho ul d
slaver y be allowed on new American te rritory? Once
aga in so utherners ansvvered "yes." And o nce aga in
northerne rs said "no."
In 1850 C on gress voted in favo r ofanother
compromise. California was admitted to the U nited
States as a frce state, while people who lived III Utah
and N ew M ex ico we re given th e rig ht to decide for
them selves whether o r not to allo w slaver y.
45
 99
A Nlw NATI ON

Eli Whitney and the cotton gin

In 1793 a yo ung school teacher named Eli Whi(llcy that it had taken previously to remove them fro m
was visiting friends in the southern state of two po un ds.
Ceorgia. Like other sta tes in the Sou th. Ccorgia' s
Whitn q "s invention made possible a huge increase
main crop was cotton. Georgia's pla nters expo rted
ill the amount of cotton g rown by southern
their cotton to sp inn ing mills in Engla nd . Ho w-
plan ter s. By the year 1820 the output of the ir
ever, the m ills co uld nor usc Georgia' s cotton unt il
plan tations and farms was eig ht tho usand times
its growers removed the m any seeds that were
hig her th an in 1791. The increase was achieved by
tangled among its fibers . T his was a slow and
bringin g in more slaves to plo ugh and hoe the land
difticult job that was done by hand. Until a \....ay
and pick the co tton. T he prosperity of the planters
could be fou nd to do it more q uickly. the am ou nt
cam e to depe nd more eve ry year on slavery being
of cotton that plan ters g rew was limited to the
allowed to continue.
amount that their workers could pic k th e seed s
from. This fact . more per haps th an allY other, expla ins
w hy southerne rs broke away fro m the res t of the
Eli Whitney had a tale nt for making machines. He
U nited States. T hey did so in order to try to save
solved the pla nte rs" problem by in venti ng the
slaver y - th eir "peculiar inst itu tio n" as they called
cotton "engine" or "gin" for short. This was a
-c

it -and w ith it their prosperity and way of life.

m achine that quick ly separated the seed s and the
fiber o f the raw cotton. Us ing \Vhim cy's gill, one
worker cou ld remove the seeds fro m more tha n
four hundred pounds of cotton in th e sam e time Eli Whiwry'sfortollgill.

46

To persuade so utherners to ag ree to these
arran gem ents. Congress passed a new Fugitive Slave
Act. This was a law to make it easier for southerners
to recaptu re slaves who esca ped from t heir masters
and fled for safety to fret' states. The law called for
"severe penalties on anyone assisting Negroes to
escape fro m bondage."
Sian ' owners had long offe red rewards, or
" bo un ties." fo r the return of nlllJ.way slaves. T his
had created a g roup of men called "bou nty hunt ers."
T hese me n made their liv ing by bunting do wn
fugi tive slaves in order to collec t the rewards a ll
them . With the support of the new law, bounty
hu nters now began searching free states tor escaped
slaves,
The Fugitive Slave Act angered man y nort hern er s
who had not so far given much tho ught to the Tights
and wrongs of slavery. Some northern j udges refused
to enforce it. Other people provided food, money.
and hiding places for fugitives. They ma pped ou t
escape routes and moved ru naway slaves by nigh t
from one secret hidi ng place to anot her. T he final
sto p on these escape routes was Canada, wh ere
fugit ives could be followed by neither American laws
lia r bounty hunters.
Because railroads we re the most mo de rn form of
transp ort at this rime, this carefully o rga nized system
was called the "Undergroun d Railroad. " Peo ple
provid ing mo ney to pay fOT it we re called
"stockholders. " Gu ides w ho led the fugi tives to
freedom wer e called " co nductors." and hiding places
were called " depots." All these were terms that we re
used on ordina ry railroads.
Many con du ctors on the U ndergrou nd Railroa d
were fo rmer slav es themselves. Often they tr aveled
deep mro slave states to make contact wi th runaw ays.
This w as a dan gero us thi ng to do. If con ductors w ere
captured they could end up as slaves again -or dead .
As the num ber of fugit ive sla vcs increased, gu nfigh ts
between bo unty hunters and conduc to rs becam e
more and mo re com mo n,
In 185-1- a Senator named Ste phen Dou glas persuaded
Congress to end rhc M issouri Co m promise. West o f
Missouri. on land that was supposed to be closed to
slaver y. was a western te rr itory called Kansas. In
185-1- Con gress voted to let its people decide for
themselves whether to permit slave ry there.
100
I I NOll r II AN Il S O UT H
William Lloyd Garrison and the
abolitionists
Some Americans op pose d to slavery w ere prepared
to wa it fo r it to co me to an end grad ually and by
agreement wi th the slave owners. Others wanted
to end it im mediately and w ithou t co m pro mises.
T he best known spo kesman of the peo ple in th is.
seco nd group was a Boston w riter name d William
Lloyd Garri son .
O n j anuary I, liB!. Garrison produced the first
issue of The Liberator, a newspaper dedicated to
the aboli tion o f slave ry. "On this subject I do no t
w ish to thi nk. or speak. o r wri te with moder-
ation," he wrote. " I will nor retreat a single in ch-.
and I w ill be heard:'
Garrison meant what he said. H e became well-
known for the extreme \\"JY in w hich he expressed
his views . I Ic pri med, and sometimes invented.
sensation al stories about how cr uelly black slaves
were treated . lie attacked slave owne rs as ev il
monsters, abo ut whom not hing good cou ld be
said.
Someti me, Garri son we nt too far even to r his
fellow nort herners. In IH35 an ang ry mob showed
its dislike of his opinions by para ding him throug h
the stree ts of Boston w ith a rope aro und his neck.
But Garrison refused to be silenc ed. Ilis bloo d-
thirsty calls for actio n and sensational stories
cont inued to offend both the suppo rte rs of slave ry
and those who wanted to bring it to an end peace-
fully . Bur they convinced llla rlY other people th at
slavery was evil and that it m ust be abolished at
on ce - e ven if the only wa y to do this was by WJ T.
A race began to w in cont rol of Kansas. Pro-slavery
immigr ants poured ill fro m the Sout h and am i-
slaver y im migrant s from the North. Each group w as
deter mined to outnumber the other. Soon fighting
and killi ng began. Pro-slavery raiders from M issouri
burned a town called Lawrence and killed so me o f its
people. In repl y, J half-mad abolitionist nam ed j ohn
Brown led a raid in which a number of suppo rters o f
slavery we re killed. Because ofall the fighting and
killing ill the territo ry Americans everywhere began
refe rr ing to it as "bleeding Kansas."
47
A NE\'i NATION
1)",,1Sr,'I1,
Neither side won the struggle to co nt rol Kans as ill
the 1830s. Becaus e of the tr o ub le th ere, C ong ress
delayed its ad mission to th e U nit ed States. But in
1858 the su pporters of slavery won a victo ry of
another so rt .
A slave nam ed D rcd Scot r had been taken by his
owner to live in a free state . See n asked the Supreme
C ourt to declare that this had made him leg ally free.
But the C o urt refused. It said that black slave s had no
righ ts as Ameri can citizens. It added also tha t
C o ng ress had gone beyo nd its co nst itu tio nal power s
III claiming the fight to prohi bit slavery in the
western te rrito ries.
Th e D rcd Scott decision caused g reat e xcitem ent in
the U nited State s. Southern slav e o wners we re
deli gh ted. Oppo nents of slave ry were ho rr ified . T he
Suprem e C o urt seemed to be sayin g tha t free states
had no rig ht to forb id slaver}" w ithin the ir bounda ries
and that slave o wne rs coul d put their slave s to work
anywhere.
A few years earlier o pponelHs ofslavery had fo rm ed
a new political group called the Rep ublican Party .
4H
101
Whe n Senator Stephen Douglas asked the voters of
Illinois to re-elect him to Cong ress in 1858, he was
challen ged by a Rep ublican named Abraham
Lincoln. [n a series of public deba tes w ith Dou glas,
Lincoln said tha t th e sp read of slave ry mu st be
stopped . l Ic was w illing to accep t slave ry III the
states where it exis ted already. but that w as all.
Look ing to th e future of th e U ni ted States he gave his
listeners a w arning " A hou se divided agai nst itself
cannot stand. I believe that thi s governme nt canno t
endure per man ently half slave and half free. "
Linc oln lose the 185Helect io n to Douglas. But his
stand against slavery im presse d m any people. In IH60
the Republicans chose him as their cand idate ill that
yea r's pres iden tial election.
Hy now relations between North and Sou th were
close to breaki ng POint . In IH59 the same J ohn
Brown w ho had foug ht in "bleeding Kansas" had
tried co start a slave rebe llion in Virginia. 1Ic attacked
an ar my w eapons sto re at a place called H arpers
Ferr y. T he attack failed and Brown w as captured ,
rrrcd fo r treason and hanged . But that w as not the
end ofJohn Bro w n. Ma ny no rt he rners claimed that
he was a martyr in the str uggle against slaver y. They
even wrote a son g about him . "J ohn Bro wn's body
lies a-m old ering in th e grave." they sang, "hut his
sou l goes marching 011."
Southern ers saw the raid o n Harper s Ferr y
differently. T hey believed that it w as a sign that the
North w as preparing to use fo rce to end slavery in
th e South . III the president ial electi on of lH60 th e
southerners put forward a cand ida te of their own to
oppose Lincoln. T hey t hreatened th at the Sou th
would break away, or "secede," fro m the U nited
States if Lincoln becam e President.
In eve ry so uthern sta te a m ajority o f the citizens
voted agai nst Lincoln. But voters in the North
supporte d hun and he won the election . A few w eeks
later, in D ecem ber IH60, th e state o f South Carolina
voted to secede from the U nited States. It w as soon
joined by ten more southern states . In February 1861,
these eleven states anno unced that they were now an
independ ent natio n, the C o nfederate States of
Am erica, oft en known as the Con fed eracy .
T he nineteent h century's bloodiest w ar, th e
Am erican C ivil War , wa s abo ut to beg in .

H arriet Tubman
Th e mo st famous "conductor" on the U nde r-
grou nd Railro ad v....as a young black woman
named H ar riet Tubman. She w as born in 1821 and
grew up as a slave 011 a plantation in Ma ryla nd.
In l R49 she esca ped to Philadelphia and joined
the Under ground Railroad. Although she could
neither read nor w r-ite, Har riet Tubman had grear
abilities as an orga nizer. Over the next ten yea rs
she made nineteen tri ps int o slave states and led
more than 300 me n. women and children to
freedom. On her early trip s she led thc fugi tives to
safety in such no rthern cities as N ew York and
Philadelphia , When the Fugitive Slave Aet o f
1850 made those cities unsafe. she led the peop le in
her carl' to Canada.
102
II N OWI I! A S !) SOU TII
During the Civil War H arri er Tubma n worked as
a nur se. a coo k and a laundress wi th the Union
ar mies fighting in the South. It is also said rhar she
risked her life by traveling behi nd C onfeder ate
lines as a sp y.
Aft er the C ivil War H arriet Tubman lived in
Au burn. New Yo rk . Here she worked to hel p
children and old people. using the profits she
earned from her autobiography to pay for her
w ork. When she died in 1913, she had already
become a legend.
49

- - 12 -
THE CIVI L WAR
On March 4, 1~61. Abraha m Lincol n took th e oath
ofoffi ce as President of the United States. Less than a
mo m h ha d passed si nce rhc fo rmatio n ofthe
Confederacy. In his inaugural address as President.
Lincoln appealed to th e southe rn states to stay in th e
Un io n . H e promised that he would no t inte rfere w ith
slavery in any ofthcm. UU! he wa rned th at he would
not allow them to break up the U ni ted Stares b y
seceding. Quoting from his oa th o f office, he rold
th em : " Yo u have no oa th registe red in H eaven (Q
dest ro y th e government, w hile I have a most so lem n
o ne ( 0 'prese rve. protect and defend' it. "
T he southern sta res took no notice of Lincol n's
appeal. On A pri112 Con fede rate guns o pened fire Oil
Port Sumter. a fortres s in th e harbo r of Cha tl cston,
Sou th C arolina, that was occupied by U nited Slates
troo ps. T hese shots m arked the beginning of t he
Am er ican Civil War.
c""rrJtT~1r u>lJitn.
50
103
-
Lincoln called fo r 75.lKXI men to tig ht to save the
U nion. J e fferso n Davis . the newly elected President
of the C o nfed erate Slates, ma de J similar ap peal to r
men to fig ht for the Confederacy. Vol unteers rushed
fo rw ard in tho usands on both sides.
Some peo ple fou nd it d ifficu lt and painful to decide
which side to su pport. T he decis io n so me times sp lit
families. The SO li o f the co mmander o f th e
Con fede rat e navy was killed figh ting in a Un ion
ship. Two bro the rs became gene rals - hut on
opposite sides . And three of President Lincoln's own
brothers-in -law died figh ting for the Con fede racy.
From th e firs t months ofthe wa r U nion wa rshi ps
bloc kaded the ports of th e South. T hey did this to
prevent th e Con fede racy fro m selling its co tton
ab road and fro m obtaiumg foreign supplies.
In both men and m aterial resources the N o rth wa s
m uch st ronger than tilt' South. It had a population of
twenty- two mi llio n peo ple. Th e South had only milt'
m illion peo ple and 3. 5 mill io n of them w ere slave s.
T he N orth grt' w m or e food crops than the South.
It also had m or e than five tim es th e m an ufactu ring
capacity, inc luding most o f the co unt ry's weapon
facto ries. So th e N orth no t only had more fig ht ing
me n th an the South, it co uld also keep them bett er
suppli ed wi th w eapo ns, clo thing , food and
eve ry thin g else they needed .
llo w eve r, the N o rt h f.1ct,d o ne g reat difficu lty . The
onl y w ay it co uld wi n th e war w as to invade the
South and occupy its land . T he So uth had no suc h
problem . It di d not need to co nq uer th e North to w in
independence. All it had to do WJS to hold o m unt il
th e people of till' North gtt'Wtired offighting . Most
south ern ers bel ieved th at the C o nfederacy cou ld do
th is. It began the w ar wi th a num ber of advantages .
Man y ofth e best officer s in th e pre-wa r ar m y of the
U nited States were so utherners. N o w th ey returned
[ 0 the Confederacy to o rga nize its ar m ies. Most o f
th e recruit s led by these officers had g ro wn up on
farm s and we re ex pert rider s and m ark sm en. Most
Im po rt ant of all, th e fact that almost all the w ar's
fig hting w ok place In th e South mea nt (hat
Co nfederate soldiers were defending th eir own

homes. This oft en made them fight with mo re spirit
tha n the Umon soldiers.
Southern er s denied that they were fighting mainly to
preserve slavery. Most were p OOT farmers w ho
owned no sian's anYWJY. The South w as fighting for
irs independence from the No rth. they said. just as
their grandfathers had foug ht fo r indepen dence fro m
Britain almost a cemu ry earlier.
T he wa r was fo ug ht in tw o main areas >- in Vir ginia
and the other east coas t stares of the Confederacy,
and in the M ississippi valley.
In Virgi nia [he U nio n arrrucs suffe red one defeat after
ano the r III [he fi rst year o f the war. Agam and again
they tr ied [0 c.apmn' Richmond. the Confederate
capital. Each rim e they we re thro wn back with heavy
losses. The Confederate fo rces in Virg inia had two
grear advantages. The first was that man y river s CUt
across the roads leading south to Richmond and so
made the city easier to defend. Th e second was their
leaders. T w o Confederate gene rals in particular,
Robe rt E. LI.'.l' and Thomas}. (,'S tonew.all") j .ackson,
showed mu ch mo re skill than the gene rals leading [he
U mon ar IllY.a[ this rime. Jackson got his nickn ame
" Sto newall" because he stoo d firm against adv ancing
U nion rroops. A fellow officer, enco uragi ng Ius
soldiers shou ted out, " Look, there is Jackso n,
standin g like a stone w all!"
T he Nort h's t\l rly defeats in Virg inia discouraged its
su pporters. T he flood of volunteers for the arm y
began to dry up. Recruitment W ;IS not helped by
letters home like th is one, From ;1 lieutenan t in the
U nion arlllY III IM62:
" T he butcher y ofthe boys, the suffe rlllp;s o f the
unpa id soldiers, wit hout rent s, poo r rations. a sing le
blanker each , w ith no bed but the hard da m p
ground -it is these things that kill nu-.'
Fortunately for the N or th, U nion forces in [he
Mississippi valley had mo re SIKH.'SS. III Ap ril 1861. a
nava l offic er nam ed I >a vid Farr agut sailed U nion
ships into the mouth o trhc rive r and capt ure d New
Orleans, the largest city in the Ccnfcdcrncy. At the
same time other Union forces were fighting their
way do wn the Mississip pi fro m till" north .
By sp ring 1863, the Union ar mies wer e closing: ill on
all im po rtan t Confederate strongho ld on the
Mississippi called Vicksburg, 0 11 J ul y 4, afier mu ch
104
12 T HE CIVIL W .~R
blood y fighting and a siege lasting six weeks ,
Vicksbur g sur rende red to a U nion army led by
General U lysses S. Gram . Its fall was a heavy blow to
the South . Union forces now controlled the whole
length o f the M ississipp i. They had split the
C onfederacy in tw o . It became im possible for
western Confederate sta res like T exas to send any
mo re men and supp lies to the east.
lim by 186 3 many no rtherners were [ired of the w ar.
They were sickened by its hea vy cost III lives and
mone y. General Lee. the Confederate comma nder,
belie ved that if his ar my co uld w in a decis ive victory
on no rthern soil, popular op inion there might force
the Union governme nt [0 make pe.ace.
In th e last week o fJu ne 186..1. Lee marched his ar my
north into Pennsylvania. At a sl11311 [Own nam ed
C cnysbur g a Union arllly bloc ked his w.ay. The
battl e w hich followed was the biggest [hat has ever
been foug ht in the United States. In three days of
fierce fightin g more [hall 5O,()(N) men were killed or
wou nd ed . O n the fou rth day Lee broke olTthe battl e
and led his men back into [he South. The
Confederate ar my had suffered a dcrcar fro m which ir
would neve r reco ver.
The Emancipation Proclamation
By the su m mer o f 1862 President Lincoln realized
that the North w ould only w in the wa r if he could
arouse more enthusiasm fo r its cause. On Scprcm-
bcr 22 he issued the Em ancipation Procl amation
wi th this aim . T his Procl amation declared th at
from j anua ry 1, l R6 3, all slaves were to be mad e
free -bu t on ly if they lived in areas that were part
of the Confederacy. T he Proclamation change d
the purpose o f the wa r, Fro m a str uggle to
presern ' rhc Union , it beca me a str uggle both to
preserve the U nio n and to abolis h slavery.
At the tim e no t eVl'ryolll' was im pressed by
Lin coln's action . A British leade r. Lord Palmers-
ton , said th nr all Lincoln had don e was " to abolish
slavery wh ere he w as without power to do so,
w hile pro tecting it wh ere he had the po wer to
destroy it. " Palmcrsron wa s right. But after the
Emancipation Proclamation everyolle knew rhar it
was onl y a marrcr of time now before slave ry was
ended eve rywher e in the United Stat es,
51

A NE\'i N.'\TlON
B y I R64 the Confede racy was mnlllng o u t o f almost
every tili ng -men. eqUlp men r, fo od . m o ney. As fall
colored th e trees ofth e eas tern wood s. the U n ion
ar m ies moved in to end the w ar. In N o vember 18f:,4,
a U nio n army led by Gene ral Wi lliam T. Sherman
began to m arch thro ugh the Con fede rate st ate of
Ge o rg ia. Its so ldiers dest royed every thin g III thei r
path. T hey tore up railroad track s. burned crops an d
'bu ild in gs. drove o ff cattle. O n Decem bc r 22 they
occupi ed the city o f Savann ah. T he Confed erac y w as
split again , thi s time fro m cast to west. Aftet
capt u tl ng Savann ah, Sher m an tu rn ed no rth . He
matched th ro ug h th e C arolinas. b u rn in g and
destroyin g aga in as he m ade to r Richmond .
The Confederate capi tal w as alrea dy in d an ger from
an o the r Union army led by Ge ne ral G rant. By
Ma rch 186 5. G rant ha d al most en circled th e city and
o n April 2 Lee w as fo rced to aba ndo n it to save his
army from be ing tra pped. He ma rched south, ho ping
to fig ht on from a strong position III the m ountains.
But Gr ant fo llowed d o se be h ind and o the r U nion
sol d iers blocked Lee's way fo rwa rd . Lee was
trapped . O n Apr il 9. 1865, he met G rant in a b ou se in
a tiny village called Appomattox an d surren dered his
ar m y.
52
105
Gram treated the defeated C o n fed erat e so ld iers
ge nerousl y. After they had given u p th eir weapoll s
and promised never agam to fig ht agalllst the U ni ted
States, he allowed them to go home. H e told them
they co uld keep th eir ho rses " to help with th e sprmg
ploug hin g." As Lee ro de away. Gran t stoo d in the
doorway che wing a piece of tobacco an d to ld his
m en : " The wa r is o ver. T he reb els arc o ur
co un tr y men again.
T he C ivil War gave fin al answers to two quest ions
that h ad d ivided the U ni ted States ever since it
beca m e an ind epend ent na tion . It pm an en d to
sla ver y. In lR65 thi s w as abo lishe d ev erywhere ill the
U n ited States by the 13th Amend m en t to the
Constitu tio n. And it d ecid ed finally th at the U nited
States w as o ne n ation. w hose part s co u ld n o t be
sep arated .
Bur the w ar left bitter memories. T he U nited Sta tes
fough t other wa rs later. bu t all were o utsi de its own
boundaries . The Ci vil War caused terrible
destr uction at hor ne. All over the So u th cities an d
(;Ir ms lay in ruins . An d more Americans d ied in th is
war th an III any o the r, before or since. By the time
Lee surrendered to G rant at Appomatt o x. th e dead
o n both Sides to taled 635.000.

The G ettysburg A d d r ess
Gettysbur g in Pennsylvania I S remem bered fo r
two things. T he first is the battle that was fought
there in July 186.3. The seco nd is th e Gett ysbur g
address . a spee ch that Ab raham Linco ln made
there a few months later.
O n November 19. 1&J3, Linco ln tra veled to
Gett ysburg ro ded icate- part of the battle field as a
natio nal w ar cem etery. T his IS part o f w hat he said
when he di d so :
"Fo u rscore and seven years ago our fat he r-s
bro ug ht forth o n this co nt inent a new nat ion ,
dedicated ro rhe proposirion rh:u all men arc
created eq ua l. Now we are engaged in a g reat civ il
war , testing whether that na tion can long end ure.
We arc me t o n a g rea t ba ttlefi eld of th ai war. We
have co m e to dedicate J po rtion of that field as a
final resting-place tor those who here gave their
lives, tha t that na tio n m ight live. But III a larger
L cr 'j J"ffmJ(r/Q ( ;"mt
~/ ..\ pp('''l.1/ld_~ ill / X65 .
( ;r~II/ jifj al/hr faMe
".."i"JiJri"llris
WII/CmP",ary poli"f"'.~ .
106
11 THE CIVI L W.\Jl
sen se, we can not dedi cate, we can not consecrate
th is g ro und. T he bra n ' m en . livin g: and dead. w ho
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our
poor po w er. The world will little not e. no r lon g
remember. w hat we say here. but it can never
fo rget w hat they did here. It is lor us the living to
resolve that th ese dead sha ll not have di ed in vain;
tlmr this natio n, under Go d , shall have a new birth
c f frccd om : and tha t gove rn ment of rhc people. by
the people, fo r the people. sha ll not perish from
rhi.. earth . "
Linco ln' s speech at Gettysburg became eve n more
famous than the ba ttle. At the time it was seen as
a statem ent of what th e Nort h W;IS figh ting fo r.
III later yea rs it came to be seen as a movmg
expression of faith in the basic pr inci ples of
democratic go ve rn me nt.
53

13 - -
RECONSTRUCTION
On the ni gh t of April 13. 1865. cro wd s ofpeople
moved throug h the brigh tly lit stree ts of Was hington
to celebr ate Lee's surrend er at Appomattox. A man
who w as there w rote in his d iar y: " G UllS arc firi ng,
be lls ringing, flags fly ing , m en laughing, children
cheering, all, all arc j ubilan t. "
T he next day w as Good Friday. In the evening
President Lincoln and his w ife went (0 Ford's
T h eater in Was hi ngt on to sec a play called "Our
Ameri can C OllSIIl." T h e theat er was full and the
audience cheered th e President as he took his scat in a
box beside the stage . O nce Lincoln was safely in his
seat , his bodygu ards moved away to wa tch the play
themselves from scats in the gallery .
At exactly 10:13. w hen the play was part way
thro ugh . a pist o l shot rang th ro u gh the darke ned
theater. As th e P resident slu mped forward in his scat,
a man in a black fcl r hat and hig h bo ors jumped fro m
the box on to th e stage . H e waved a g un in the air and
shouted "Sic semper tyran nist'j'lhus alw ays to
tyran ts] and then ran o u t o f th e theater. It was
dis co vered later that th e gun man was an act or n ame d
J ohn Wi lkes Boo th . H e w as cap tured a few day s
later, h iding in a b arn in th e Virgi nia countryside.
Lincoln w as carried across the street [Q the house of a
tailo r. I Ic died the re III a dow nstairs bedroom th e
54
107
next mornutg . Mel! and women wept in the streets
when they hear d the n ews. T he po et J ames Rus sell
Lo w ell w rote: "Never befo re that startled April
mornlllg d id such m ulti tudes o f m en shed tears for
the death of one th ey had never see n, as if with him a
friendly pr esence had b een taken fro m th eir lives ."
Lincoln was succeed ed as Pr eside nt by his Vice
President. An d rewJ oh nso n. T he big gest problem
the n ew Presid en t faced w as how to de al with the
de feate d South. Lin co ln had m ade no secre t of his
o wn ideas ab out th is. Only a few w eeks be fo re his
death he had begun his second term o f office as
Presid en t. In his inaugural address he had ask ed the
American peop le to help hi m to " bind up the na tio n 's
wou nds " and rebuild th eir war-battered ho m elan d.
Lincoln bla med individual southern leaders (o r th e
w ar. rat her th an th e people of the seced ing sta tes as a
whole . He in tended to pu nish o n ly those guilty
in dividuals and to let th e rest o f the So ut h 's people
playa fu ll pan ill the na tion's life aga in .
Joh nso n had similar ideas. H e began to introduce
plans to reunite th e Sou th wi th the rest o f the nation .
I Ie said th at as SOOIl as the citizens o f th e seceded
states p rom ised to b e lo yal to th e govcnuncnr ofthe
United States they cou ld elect flew state assem blies to
run their affairs . \Vhe n a state voted to acce pt the
13th Amendment to th e Constirur io n (the one th at
comp letel y abo lish ed slavery) J ohnso n intended that
it should be accepted back in to the U nion as a full and
eq ual member.
Buc white southerners were dete rmined to resist an y
changes tha t rhrcarc ncd thei r po we r to co ntrol the life
of th e South . They w ere especially horrified at the
ide a of giving equal rig ht s to their fo rmer black
slaves. T he assemb ly of the state of M ississippi
expressed the \va y it fclr III these blu nt word s:
" Under th e p ress ure of federal bayonets th e people
of Mi ssissip pi have ab o lished the institutio n of
slav ery. T he n eg ro I S free whether we like it o r no r.
To be free. however, d oe s nor m ake him a citizen o r
en title him to soci al o r poli tical equality w ith the
wh ite mall ."

o Captain! m y C aptain!
W ah W hitman is perhaps th e mOSI famo us Ame r-
ican poet o f th e nineteenth cent ur y. D uring the
Civil War he worked in mil itary hospitals, helping
[0 rake care of wounded soldiers. Whitm an w as a
g n:ar admi rer of Linco ln and in 1B65 he exp ressed
o C aptain! m y Captain! our fearful trip is
do ne,
The ship has weathcr'd e\'e ry rack . the pnze
we so ught is won,
The pori is nca r, rhc be lls I hea r, the peo ple all
exul ting,
While follo w eycs rhc stea dy keel, the vessel
grim and d aring;
Bu t 0 heart ! heart! heart!
() the bleeding drops of red ,
W here on the deck m y Captain lies.
Fallen cold and dead.
o Captain ! my Captain! rise up and hear th e
bells:
Rise u p - for you the flag is t1ung - for you the
bugle t rills.
For yo u bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - fo r
yo u the shores a-crowding.
The ot her 1( >TIll eT Coufcdcrarc states shared this
att itude. All th eir assemblies passed laws to keep
blacks III an in fe rior pos ition. Suc h laws were called
"Black C o des . " "Fede ra l bayo nets" might have
ma de th e black s free , bur the ru ling whites intended
them to rem ain u nski lled. un ed uc ated and land less,
with no lega l protection o r rig hts of thei r own .
Black Codes re fused blacks rile vote. said that the y
could not StTH' onju rics. forba de rhcm to g Ive
evidence in court against a wh itt' 11I.111 . In M ississip pi
blacks were not allowed to b uy or to rvnr farm land .
III Lo uisia na they had to agn.'t' to work fo r 011e
em ployer fora. whole year and co uld be im pri so ned
and ma d e to do forced labor if they refused . With 110
land. no m o n t'y and no protection from rile law , ir
was almost as ifblark s were still slaves.
108
13 nIoU J N ST~ U CTlON
his gri ef at th e d eath of th e President by w riting
thi s po em . The "fearful trip" in th e o pclllng line is
rhc Civil War , the "Captain" is Ab raha m Linco ln ,
th e "ship" is th e U nited Stares and th e " prize" I S
peace and natio nal uni ty,
Fo r yo u rhcy call, rhc swaying mass. th eir
eager faces turn ing;
Here Ca ptain! d ear fathe r!
T his arm be nea th your head !
It is so me dream th at o n the dec k,
Yo u'vc fallen cold and dead.
M y Captain docs no r answer, his lip s arc pale
and still.
M y fathe r docs not fed m y arm, he has no
pulse nor will.
T he sh ip IS anchor'd safe and sou nd, its
vo yage closed and done,
From fearful tri p the victo r ship co mes in
wi th object w on :
Exult 0 shores, and ring 0 be lls!
But I w irh mou rnful tread.
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Pallen co ld and d ead .
Walt Whitma n
In 1S6::; the Chie,T.!!t' Tribune ncwspaper \....arnc d
southern ers o f the growing ;lI1ger in the N orth about
th e Black Codes:
"We tell th e wh ite men of M ississip pi th at the men
o f the N orth w ill co nvert th e State of M ississip pi into
a fro g po nd befor e rhc y w ill allo w such law s to
dis g race one foo t ofso il in which the bo nos o f o ur
sol d iers sleep and over w hich the Hag cf frccdom
waves.':
T he feeling s o f the C/tiea,l!(l Trill/mt" were shared b y
m;JIlY m em bers of the United States Congress. A
g roup th ere called Rad ical Republicans believed th at
the most important reason fo r figlui ng the C ivil Wa r
had been to free the blacks, H avin g won the WJr,
th ey were de termi ned that neither they no r th e blacks
were now going to be cheated. They said that
Pr esiden t j o hnso n was treating the defeated white
so utherners roo kind ly and that [he southerners were
55
 A Nsw NATION
tak in g advantage o f th is. " They have n o t been
punished as they deserve," sai d o ne Radic al
Rep ub lican .
In J u ly 1866, des pite opposition fro m the Presiden t,
Congress passed a C ivil Rig hts Act. It also set up all
o rganizatio n calle d the Freedmen's Bu reau. Bo th
these measures were intended to ensure that b lack s in
th e So uth were not cheated of their rights. C ongress
then introd uced th e l-tth Amendment to th e
Constitution. T he l-lt h A mend ment gave black s full
fights of citize ns hip, mel ud ing th e figh t to vote.
All the fo rmer Confederate st ates except Tennessee
refu sed to accept the l -lrh Amendment. In March
1867, Cong ress replie d by passing the
Reco ns tru ct io n Act . This d ismissed the white
go v er nm en ts of the southe rn states an d placed them
. under military rule. They were tol d th at th ey co uld
ag ain have elec ted govern meIHs when the y accep ted
the 14th Amen d m ent and gan' all black men th e
vo te .
13y 1870 all the southern states had new
" Reconstruction" govemmcnrs. Most were m ade up
of blacks, a few wh ite southerners who were wi llin g
to w o rk with them an d white men fro m the North.
109
The new ly ar rived northerners were referred to b y
southerners who o pposed them as "carpetbaggers."
T he na me came from the large. cheap bags made of
carpet ing material in w hich some o f the northern er s
carried their belongings. Any white southerners who
cooperated with the carpetbaggers were referred to
with co n tem pt as "scalawags." T he word
"scala wag " still mea ns scoun d rel. or rogue. III the
En glish lang uage to day .
M ost w hit e southerners su pported the Democra tic
poli tical pa rt y. T hese southern Democrats claimed
that th e Reconstru ction goverm llellts were
in co m peten t and dishonest. T here was so m e truth in
this claim . M an y of the n ew black m em bers o f the
state asse mb lies were ine xperienced and poorl y
ed u cated . So m e carpetbaggers were thie ves. In
Loui sian a. tor example, one car petbagger official w as
accuse d of stealing IOU,OnO dollars from state fun d s in
his first year of office.
Bu t Rec onst ru cti on govern ments also containe d
honest men who tried to Im pro ve the South . T hey
passe d !; l\V S to provide care fo r orphans and the
blind . to enco ur age new ind usmcs and the building
of rail ro ad s. and to bui ld schools for both w h ite an d
black chi ldren.
None o f these Im provements stopped southern
w h ites fr om ha ting Reconstr uc tion . This wa s n ot
because of th e incom petence or di sh on esty of its
go vcmmcms. It was because Reco ns tructi on aim ed
to give b lacks th e same rig h ts th at w hites had .
Southern whites were determined to prevent this .
T hey o rg an ized terrorist groups to make w hi te m en
the masters on ce mo re. T he m ain aim of these g rou ps
was to th reaten and frighten black people and Ptv vvut
them fro m claiming the ir nghts.
The largest and mo st feared terr o rist group wa s a
secret sOCIety called the Ku Kl u x Klan. Its memb ers
d ressed th emselves in wh ite sheets and wore ho o d s to
hid e their faces. They ro de by night through th e
southern count rysi de. beating an d k illing any bla cks
who tr ied to improve their position . T heir sign was a
burni ng wooden cross. w hic h th ey placed o ut side the
homes of their intended victims.
This usc of violence and fear helped white racists to
win bac k control of sta te governments all over the
South . B y 1876 Repu b lican suppo ners of
Rec o nstruc ti o n held power in on ly three southern
 13
110
Itl (;()NSTRL:C T! O )\;

in parks, 1Il schools, in resta urants. in th eater s and

swimming pool s c-cven in cemeteries! Any black
w ho da red to brea k these scgrcgnrion laws was likely
ro cnd up either in pj-iscn or dead. In th e 1890s an
av era ge of 151 ) blacks a yea r were killed
illegallv-. " lynched" - by white mobs. It see med
tha t rhe improve..mcnr-, the Civil War and
Reco nstruct io n had brought black people we re lost
fo r eve r.
Uut Recon structio n had nor been for nothing. It had
been th e boldes t attempt so far to achieve racial
j ustice in the United Stares. T he l -ith Amendment
was especially important. It was the foundation of
the Ci vil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s
and made it po ..siblc fo r Martin Luther King to cry
our cvcuruallv on behalfofall black A mcricans:
"free ar last! Free at last! Tha nk God Almightv. we
nrl' K" Klux KI,J/f in /915.
are free at last!"
stares. When Congress withdrew federa l troo ps
from the South in ISn, white Democrats won
control ofthese. too. Reconstruction W3S over.
Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1896 the Supre me Coun announced its decision
From this rime onwards southern blacks were trc-arcd
in a case called Ph'ssy v. Ferguson, It ru led that th e
more and mere as "second class citizens" th ar I S,
-e

Constitutio n allowed separa te facilities and serv ices

they were not given equal treat m ent und er the law.
to be prov ided lor black and white peo ple. so lo ng
Most serious of311, they were robbed of their right to
as the facilities and serv ices we re of eq ual qu ality.
vote.
The Plessy v. Fe~~lls~l " decision m ade racial seg rc-
Som e southern states prevented blacks from voting gario n a legal put of th e Am erican w ay of life fo r
by say ing that o nly peo ple who paid a tax o n vo ters - m o rt' th an half a cent ur y.
a poll tax-co uld do so. T hey rhcn m adc the tax so
Sou thern stat es im med iately bega n making separ-
high th at m ost blacks co uld nor alf ord to pay it. If
ate but lIIu'qrl<,1 pro visio n fo r blacks. They passed
blacks did try to pay. rhc [ax co llecto rs oft en refu sed
to tak e th eir money. "Grandfather clauses" were also
law s t o enforce scg rcga no n ill' every possible
aspe ct of life - pu blic transportation, thea ters,
widely used to prevent black s fro m voting. These
hotels. caring places. parks. schools.
clauses , or rul es, allo w ed till' vo te only to peo ple
whose grandfath e rs had been q ualified to vote in The " separate but eq ual" decisio n reached in
1865. Most blac ks had only o bta ined the vote in 1866 Pless}' v, Fcrouson wa s at last overt urned by
so the gra nd father clauses automatically rook away another Supreme Court decision in 1954. In th e
their voting righ ts, case of Brown v, T opeka. the Supreme Court ru led
th at it was impossible fo r black child re n to receive
The effe cts of g ran dfa rbcr clauses co uld be seen in the
an equal education in seg reg ated schools. It
state of Lo uisiana. Befo re 1898 it had 164,088 white
o rdered that all publi c schools in the U nited States
voters and 130,344 black voters. Aft er Lo uisiana
should be o pened to child re n of all races.
Introd uced a grand fathe r clause it still had 125, 437
wh ite vorcrs. but only 5,320 black ones. This 195-1 decis io n to aba ndo n Pless}' v. j-:ergllsf.l/l
was a land m ark in the blac k C iv il Rights move-
On ce blacks lost the vorc. raking away their ot her
ment o f the I950s. It m ark ed th e beginnin g o f a
rights became easy, All the southern states passed
campaign to end all fo rm s of legally enfo rced
laws to enforce strict racial separation, o r
scg rcga no n III American life.
"segregation." Segregation was enforced o n trams,
,7
 111

UNIT 3

1-18th Century Britain : the Condition of England, the condition of the

Church , Wesleyan movement, the Arts, Sciences and scientific discoveries.

2- Path to Enlightenment, Philosophes and their ideas: Locke, Montesquieu

and Voltaire among others.

3- The Later Enlightenment and the impact of Enlightenment.

4- The French Revolution begins: the old order and forces of change.

5- Revolution brings reform and terror

6- Napoleon forges and Empire

112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
 123

The Enlightenment
Guide to Reading
Main Ideas People to Identify Reading Strategy
• Eighteenth-century intellectuals used the John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Denis Summarizing Information Use a dia-
ideas of the Scientific Revolution to Diderot, Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques gram like the one below to list some of
reexamine all aspects of life. Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, John the main ideas introduced during the
• People gathered in salons to discuss the Wesley Enlightenment.
ideas of the philosophes.
Places to Locate
Key Terms Paris, London
philosophe, separation of powers, deism, Major Ideas
laissez-faire, social contract, salon Preview Questions of the Enlightenment
1. What was the Enlightenment?
2. What role did religion play during
the Enlightenment?
Preview of Events
✦1700 ✦1715 ✦1730 ✦1745 ✦1760 ✦1775 ✦1790
1702 1748 1762 1763 1776
The first daily newspaper Baron de Montesquieu pub- Rousseau publishes Voltaire writes his Adam Smith publishes
is published in London lishes The Spirit of the Laws The Social Contract Treatise on Toleration The Wealth of Nations

Voices from the Past

The French intellectual Voltaire attacked religious intolerance in The Ignorant
Philosopher:

“ I say, there is scarce any city or borough in Europe, where blood has not been
spilled for religious quarrels; I say, that the human species has been perceptibly dimin-
ished, because women and girls were massacred as well as men. I say that Europe
would have a third larger population if there had been no theological disputes. In fine,
I say, that so far from forgetting these abominable times, we should frequently take
a view of them, to inspire an eternal horror for them. . . . It is for our age to make
amends by toleration, for this long collection of crimes, which has taken place through
”
the lack of toleration during sixteen barbarous centuries.
—From Absolutism to Revolution 1648–1848, Herbert H. Rowen, ed., 1963
Voltaire Religious toleration was one of the major themes of the Enlightenment.

Path to the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century philosophical movement of
intellectuals who were greatly impressed with the achievements of the Scientific
Revolution. One of the favorite words of these intellectuals was reason. By this,
they meant the application of the scientific method to an understanding of all life.
They hoped that by using the scientific method, they could make progress toward
a better society than the one they had inherited. Reason, natural law, hope, progress—
these were common words to the thinkers of the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment was especially influenced by the ideas of two seventeenth-
century Englishmen, Isaac Newton and John Locke. To Newton, the physical
 124

world and everything in it was like a giant machine Philosophes and Their Ideas
(the Newtonian world-machine). If Newton could
The intellectuals of the Enlightenment were
discover the natural laws that governed the physical
known by the French name philosophe (FEE•luh•
world, then by using his methods, the intellectuals of
ZAWF), meaning “philosopher.” Not all philosophes
the Enlightenment thought they could discover the
were French, however, and few were philosophers in
natural laws that governed human society.
the strict sense of the term. They were writers, pro-
John Locke’s theory of knowledge also greatly
fessors, journalists, economists, and above all, social
affected eighteenth-century intellectuals. In his Essay
reformers. They came chiefly from the nobility and
Concerning Human Understanding, Locke argued that
the middle class.
every person was born with a tabula rasa, or blank
Most of the leaders of the Enlightenment were
mind:
French, but even the French would have acknowl-
edged that the English had provided the philosophi-
“ Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say,
white paper, void of all characters, without any cal inspiration for the Enlightenment. It was
ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence has it definitely these French philosophes, however, who
all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this affected intellectuals elsewhere and created a move-
I answer, in one word, from experience. . . . Our ment that influenced the entire Western world. The
observation, employed either about external sensible Enlightenment was a truly international movement.
objects or about the internal operations of our minds To the philosophes, the role of philosophy was to
perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that change the world. One writer said that the
which supplies our understanding with all the philosophe is one who “applies himself to the study
of society with the purpose of making his kind better
”
materials of thinking.
and happier.” One conducts this study by using rea-
Locke’s ideas suggested that people were molded son, or an appeal to facts. A spirit of rational criticism
by the experiences that came through their senses was to be applied to everything, including religion
from the surrounding world. If environments were and politics.
changed and people were exposed to
the right influences, then people could
be changed and a new society created.
How should the environment be
changed? Using Newton’s meth-
ods, people believed that they
could discover the natural laws
that all institutions should follow
to produce the ideal society.
Reading Check Explaining
What was Newton’s main contribution
to Enlightenment thought?

History
Leaders of the American Revolution, such as Franklin,
Adams, and Jefferson (pictured here left to right), were
greatly influenced by the ideas of John Locke (shown
above) and eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers.
By what means or methods did Locke believe a new
society could be created?

History through Art
Madame de Geoffrin’s Salon by Anicet
Lemonnier shows the first reading of one of Vol-
taire’s works. Describe the different reactions to
Voltaire’s ideas that you might hear from a typi-
cal Parisian eighteenth-century salon audience.
The philosophes often disagreed. The Enlighten-
ment spanned almost a century, and it evolved over
time. Each succeeding generation became more radi-
cal as it built on the contributions of the previous one.
A few people, however, dominated the landscape.
We begin our survey of the ideas of the philosophes
by looking at the three French giants—Montesquieu
(MAHN•tuhs•KYOO), Voltaire, and Diderot (dee•
DROH).
Montesquieu Charles-Louis de Secondat, the Baron
de Montesquieu, came from the French nobility. His
most famous work, The Spirit of the Laws, was pub-
lished in 1748. In this study of governments, Mon-
tesquieu tried to use the scientific method to find the
natural laws that govern the social and political rela-
tionships of human beings.
Montesquieu identified three basic kinds of gov-
ernments: (1) republics, suitable for small states;
(2) despotism, appropriate for large states; and
(3) monarchies, ideal for moderate-size states. He
used England as an example of a monarchy.
Montesquieu believed that England’s government
had three branches: the executive (the monarch), the
legislative (parliament), and the judicial (the courts
125
of law). The government functioned through a sepa-
ration of powers. In this separation, the executive,
legislative, and judicial powers of the government
limit and control each other in a system of checks and
balances. By preventing any one person or group
from gaining too much power, this system provides
the greatest freedom and security for the state.
Montesquieu’s analysis of the system of checks
and balances through separation of powers was his
most lasting contribution to political thought. The
translation of Montesquieu’s work into English made
it available to American philosophes, who took his
principles and worked them into the United States
Constitution.
Voltaire The greatest figure of the Enlightenment
was François-Marie Arouet, known simply as
Voltaire. A Parisian, Voltaire came from a prosperous
middle-class family. He wrote an almost endless
stream of pamphlets, novels, plays, letters, essays,
and histories, which brought him both fame and
wealth.
Voltaire was especially well known for his criti-
cism of Christianity and his strong belief in religious
toleration. He fought against religious intolerance in
France. In 1763, he penned his Treatise on Toleration, in
which he reminded governments that “all men are
brothers under God.”
Throughout his life, Voltaire championed deism,
an eighteenth-century religious philosophy based on
reason and natural law. Deism built on the idea of the
Newtonian world-machine. In the Deists’ view, a
 126

mechanic (God) had created the universe. To Voltaire Toward a New Social Science
and most other philosophes, the universe was like a
The philosophes, as we have seen, believed that
clock. God, the clockmaker, had created it, set it in
Newton’s methods could be used to discover the nat-
motion, and allowed it to run without his interfer-
ural laws underlying all areas of human life. This led
ence, according to its own natural laws.
to what we would call the social sciences—areas
Diderot Denis Diderot went to the University of such as economics and political science.
Paris to fulfill his father’s hopes that he would be a
lawyer or pursue a career in the Church. He did nei-
Economics The Physiocrats and Scottish philoso-
pher Adam Smith have been viewed as the founders
ther. Instead, he became a freelance writer so that he
of the modern social science of economics. The Phys-
could study and read in many subjects and lan-
iocrats, a French group, were interested in identify-
guages. For the rest of his life, Diderot remained ded-
ing the natural economic laws that governed human
icated to new ideas.
society. They maintained that if individuals were free
Diderot’s most famous contribution to the Enlight-
to pursue their own economic self-interest, all society
enment was the Encyclopedia, or Classified Dictionary of
would ultimately benefit.
the Sciences, Arts, and Trades, a 28-volume collection of
The state, then, should not interrupt the free play
knowledge that he edited. Published between 1751
of natural economic forces by imposing government
and 1772, the purpose of the Encyclopedia, according to
regulations on the economy. The state should leave
Diderot, was to “change the general way of thinking.”
the economy alone. This doctrine became known by
The Encyclopedia became a major weapon in the
its French name, laissez-faire (LEH•SAY FEHR),
philosophes’ crusade against the old French society.
meaning “to let (people) do (what they want).”
Many of its articles attacked religious superstition and
The best statement of laissez-faire was made in
supported religious toleration. Others called for
1776 by Adam Smith in his famous work The Wealth
social, legal, and political improvements that would
of Nations. Like the Physiocrats, Smith believed that
lead to a society that was more tolerant and more
the state should not interfere in economic matters.
humane. The Encyclopedia was sold to doctors, clergy-
Indeed, Smith gave to government only three basic
men, teachers, and lawyers, thus spreading the ideas
roles: protecting society from invasion (the army);
of the Enlightenment.
defending citizens from injustice (the police); and
Reading Check Comparing What were the major keeping up certain public works, such as roads and
contributions of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot to the canals, that private individuals could not afford.
Enlightenment?

History through Art

Port of Marseille by Claude-Joseph
Vernet, 1754 Vernet was commissioned
by the French king to paint the military
and commercial seaports of France.
What characteristic activities of a com-
mercial port are included here? What
information about the past could histo-
rians learn from this painting?

Beccaria and Justice By the eighteenth century,
most European states had developed a system of
courts to deal with the punishment of crime. Punish-
ments were often cruel. The primary reason for
extreme punishments was the need to deter crime in
an age when a state’s police force was too weak to
ensure the capture of criminals.
One philosophe who proposed a new approach to
justice was Cesare Beccaria. In his essay On Crimes
and Punishments, written in 1764, Beccaria argued
that punishments should not be exercises in brutality.
He also opposed capital punishment. He did not
believe that it stopped others from committing
crimes. Moreover, it set an example of barbarism: “Is
it not absurd, that the laws, which punish murder,
should, in order to prevent murder, publicly commit
murder themselves?”
Reading Check Explaining What is the concept of
laissez-faire?
The Later Enlightenment
By the late 1760s, a new generation of philosophes
had come to maturity. Most famous was Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (ru•SOH). The young Rousseau wandered
through France and Italy holding various jobs.
Eventually he made his way to Paris, where he was
Mary Wollstonecraft
1759–1797—English writer
Mary Wollstonecraft is considered
by many to be the founder of the
European and American movements
for women’s rights. Wollstonecraft
was largely self-educated. For a while,
she earned a living as a governess but
soon moved to a writing career and worked for
a magazine publisher.
All along, Wollstonecraft continued to develop her
ideas on education and women’s rights. She wrote in
1792: “Make women rational creatures, and free citizens,
and they will quickly become good wives; that is—if
men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers!”
Mary Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William
Godwin in 1797. She died shortly after the birth of their
daughter—Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley—who
wrote the famous novel Frankenstein.
127
introduced into the circle of the philosophes. He did
not like city life, however, and often withdrew into
long periods of solitude.
In his Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of
Mankind, Rousseau argued that people had adopted
laws and government in order
to preserve their private
property. In the process,
they had become enslaved
by government. What,
then, should people do to
regain their freedom?
In his famous work
The Social Contract, pub-
lished in 1762, Rousseau
presented his concept of the
social contract. Through a Jean-Jacques Rousseau
social contract, an entire
society agrees to be governed by its general will.
Individuals who wish instead to follow their own
self-interests must be forced to abide by the general
will. “This means nothing less than that [they] will be
forced to be free,” said Rousseau. Thus, liberty is
achieved by being forced to follow what is best for
“the general will,” because the general will repre-
sents what is best for the entire community.
Another important work by Rousseau is Emile.
Written in the form of a novel, the work is a general
discussion “on the education of the natural man.”
Rousseau argues that education should foster, and
not restrict, children’s natural instincts.
Unlike many Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau
believed that emotions, as well as reason, were
important to human development. He sought a bal-
ance between heart and mind, between emotions and
reason.
Rousseau did not necessarily practice what he
preached. His own children were sent to orphanages,
where many children died at a young age. Rousseau
also viewed women as being “naturally” different
from men: “To fulfill her functions, . . . [a woman]
needs a soft life. . . . How much care and tenderness
does she need to hold her family together.” To
Rousseau, women should be educated for their roles
as wives and mothers by learning obedience and the
nurturing skills that would enable them to provide
loving care for their husbands and children. Not
everyone in the eighteenth century agreed with
Rousseau, however.
Reading Check Summarizing What were Rousseau’s
basic theories as presented in The Social Contract and Emile?
 128

Magazines, Then and Now Many early magazines failed because customers did
not always pay for them on time. Isaiah Thomas, editor
Bookstores and newsstands carry thousands of mag-
of the Worcester Magazine, became so desperate that
azines that appeal to an enormous variety of interests.
he wrote: “The editor requests all those who are
We can find magazines on fishing, car racing, fashion,
indebted to him for
politics, television, furniture making, tourism, wrestling,
magazines, to make
and a host of other subjects.
payment — butter will
The first magazines in Europe were a product of a
be received in small
growing reading public in the seventeenth and eight-
sums, if brought within
eenth centuries, especially among the middle classes.
a few days.”
The first magazine was published in Germany in 1633. It
contained poems and articles on religion, the chief inter-
est of its editor, Johann Rist. Argentine

Many early magazines had serious goals. Joseph magazine stand
Addison and Richard Steele’s Spectator, begun in 1711,
aimed to “bring Philosophy out of the closets and
libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and
assemblies, at tea-tables and coffeehouses.” It did not
last long.
Some publishers began to broaden the appeal of
their magazines. One goal was to attract women read- Pretend you are an eighteenth-century magazine edi-
ers. Ladies’ Mercury, published in Britain, provided tor assigned to write an article for the next edition.
advice on marriage and child rearing as well as sewing Choose a person or an event discussed in Chapter 17
patterns and gossip. Its success brought forth a host of to be the subject of your article (use outside
similar magazines. resources if necessary). You could also select one
Enlightenment idea and present it to your readers.

Rights of Women Wollstonecraft pointed out that the power of men

For centuries, male intellectuals had argued that
the nature of women made them inferior to men and
made male domination of women necessary. By the
eighteenth century, however, female thinkers began
to express their ideas about improving the condition
of women. The strongest statement for the rights of
women was advanced by the English writer Mary
Wollstonecraft. Many see her as the founder of the
modern European and American movement for
women’s rights.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Woll-
stonecraft identified two problems with the views of
many Enlightenment thinkers. She noted that the
same people who argued that women must obey
men also said that government based on the arbitrary
power of monarchs over their subjects was wrong.
over women was equally wrong.
Wollstonecraft further argued that the Enlighten-
ment was based on an ideal of reason in all human
beings. Because women have reason, then they are
entitled to the same rights as men. Women, Woll-
stonecraft declared, should have equal rights in edu-
cation, as well as in economic and political life.
Reading Check Evaluating How did Mary Woll-
stonecraft use the Enlightenment ideal of reason to advocate
rights for women?
Social World of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was not a movement belonging
exclusively to the nobles and aristocrats. For example,
philosophes such as Diderot and Rousseau came from
 129
Europe in the Age of Enlightenment
60°
N

N Uppsala St. Petersburg

W
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Stockholm

Sea
S
Glasgow Edinburgh

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Academy of science

al
North B
Sea Observatory
Copenhagen
50
°N
Palace inspired by Versailles
Greenwich
Danzig Publication of scientific
Cambridge or philosophical journals
Oxford Amsterdam
London Leiden University
Berlin Warsaw
G¨ottingen
Halle Leipzig
ATLaNTIC Krak´ow
OCEaN Paris Frankfurt Prague
Strasbourg Dominant Religions
Vienna 20°W N 10°W 0° 0 500 miles
Munich
W
Geneva 0 500 kilometers

Se a
E North
S Lambert Azimuthal
Sea

ic
Turin Padua Equal-Area projection

lt
10°W 50° Ba
Florence Bologna N
40° Pisa Black Sea
N Atlantic
Madrid Ocean
Lisbon Corsica Rome

Sardinia
40°N c k Se a
Bl a
Mediterranean
Sea Med i
0° t e r r a n e a n Se a
0 500 miles Sicily
Catholic Muslim
0 500 kilometers Eastern Orthodox Christian Protestant
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection Eastern Orthodox Christian Protestant minorities
10°E 20°E minorities

new reading public of the middle classes, which

The intellectuals of the Enlightenment created a movement
that influenced the entire Western world.
1. Interpreting Maps Examine the keys of the two maps.
What kind of information does each map contain?
2. Applying Geography Skills Pose and answer two
questions about the geographic distributions shown
on one of the maps on this page. Create a thematic
chart that represents the same information.
the lower middle class. The movement did, however,
have its greatest appeal with the aristocrats and upper
classes in the larger cities. The common people, espe-
cially the peasants, were mostly unaware and little
affected by the Enlightenment.
The Growth of Reading Of great importance to the
Enlightenment was the spread of its ideas to the lit-
erate elite of European society. Especially noticeable
in the eighteenth century was the growth of both
publishing and the reading public. The number of
titles issued each year by French publishers rose from
300 in 1750 to about 1,600 in the 1780s. Books had
previously been aimed at small groups of the edu-
cated elite. Now, many books were directed at the
included women and urban artisans.
An important aspect of the growth of publishing
and reading in the eighteenth century was the devel-
opment of magazines for the general public. In Great
Britain, an important center for the new magazines,
25 periodicals were published in 1700, 103 in 1760,
and 158 in 1780.
Along with magazines came daily newspapers.
The first was printed in London in 1702. Newspapers
were relatively cheap and were even provided free in
many coffeehouses.
The Salon Enlightenment ideas were also spread
through the salon. Salons were the elegant drawing
rooms of the wealthy upper class’s great urban
houses. Invited guests gathered in these salons and
took part in conversations that were often centered on
the new ideas of the philosophes. The salons brought
writers and artists together with aristocrats, govern-
ment officials, and wealthy middle-class people.
The women who hosted the salons found them-
selves in a position to sway political opinion and
influence literary and artistic taste. At her fashion-
able home in Paris, for example, Marie-Thérèse de
 130

Geoffrin, wife of a wealthy merchant, held gatherings experience in which “the

that became the talk of France and of all Europe. Dis- gift of God’s grace”
tinguished foreigners, including a future king of assured him of salvation.
Sweden and a future king of Poland, competed to This experience led him
receive invitations. These gatherings helped spread to become a missionary to
the ideas of the Enlightenment. the English people to
bring them the “glad tid-
Reading Check Examining What was the importance ings” of salvation.
of the salons? Wesley preached to the
masses in open fields. He
Religion in the Enlightenment appealed especially to the
lower classes. He tried, he
Although many philosophes attacked the Chris-
said, “to lower religion to
tian churches, most Europeans in the eighteenth cen-
the level of the lowest
tury were still Christians. Many people also sought a John Wesley
people’s capacities.”
deeper personal devotion to God.
Wesley’s powerful sermons often caused people to
The Catholic parish church remained an important
have conversion experiences. Many of these converts
center of life for the entire community. How many
joined Methodist societies in which they helped each
people went to church regularly cannot be known. It
other do good works. In this way Wesley’s Method-
has been established that 90 to 95 percent of Catholic
ism gave the lower and middle classes in English soci-
populations did go to mass on Easter Sunday.
ety a sense of purpose and community. The
After the initial religious fervor that created
Methodists stressed the importance of hard work and
Protestantism in the sixteenth century, Protestant
encouraged behaviors that led to spiritual content-
churches settled into well-established patterns con-
ment, which took the place of political equality.
trolled by state authorities. Many Protestant churches
After Wesley’s death, Methodism became a sepa-
were lacking in religious enthusiasm. The desire of
rate Protestant group. Methodism proved that the
ordinary Protestants for greater depths of religious
need for spiritual experience had not been eliminated
experience led to new religious movements.
by the eighteenth-century search for reason.
In England, the most famous new religious
movement—Methodism—was the work of John Reading Check Describing What are some of the
Wesley, an Anglican minister. Wesley had a mystical central ideas of Methodism?

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

1. Define philosophe, separation of pow-
ers, deism, laissez-faire, social contract,
salon.
2. Identify John Locke, Montesquieu,
Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Adam Smith,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mary Woll-
stonecraft, John Wesley.
3. Locate Paris, London.
4. Explain the influence of Isaac Newton
and John Locke on Enlightenment
thinkers.
5. List the primary occupations of the
philosophes.
6. Discuss What did Rousseau mean 8. Describe the scene in the painting
when he stated that if any individual shown on page 521. What activities
wants to pursue his own self-interests depicted in the painting are related to
at the expense of the common good, economics? What elements of the pic-
“He will be forced to be free”? Do you ture illustrate the economic principle
agree or disagree with Rousseau’s of laissez-faire?
ideas? Why?
7. Summarizing Information Use a dia-
gram like the one below to identify fac-
tors that helped spread Enlightenment
ideas throughout Europe.
Factors that Spread
Enlightenment
 131

The Impact of the

Enlightenment
Guide to Reading
Main Ideas People to Identify Reading Strategy
• Enlightenment beliefs were reflected Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Frederick Describing Use a chart like the one
in the art, music, and literature of the the Great, Maria Theresa, Catherine the below to list the conflicts of the Seven
time. Great Years’ War. Include the countries involved
• Enlightenment thought impacted the and where the conflicts were fought.
politics of Europe in the eighteenth Places to Locate
Prussia, Austria, Russia, Silesia Conflicts of the Seven Years’ War
century.
Key Terms Preview Questions
rococo, enlightened absolutism 1. What innovations in the arts occurred
during the eighteenth century?
2. What were the causes and results
of the Seven Years’ War?
Preview of Events
✦1735 ✦1740 ✦1745 ✦1750 ✦1755 ✦1760 ✦1765
1730s 1740 1748 1756 1762 1763
Rococo style spreads War of the Austrian The Treaty of Aix-la- The Seven Years’ Catherine the Great The Treaty of
through Europe Succession begins Chapelle is signed War erupts becomes ruler of Russia Paris is signed

Voices from the Past

The eighteenth-century Prussian king Frederick II once said:

“ [The services a monarch must provide for his people] consisted in the maintenance
of the laws; a strict execution of justice; . . . and defending the state against its ene-
mies. It is the duty of this magistrate to pay attention to agriculture; it should be his
care that provisions for the nation should be in abundance, and that commerce and
industry should be encouraged. He is a perpetual sentinel, who must watch the acts
and the conduct of the enemies of the state. . . . If he be the first general, the first min-
ister of the realm, it is not that he should remain the shadow of authority, but that he
”
should fulfill the duties of such titles. He is only the first servant of the state.
—The Western Tradition, Eugen Weber, 1972
Prussian soldiers
These comments reveal the impact of the ideas of the Enlightenment on the rulers
of the period.

The Arts
The ideas of the Enlightenment also had an impact on the world of culture.
Eighteenth-century Europe witnessed both traditional practices and important
changes in art, music, and literature.

Architecture and Art The palace of Louis XIV at Versailles, in France, had made
an enormous impact on Europe. The Austrian emperor, the Swedish king, and
 132

other rulers also built grandiose residences. These Music The eighteenth
palaces were modeled more on the Italian baroque century was one of the HISTORY
style of the 1500s and 1600s than they were on the greatest periods in the
seventeenth-century French classical style of Ver- history of European Web Activity Visit
sailles. Thus, a unique architectural style was created. music. In the first half of the Glencoe World
One of the greatest architects of the eighteenth cen- the century, two com- History Web site at
tury was Balthasar Neumann. Neumann’s two master- posers—Johann Sebas- wh.glencoe.com and
pieces are the Church of the Fourteen Saints in tian Bach and George click on Chapter 17–
southern Germany and the Residence, the palace of the Frederick Handel—stand Student Web Activity
prince-bishop of Würzburg. In these buildings, secular out as musical geniuses. to learn more about the
rococo style.
and spiritual become one, as lavish and fanciful orna- Bach, a renowned org-
ment, light, bright colors, and elaborate detail greet the anist as well as a com-
visitor. Inside the church, a pilgrim in search of holi- poser, spent his entire life in Germany. While he was
ness is struck by the incredible richness of detail. music director at the Church of Saint Thomas in
The baroque and neoclassical styles that had domi- Leipzig, he composed his Mass in B Minor and other
nated seventeenth-century art continued into the eigh- works that gave him the reputation of being one of
teenth century. By the 1730s, however, a new artistic the greatest composers of all time.
style, known as rococo, had spread all over Europe. Handel was a German who spent much of his
Unlike the baroque style, which stressed grandeur career in England. He is probably best known for his
and power, rococo emphasized grace, charm, and religious music. Handel’s Messiah has been called a
gentle action. Rococo made use of delicate designs rare work that appeals immediately to everyone and
colored in gold with graceful curves. The rococo style yet is a masterpiece of the highest order.
was highly secular. Its lightness and charm
spoke of the pursuit of pleasure, happiness,
and love.
Rococo’s appeal is evident in the work of
Antoine Watteau. In his paintings, gentlemen
and ladies in elegant dress reveal a world of
upper-class pleasure and joy. Underneath
that exterior, however, is an element of sad-
ness, as the artist suggests the fragility and
passing nature of pleasure, love, and life.
Another aspect of rococo was a sense of
enchantment and enthusiasm, especially evi-
dent in the work of Giovanni Battista
Tiepolo. Many of Tiepolo’s paintings came to
adorn the walls and ceilings of churches and
palaces. His masterpiece is the ceiling of the
bishop’s residence at Würzburg, a massive
scene representing the four continents.

History through Art

Danse dans un Pavillon by Antoine Watteau
Watteau began his career as an interior decorator and
rose to become the court painter to King Louis XV. What
details in this painting by Watteau are examples of
the rococo style of painting?

Bach and Handel perfected the baroque musical
style. Two geniuses of the second half of the eigh-
teenth century—Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart—were innovators who wrote
music called classical rather than baroque.
Haydn spent most of his adult life as musical
director for wealthy Hungarian princes. Visits to
England introduced him to a world where musicians
wrote for public concerts rather than princely
patrons. This “liberty,” as he called it, led him to
write two great works, The Creation and The Seasons.
Mozart was truly a child prodigy. His failure to get
a regular patron to support him financially made
his life miserable. Nevertheless, he wrote music
passionately. His The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic
Flute, and Don Giovanni are three of the world’s great-
est operas. Haydn remarked to Mozart’s father,
“Your son is the greatest composer known to me.”
Literature The eighteenth century was also impor-
tant in the development of the European novel. The
novel was especially attractive to a growing number
of middle-class readers.
The Englishman Henry Fielding wrote novels
about people without morals who survive by their
wits. Fielding’s best-known work is The History of
Tom Jones, a Foundling, which describes the adven-
tures of a young scoundrel. In a number of hilarious
episodes, Fielding presents scenes of English life
133
from the slums of London to the country houses of
the English aristocracy. His characters reflect real
types in eighteenth-century English society.
Reading Check Identifying What are the character-
istics of the rococo style?
Enlightenment and
Enlightened Absolutism
Enlightenment thought had an effect on the polit-
ical life of European states in the eighteenth century.
The philosophes believed in natural rights for all
people. These rights included equality before the
law; freedom of religious worship; freedom of
speech; freedom of the press; and the right to assem-
ble, hold property, and pursue happiness. As the
American Declaration of Independence expressed,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal; that they are endowed by their cre-
ator with certain unalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
How were these natural rights to be established
and preserved? Most philosophes believed that peo-
ple needed to be governed by enlightened rulers.
What are enlightened rulers? They allow religious
toleration, freedom of speech and of the press, and
the rights of private property. They nurture the arts,
sciences, and education. Above all, enlightened
History
In this painting, c. 1763, a seven-year-old Mozart is shown
with his father and sister. Above is the original manuscript
of Mozart’s first attempt at writing choral music. What is
a child prodigy? Do you know anyone who could be
described as a child prodigy?

rulers obey the laws and enforce them fairly for all
subjects. Only strong, enlightened monarchs could
reform society.
Many historians once assumed that a new type of
monarchy emerged in the later eighteenth century,
which they called enlightened absolutism. In the
system of enlightened absolutism, rulers tried to gov-
ern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining
their royal powers.
Did Europe’s rulers, however, actually follow the
advice of the philosophes and become enlightened?
To answer this question, we can examine three
states—Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
Prussia: Army and Bureaucracy Two able Prus-
sian kings, Frederick William I and Frederick II,
made Prussia a major European power in the eight-
eenth century. Frederick William I strove to maintain
a highly efficient bureaucracy of civil service work-
ers. The supreme values of the bureaucracy were
obedience, honor, and, above all, service to the king.
As Frederick William asserted: “One must serve the
king with life and limb, . . . and surrender all except
salvation. The latter is reserved for God. But every-
thing else must be mine.”
Frederick William’s other major concern was the
army. By the end of his reign in 1740, he had doubled
the army’s size. Although Prussia was tenth in phys-
ical size and thirteenth in population in Europe, it
had the fourth largest army after France, Russia, and
Austria. The Prussian army, because of its size and its
reputation as one of the best armies in Europe, was
the most important institution in the state.
Members of the nobility, who owned large estates
with many serfs, were the officers in the Prussian army.
These officers, too, had a strong sense of service to the
king or state. As Prussian nobles, they believed in duty,
obedience, and sacrifice.
Frederick II, or Frederick the Great, was one of the
best educated and most cultured monarchs in the
eighteenth century. He was well versed in the ideas
of the Enlightenment and even invited Voltaire to live
at his court for several years. Frederick was a dedi-
cated ruler. He, too, enlarged the Prussian army, and
he kept a strict watch over the bureaucracy.
For a time, Frederick seemed quite willing to make
enlightened reforms. He abolished the use of torture
except in treason and murder cases. He also granted
limited freedom of speech and press, as well as
greater religious toleration. However, he kept Prus-
sia’s serfdom and rigid social structure intact and
avoided any additional reforms.
134
Frederick II
(Frederick the Great)
1712–1786 — Prussian king
F rederick II, known as Frederick
the Great, is credited with making
Prussia a great European power. As a
young man, Frederick was quite differ-
ent from his strict father, Frederick
William I. Frederick, who had a high regard for
French culture, poetry, and flute playing, resisted his
father’s wishes that he immerse himself in government
and military affairs. His father’s frustration expressed
itself in anger: “As I entered the room he seized me by
the hair and threw me to the ground.”
Frederick once tried to escape his father by fleeing to
England with his friend Lieutenant Hans von Katte. Fred-
erick William had both arrested and made his son watch
the beheading of his good friend. One year later, Fred-
erick asked for forgiveness and began to do what his
father wanted.
The Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire had
become one of the great European states by the
beginning of the eighteenth century. It was difficult
to rule, however, because it was a sprawling empire
composed of many different nationalities, languages,
religions, and cultures. Empress Maria Theresa, who
inherited the throne in 1740, worked to centralize the
Austrian Empire and strengthen the power of the
state. She was not open to the philosophes’ calls for
reform, but she worked hard to alleviate the condi-
tion of the serfs.
Her son, Joseph II, believed in the need to sweep
away anything standing in the path of reason: “I
have made Philosophy the lawmaker of my empire.”
Joseph’s reform program was far reaching. He
abolished serfdom, eliminated the death penalty,
established the principle of equality of all before
the law, and enacted religious reforms, including
religious toleration. In his effort to change Austria,
Joseph II issued thousands of decrees and laws.
Joseph’s reform program, however, largely failed.
He alienated the nobles by freeing the serfs. He
alienated the Catholic Church with his religious
reforms. Even the serfs were unhappy, because they
were unable to make sense of the drastic changes in
Joseph’s policies. Joseph realized his failure when he
 135

The French Revolution

and Napoleon, 1789–1815
Previewing Main Ideas
ECONOMICS The gap between rich and poor in France was vast. The
inequalities of the economy of France were a major cause of the French
Revolution.
Geography Why do you think the royal palace at Versailles became a focal
point for the anger of the poor people of Paris during the Revolution?

REVOLUTION Driven by the example of the American Revolution and such

Enlightenment ideas as liberty, equality, and democracy, the French ousted
the government of Louis XVI and established a new political order.
Geography Why do you think some historians cite the “wind from America”
as a cause of the French Revolution?

POWER AND AUTHORITY After seizing power in 1799, Napoleon

conquered a huge empire that included much of Western Europe. His
attempt to conquer Russia, however, led to his downfall.
Geography What challenges and hazards of invading Russia might be
inferred from the map?
136
 137

How would you change an

unjust government?
You are living in France in the late 1700s. Your parents are merchants who earn a
good living. However, after taxes they have hardly any money left. You know that
other people, especially the peasants in the countryside, are even worse off than
you. At the same time, the nobility lives in luxury and pays practically no taxes.
Many people in France are desperate for change. But they are uncertain how
to bring about that change. Some think that representatives of the people should
demand fair taxes and just laws. Others support violent revolution. In Paris, that
revolution seems to have begun. An angry mob has attacked and taken over the
Bastille, a royal prison. You wonder what will happen next.

One of the mob leaders

triumphantly displays
the keys to the Bastille.

Although they were in

search of gunpowder
and firearms, the
conquerors of the
Bastille took whatever
they could find.

One man drags the royal

standard behind him.

▲ The conquerors of the Bastille parade outside City Hall in Paris.

EXAM I N I NG the ISSU ES

• How would you define an unjust government?

• What, if anything, would lead you to take part in a violent
revolution?
Discuss these questions with your classmates. In your discussion,
remember what you’ve learned about the causes of revolutionary
conflicts such as the American Revolution and the English Civil
War. As you read about the French Revolution in this chapter, see
what changes take place and how these changes came about.
650 Chapter 23
 138

The French Revolution Begins

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

ECONOMICS Economic and Throughout history, economic • Old Regime • National

social inequalities in the Old and social inequalities have at • estate Assembly
Regime helped cause the times led peoples to revolt • Louis XVI • Tennis Court
French Revolution. against their governments. • Marie Antoinette Oath
• Estates-General • Great Fear

SETTING THE STAGE In the 1700s, France was considered the most advanced
country of Europe. It had a large population and a prosperous foreign trade. It
was the center of the Enlightenment, and France’s culture was widely praised
and imitated by the rest of the world. However, the appearance of success was
deceiving. There was great unrest in France, caused by bad harvests, high
prices, high taxes, and disturbing questions raised by the Enlightenment ideas
of Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire.

The Old Order TAKING NOTES

Analyzing Causes
In the 1770s, the social and political system of France—the Old Regime— Use a web diagram to
remained in place. Under this system, the people of France were divided into identify the causes of
three large social classes, or estates. the French Revolution.
The Privileged Estates Two of the estates had privileges, including access to
high offices and exemptions from paying taxes, that were not granted to the
members of the third. The Roman Catholic Church, whose clergy formed the Causes of
First Estate, owned 10 percent of the land in France. It provided education and Revolution
relief services to the poor and contributed about 2 percent of its income to the
government. The Second Estate was made up of rich nobles. Although they
accounted for just 2 percent of the population, the nobles owned 20 percent of
the land and paid almost no taxes. The majority of the clergy and the nobility
scorned Enlightenment ideas as radical notions that threatened their status and
power as privileged persons.
The Third Estate About 97 percent of the people belonged to the Third Estate. The
three groups that made up this estate differed greatly in their economic conditions.
The first group—the bourgeoisie (BUR•zhwah•ZEE), or middle class—were
bankers, factory owners, merchants, professionals, and skilled artisans. Often, they
were well educated and believed strongly in the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and
equality. Although some of the bourgeoisie were as rich as nobles, they paid high
taxes and, like the rest of the Third Estate, lacked privileges. Many felt that their
wealth entitled them to a greater degree of social status and political power.
The workers of France’s cities formed the second, and poorest, group within
the Third Estate. These urban workers included tradespeople, apprentices, laborers,
and domestic servants. Paid low wages and frequently out of work, they often
The French Revolution and Napoleon 651
 139
The Three Estates

A First Estate Population of France, 1787

• made up of clergy of
Roman Catholic Church 97% (Third Estate)
• scorned Enlightenment ideas
less than 1%
A
B Second Estate (First Estate)
B • made up of rich nobles
• held highest offices in government 2% (Second Estate)

• disagreed about Enlightenment ideas

C C Third Estate Percent of Income Paid in Taxes
• included bourgeoisie, urban
lower class, and peasant farmers 2% (First Estate)
• had no power to influence
government 0% (Second Estate)

• embraced Enlightenment ideas 50% (Third Estate)

• resented the wealthy First and
Second Estates. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Charts and Political Cartoons

1. Drawing Conclusions How do the chart and the graphs help explain the
political cartoon?
2. Making Inferences Why might the First and Second Estates be opposed to
change?

went hungry. If the cost of bread rose, mobs of these workers might attack grain
carts and bread shops to steal what they needed.
Peasants formed the largest group within the Third Estate, more than 80 per-
cent of France’s 26 million people. Peasants paid about half their income in dues Vocabulary
to nobles, tithes to the Church, and taxes to the king’s agents. They even paid taxes tithe: a church tax,
on such basic staples as salt. Peasants and the urban poor resented the clergy and normally about one-
the nobles for their privileges and special treatment. The heavily taxed and discon- tenth of a family’s
income
tented Third Estate was eager for change.

The Forces of Change

In addition to the growing resentment among the lower classes, other factors
contributed to the revolutionary mood in France. New ideas about government,
serious economic problems, and weak and indecisive leadership all helped to gen-
erate a desire for change.
Enlightenment Ideas New views about power and authority in government were
spreading among the Third Estate. Members of the Third Estate were inspired by
the success of the American Revolution. They began questioning long-standing
notions about the structure of society. Quoting Rousseau and Voltaire, they began
to demand equality, liberty, and democracy. The Comte D’Antraigues, a friend of
Rousseau, best summed up their ideas on what government should be:

PRIMARY SOURCE
The Third Estate is the People and the People is the foundation of the State; it is in fact
the State itself; the . . . People is everything. Everything should be subordinated to it. . . .
It is in the People that all national power resides and for the People that all states exist.
COMTE D’ANTRAIGUES, quoted in Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution

Economic Troubles By the 1780s, France’s once prosperous economy was in

decline. This caused alarm, particularly among the merchants, factory owners, and
652 Chapter 23
 140
bankers of the Third Estate. On the surface, the economy appeared to be sound,
because both production and trade were expanding rapidly. However, the heavy
burden of taxes made it almost impossible to conduct business profitably within
France. Further, the cost of living was rising sharply. In addition, bad weather in
the 1780s caused widespread crop failures, resulting in a severe shortage of grain.
The price of bread doubled in 1789, and many people faced starvation.
During the 1770s and 1780s, France’s government sank deeply into debt. Part of
the problem was the extravagant spending of Louis XVI and his queen, Marie
Antoinette. Louis also inherited a considerable debt from previous kings. And he
borrowed heavily in order to help the American revolutionaries in their war against
Great Britain, France’s chief rival. This nearly doubled the government’s debt. In
1786, when bankers refused to lend the government any more money, Louis faced
serious problems.
A Weak Leader Strong leadership might have solved these and other problems.
Louis XVI, however, was indecisive and allowed matters to drift. He paid little atten-
tion to his government advisers, and had little patience for the details of governing.
The queen only added to Louis’s problems. She often interfered in the government,
and frequently offered Louis poor advice. Further, since she was a member of the
royal family of Austria, France’s long-time enemy, Marie Antoinette had been unpop-
ular from the moment she set foot in France. Her behavior only made the situation
Vocabulary worse. As queen, she spent so much money on gowns, jewels, gambling, and gifts
deficit: debt that she became known as “Madame Deficit.”
Rather than cutting expenses, Louis put off dealing with the emergency until he
practically had no money left. His solution was to impose taxes on the nobility.
However, the Second Estate forced him to call a meeting of the Estates-General—
an assembly of representatives from all three estates—to approve this new tax. The
meeting, the first in 175 years, was held on May 5, 1789, at Versailles.

Louis XVI Marie Antoinette

1754–1793
Louis XVI’s tutors made little effort to
prepare him for his role as king—and it
showed. He was easily bored with
affairs of state, and much preferred to
spend his time in physical activities,
particularly hunting. He also loved to
work with his hands, and was skilled in
several trades, including lock-making,
metalworking, and bricklaying.
Despite these shortcomings, Louis
was well intentioned and sincerely wanted to improve the
lives of the common people. However, he lacked the
ability to make decisions and the determination to see
policies through. When he did take action, it often was
based on poor advice from ill-informed members of his
court. As one politician of the time noted, “His reign
was a succession of feeble attempts at doing good,
shows of weakness, and clear evidence of his inadequacy
as a leader.”
1755–1793
Marie Antoinette was a pretty,
lighthearted, charming woman.
However, she was unpopular with the
French because of her spending and
her involvement in controversial court
affairs. She referred to Louis as “the
poor man” and sometimes set the
clock forward an hour to be rid of
his presence.
Marie Antoinette refused to wear
the tight-fitting clothing styles of the day and introduced a
loose cotton dress for women. The elderly, who viewed the
dress as an undergarment, thought that her clothing was
scandalous. The French silk industry was equally angry.
In constant need of entertainment, Marie Antoinette often
spent hours playing cards. One year she lost the equivalent of
$1.5 million by gambling in card games.
RESEARCH LINKS For more on Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette, go to classzone.com

The French Revolution and Napoleon 653

 141
Dawn of the Revolution
The clergy and the nobles had dominated the Estates-General throughout the
Middle Ages and expected to do so in the 1789 meeting. Under the assembly’s
medieval rules, each estate’s delegates met in a separate hall to vote, and each estate
had one vote. The two privileged estates could always outvote the Third Estate.
The National Assembly The Third Estate delegates, mostly members of the bour-
geoisie whose views had been shaped by the Enlightenment, were eager to make
changes in the government. They insisted that all three estates meet together and
that each delegate have a vote. This would give the advantage to the Third Estate, Analyzing Motives
which had as many delegates as the other two estates combined. Why did the
Siding with the nobles, the king ordered the Estates-General to follow the medieval Third Estate pro-
pose a change in
rules. The delegates of the Third Estate, however, became more and more determined
the Estates-
to wield power. A leading spokesperson for their viewpoint was a clergyman sympa- General’s voting
thetic to their cause, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (syay•YEHS). In a dramatic speech, rules?
Sieyès suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves the National
Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people.
After a long night of excited debate, the delegates of the Third Estate agreed to
Sieyès’s idea by an overwhelming majority. On June 17, 1789, they voted to estab-
lish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and
the beginning of representative government. This vote was the first deliberate act
of revolution.
Three days later, the Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of
their meeting room. They broke down a door to an indoor tennis court, pledging
to stay until they had drawn up a new constitution. This pledge became known
as the Tennis Court Oath. Soon after, nobles and members of the clergy who
favored reform joined the Third Estate delegates. In response to these events, Vocabulary
Louis stationed his mercenary army of Swiss guards around Versailles. mercenary army: a
group of soldiers
▼ The attack on the Storming the Bastille In Paris, rumors flew. Some people suggested that Louis who will work for
Bastille claimed the was intent on using military force to dismiss the National Assembly. Others any country or
lives of about 100
people.
charged that the foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French citizens. employer that will
pay them
 142
People began to gather weapons in order to defend the city
against attack. On July 14, a mob searching for gunpowder
and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The mob over-
whelmed the guard and seized control of the building. The Bread
angry attackers hacked the prison commander and several Bread was a staple of the diet of the
guards to death, and then paraded around the streets with the common people of France. Most
families consumed three or four 4-
dead men’s heads on pikes.
pound loaves a day. And the
The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of rev- purchase of bread took about half of
olution to the French people. Ever since, July 14—Bastille a worker’s wages—when times were
Day—has been a French national holiday, similar to the good. So, when the price of bread
Fourth of July in the United States. jumped dramatically, as it did in the
fall of 1789, people faced a real
threat of starvation.
A Great Fear Sweeps France On their march back from
Before long, rebellion spread from Paris into the countryside. Versailles, the women of Paris
happily sang that they were bringing
From one village to the next, wild rumors circulated that the
“the baker, the baker’s wife, and the
nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants. A wave of baker’s lad” with them. They
senseless panic called the Great Fear rolled through France. expected the “baker”—Louis—to
The peasants soon became outlaws themselves. Armed with provide the cheap bread that they
pitchforks and other farm tools, they broke into nobles’ manor needed to live.
houses and destroyed the old legal papers that bound them to
pay feudal dues. In some cases, the peasants simply burned down the manor houses.
In October 1789, thousands of Parisian women rioted over the rising price of
bread. Brandishing knives, axes, and other weapons, the women marched on
Recognizing
Effects Versailles. First, they demanded that the National Assembly take action to provide
How did the bread. Then they turned their anger on the king and queen. They broke into the
women’s march palace, killing some of the guards. The women demanded that Louis and Marie
mark a turning Antoinette return to Paris. After some time, Louis agreed.
point in the rela-
A few hours later the king, his family, and servants left Versailles, never again
tionship between
the king and the to see the magnificent palace. Their exit signaled the change of power and radical
people? reforms about to overtake France.

SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Old Regime • estates • Louis XVI • Marie Antoinette • Estates-General • National Assembly • Tennis Court Oath • Great Fear

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Select one of the causes you
listed and explain how it
contributed to the French
Revolution.
Causes of
Revolution
3. Why were members of the
Third Estate dissatisfied with
life under the Old Regime?
4. How did Louis XVI’s weak
leadership contribute to the
growing crisis in France?
5. How did the purpose of the
meeting of the Estates-General
in 1789 change?
6. FORMING AND SUPPORTING OPINIONS Do you think that
changes in the French government were inevitable? Explain.
7. ANALYZING MOTIVES Why do you think some members of
the First and Second Estates joined the National Assembly
and worked to reform the government?
8. COMPARING AND CONTRASTING How were the storming
of the Bastille and the women’s march on Versailles
similar? How were they different?
9. WRITING ACTIVITY POWER AND AUTHORITY In the role of a
member of the Third Estate, write a brief speech explaining
why the French political system needs to change.

CONNECT TO TODAY CREATING A COLLAGE

Conduct research on how Bastille Day is celebrated in France today. Use your findings to
create an annotated collage titled “Celebrating the Revolution.”

The French Revolution and Napoleon 655

 143

2
Revolution Brings
Reform and Terror
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

REVOLUTION The revolutionary Some governments that lack the • Legislative • guillotine
government of France made support of a majority of their Assembly • Maximilien
reforms but also used terror and people still use fear to control • émigré Robespierre
violence to retain power. their citizens. • sans-culotte • Reign of
• Jacobin Terror

SETTING THE STAGE Peasants were not the only members of French society
to feel the Great Fear. Nobles and officers of the Church were equally afraid.
Throughout France, bands of angry peasants struck out against members of the
upper classes, attacking and destroying many manor houses. In the summer of
1789, a few months before the women’s march to Versailles, some nobles and
members of clergy in the National Assembly responded to the uprisings in an
emotional late-night meeting.

TAKING NOTES The Assembly Reforms France

Recognizing Effects
Use a flow chart to Throughout the night of August 4, 1789, noblemen made grand speeches, declar-
identify the major events ing their love of liberty and equality. Motivated more by fear than by idealism,
that followed the they joined other members of the National Assembly in sweeping away the feu-
creation of the dal privileges of the First and Second Estates, thus making commoners equal to
Constitution of 1791.
the nobles and the clergy. By morning, the Old Regime was dead.
The Rights of Man Three weeks later, the National Assembly adopted a statement
Assembly
Creates a of revolutionary ideals, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
Constitution Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence, the document stated
that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” These rights included
“liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” The document also
guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion.
In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders adopted the expression
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as their slogan. Such sentiments, however, did not
apply to everyone. When writer Olympe de Gouges (aw•LIMP duh GOOZH) pub-
lished a declaration of the rights of women, her ideas were rejected. Later, in 1793,
she was declared an enemy of the Revolution and executed.
A State-Controlled Church Many of the National Assembly’s early reforms
focused on the Church. The assembly took over Church lands and declared that
Church officials and priests were to be elected and paid as state officials. Thus,
the Catholic Church lost both its lands and its political independence. The rea-
sons for the assembly’s actions were largely economic. Proceeds from the sale of
Church lands helped pay off France’s huge debt.
The assembly’s actions alarmed millions of French peasants, who were devout
Catholics. The effort to make the Church a part of the state offended them, even
656 Chapter 23
 144

One of the people

▲
who stopped Louis
from escaping said
that he recognized
the king from his
portrait on a French
bank note.

though it was in accord with Enlightenment philosophy. They believed that the
pope should rule over a church independent of the state. From this time on, many
peasants opposed the assembly’s reforms.
Louis Tries to Escape As the National Assembly restructured the relationship
between church and state, Louis XVI pondered his fate as a monarch. Some of his
advisers warned him that he and his family were in danger. Many supporters of the
monarchy thought France unsafe and left the country. Then, in June 1791, the royal
family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. As they neared the
border, however, they were apprehended and returned to Paris under guard. Louis’s
attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the government
and sealed his fate.

Divisions Develop
For two years, the National Assembly argued over a new constitution for France. By
1791, the delegates had made significant changes in France’s government and society.
A Limited Monarchy In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the
new constitution, which Louis reluctantly approved. The constitution created a lim-
ited constitutional monarchy. It stripped the king of much of
his authority. It also created a new legislative body––the
Legislative Assembly. This body had the power to create
laws and to approve or reject declarations of war. However, Left, Right, and Center
the king still held the executive power to enforce laws. The terms we use today to describe
Factions Split France Despite the new government, old where people stand politically derive
problems, such as food shortages and government debt, from the factions that developed in
the Legislative Assembly in 1791.
remained. The question of how to handle these problems
• People who want to radically
caused the Legislative Assembly to split into three general change government are called left
Recognizing
groups, each of which sat in a different part of the meeting wing or are said to be on the left.
Effects hall. Radicals, who sat on the left side of the hall, opposed • People with moderate views often
How did differ- the idea of a monarchy and wanted sweeping changes in the are called centrist or are said to be
ences of opinion on way the government was run. Moderates sat in the center of in the center.
how to handle such the hall and wanted some changes in government, but not as • People who want few or no
issues as food changes in government often are
shortages and debt
many as the radicals. Conservatives sat on the right side of
called right wing or are said to be
affect the Legislative the hall. They upheld the idea of a limited monarchy and
on the right.
Assembly? wanted few changes in government.

The French Revolution and Napoleon 657

 145
In addition, factions outside the Legislative Assembly wanted to influence the
direction of the government too. Émigrés (EHM•ih•GRAYZ), nobles and others
who had fled France, hoped to undo the Revolution and restore the Old Regime. In
contrast, some Parisian workers and small shopkeepers wanted the Revolution
to bring even greater changes to France. They were called sans-culottes
(SANZ kyoo•LAHTS), or “those without knee breeches.” Unlike the upper classes,
who wore fancy knee-length pants, sans-culottes wore regular trousers. Although
they did not have a role in the assembly, they soon discovered ways to exert their
power on the streets of Paris.

War and Execution

Monarchs and nobles in many European countries watched the changes taking
place in France with alarm. They feared that similar revolts might break out in their
own countries. In fact, some radicals were keen to spread their revolutionary ideas
across Europe. As a result, some countries took action. Austria and Prussia, for
example, urged the French to restore Louis to his position as an absolute monarch.
The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war in April 1792.
France at War The war began badly for the French. By the
summer of 1792, Prussian forces were advancing on Paris.
The Prussian commander threatened to destroy Paris if the
revolutionaries harmed any member of the royal family. This
enraged the Parisians. On August 10, about 20,000 men and
women invaded the Tuileries, the palace where the royal fam-
ily was staying. The mob massacred the royal guards and
imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children.
Shortly after, the French troops defending Paris were sent
to reinforce the French army in the field. Rumors began to
spread that supporters of the king held in Paris prisons
planned to break out and seize control of the city. Angry and
fearful citizens responded by taking the law into their own
hands. For several days in early September, they raided the
prisons and murdered over 1,000 prisoners. Many nobles,
priests, and royalist sympathizers fell victim to the angry Analyzing Causes
Jean-Paul Marat mobs in these September Massacres. What did the
1743–1793 Under pressure from radicals in the streets and among its September
Massacres show
Marat was a thin, high-strung, sickly members, the Legislative Assembly set aside the Constitution
about the mood of
man whose revolutionary writings of 1791. It declared the king deposed, dissolved the assembly, the people?
stirred up the violent mood in Paris. and called for the election of a new legislature. This new gov-
Because he suffered from a painful
erning body, the National Convention, took office on
skin disease, he often found comfort
by relaxing in a cold bath—even
September 21. It quickly abolished the monarchy and
arranging things so that he could declared France a republic. Adult male citizens were granted
work in his bathtub! the right to vote and hold office. Despite the important part
During the summer of 1793, they had already played in the Revolution, women were not
Charlotte Corday, a supporter of a rival given the vote.
faction whose members had been
jailed, gained an audience with Marat Jacobins Take Control Most of the people involved in the
by pretending to have information governmental changes in September 1792 were members of a
about traitors. Once inside Marat’s radical political organization, the Jacobin (JAK•uh•bihn)
private chambers, she fatally stabbed Club. One of the most prominent Jacobins, as club members
him as he bathed. For her crime,
were called, was Jean-Paul Marat (mah•RAH). During the
Corday went to the guillotine.
Revolution, he edited a newspaper called L’Ami du Peuple
(Friend of the People). In his fiery editorials, Marat called for
658 Chapter 23
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The Guillotine
If you think the guillotine was a cruel form of capital punishment, think
again. Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin proposed a machine that satisfied many
needs––it was efficient, humane, and democratic.
A physician and member of the National Assembly,
Guillotin claimed that those executed with the device
“wouldn’t even feel the slightest pain.”
Once the executioner cranked the
Prior to the guillotine’s introduction in 1792, blade to the top, a mechanism
many French criminals had suffered through horrible released it. The sharp weighted
punishments in public places. Although public blade fell, severing the victim’s
punishments continued to attract large crowds, not all head from his or her body.
spectators were pleased with the new machine. Some
witnesses felt that death by the guillotine occurred Some doctors believed that a
much too quickly to be enjoyed by an audience. victim’s head retained its hearing
and eyesight for up to 15 minutes
after the blade’s deadly blow. All
RESEARCH LINKS For more on the remains were eventually gathered
guillotine, go to classzone.com and buried in simple graves.

Tricoteuses, or “woman knitters,”

were regular spectators at
executions and knitted stockings
for soldiers as they sat near the
base of the scaffold.

1. Synthesizing In what ways was the

guillotine an efficient means of
Beheading by Class
execution?
Before each execution,
More than 2,100 people were executed during the last bound victims traveled See Skillbuilder Handbook, page R21.
132 days of the Reign of Terror. The pie graph below from the prison to the
displays the breakdown of beheadings by class. scaffold in horse-drawn 2. Comparing France continued to use
carts during a one and the guillotine until 1977. Four years
one-half hour procession later, France abolished capital
First Estate punishment. Conduct research to
through city streets.
Second Estate identify countries where capital
punishment is still used. Use your
Third Estate
findings to create a map titled
“Countries Using Capital Punishment.”
659
 147
the death of all those who continued to support the king. Georges Danton
(zhawrzh dahn•TAWN), a lawyer, was among the club’s most talented and passionate
speakers. He also was known for his devotion to the rights of Paris’s poor people.
The National Convention had reduced Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to
that of a common citizen and prisoner. Now, guided by radical Jacobins, it tried
Louis for treason. The Convention found him guilty, and, by a very close vote, sen-
tenced him to death. On January 21, 1793, the former king walked with calm dig-
nity up the steps of the scaffold to be beheaded by a machine called the guillotine
(GIHL•uh•TEEN). (See the Science & Technology feature on page 659.)
The War Continues The National Convention also had to contend with the con-
tinuing war with Austria and Prussia. At about the time the Convention took office,
the French army won a stunning victory against the Austrians and Prussians at the
Battle of Valmy. Early in 1793, however, Great Britain, Holland, and Spain joined
Prussia and Austria against France. Forced to contend with so many enemies, the
French suffered a string of defeats. To reinforce the French army, Jacobin leaders
in the Convention took an extreme step. At their urging, in February 1793 the
Convention ordered a draft of 300,000 French citizens between the ages of 18 and
40. By 1794, the army had grown to 800,000 and included women.

The Terror Grips France

Foreign armies were not the only enemies of the French republic. The Jacobins had
thousands of enemies within France itself. These included peasants who were hor-
rified by the king’s execution, priests who would not accept government control,
and rival leaders who were stirring up rebellion in the provinces. How to contain
and control these enemies became a central issue.
Robespierre Assumes Control In the early months of 1793, one Jacobin leader,
Maximilien Robespierre (ROHBZ•peer), slowly gained power. Robespierre and
his supporters set out to build a “republic of virtue” by wiping out every trace of
France’s past. Firm believers in reason, they changed the calendar, dividing the year
into 12 months of 30 days and renaming each month. This calendar had no Sundays
because the radicals considered religion old-fashioned and dangerous. They even
closed all churches in Paris, and cities and towns all over France soon did the same.
In July 1793, Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For
the next year, Robespierre governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period
of his rule became known as the Reign of Terror. The Committee of Public
Safety’s chief task was to protect the Revolution from its enemies. Under
Robespierre’s leadership, the committee often had these “enemies” tried in the
morning and guillotined in the afternoon. Robespierre justified his use of terror by
suggesting that it enabled French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the
Revolution. He also saw a connection between virtue and terror:

PRIMARY SOURCE
The first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason Analyzing
and the enemies of the people by terror. If the basis of popular government in Primary Sources
time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is How did
both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without Robespierre justify
which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable the use of terror?
justice; it flows, then, from virtue.
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE, “On the Morals and Political Principles of Domestic Policy” (1794)

The “enemies of the Revolution” who troubled Robespierre the most were fellow
radicals who challenged his leadership. In 1793 and 1794, many of those who had
led the Revolution received death sentences. Their only crime was that they were
660 Chapter 23
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considered less radical than Robespierre. By early 1794,
even Georges Danton found himself in danger. Danton’s
friends in the National Convention, afraid to defend him,
joined in condemning him. On the scaffold, he told the exe-
cutioner, “Don’t forget to show my head to the people. It’s
well worth seeing.”
The Terror claimed not only the famous, such as Danton
and Marie Antoinette, the widowed queen. Thousands of
unknown people also were sent to their deaths, often on the
flimsiest of charges. For example, an 18-year-old youth was
sentenced to die for cutting down a tree that had been
planted as a symbol of liberty. Perhaps as many as 40,000
were executed during the Terror. About 85 percent were
peasants or members of the urban poor or middle class—
for whose benefit the Revolution had been launched.

End of the Terror ▲ At his trial,

In July 1794, fearing for their own safety, some members of the National Georges Danton
Convention turned on Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The defended himself
Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, ended on July 28, so skillfully that the
authorities eventu-
1794, when Robespierre went to the guillotine.
ally denied him the
French public opinion shifted dramatically after Robespierre’s death. People of right to speak.
all classes had grown weary of the Terror. They were also tired of the skyrocketing
prices for bread, salt, and other necessities of life. In 1795, moderate leaders in the
National Convention drafted a new plan of government, the third since 1789. It
placed power firmly in the hands of the upper middle class and called for a two-
house legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory. These
five were moderates, not revolutionary idealists. Some of them were corrupt and
made themselves rich at the country’s expense. Even so, they gave their troubled
country a period of order. They also found the right general to command France’s
armies—Napoleon Bonaparte.

SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Legislative Assembly • émigré • sans-culotte • Jacobin • guillotine • Maximilien Robespierre • Reign of Terror

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Do you think this chain of 3. What major reforms did the
events could have been National Assembly introduce?
changed in any way? Explain. 4. What did the divisions in the
Legislative Assembly say about
Assembly
the differences in French
Creates a society?
Constitution 5. How did the Reign of Terror
come to an end?
6. SYNTHESIZING How did the slogan “Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity” sum up the goals of the Revolution?
7. COMPARING AND CONTRASTING What similarities and
differences do you see between the political factions
in the Legislative Assembly and those in the U.S.
government today?
8. ANALYZING CAUSES What factors led to Robespierre
becoming a dictator?
9. WRITING ACTIVITY REVOLUTION Working in small teams,
write short biographies of three revolutionary figures
mentioned in this section.

The French Revolution
Over time, people have expressed a wide variety of opinions about the causes and
outcomes of the French Revolution. The following excerpts, dating from the 1790s to
1859, illustrate this diversity of opinion.
A SECONDARY SOURCE
Charles Dickens
In 1859, the English writer Dickens
wrote A Tale of Two Cities, a novel
about the French Revolution for which
he did much research. In the following
scene, Charles Darnay—an aristocrat
who gave up his title because he hated
the injustices done to the people—has
returned to France and been put on trial.
His judges sat upon the bench in
feathered hats; but the rough red cap
and tricolored cockade was the
headdress otherwise prevailing.
Looking at the jury and the turbulent
audience, he might have thought that
the usual order of things was reversed,
and that the felons were trying the
honest men. The lowest, cruelest, and
worst populace of a city, never without
its quantity of low, cruel, and bad, were
the directing spirits of the scene. . . .
Charles Evrémonde, called Darnay,
was accused by the public prosecutor
as an emigrant, whose life was forfeit
to the Republic, under the
decree which banished all
emigrants on pain of Death. It
was nothing that the decree
bore date since his return to
France. There he was, and
there was the decree; he had
been taken in France, and his
head was demanded.
“Take off his head!” cried
the audience. “An enemy to
the Republic!”
▼
In this illustration from
A Tale of Two Cities, Sidney
Carton goes to the guillotine
in Darnay’s place.
662 Chapter 23
Using Primary and Secondary Sources
B PRIMARY SOURCE
Edmund Burke
Burke, a British politician, was one of
the earliest and most severe critics of
the French Revolution. In 1790, he
expressed this opinion.
[The French have rebelled] against a
mild and lawful monarch, with more
fury, outrage, and insult, than ever any
people has been known to rise against
the most illegal usurper, or the most
[bloodthirsty] tyrant. . . .
They have found their punishment
in their success. Laws overturned;
tribunals subverted; . . . the people
impoverished; a church pillaged, and
. . . civil and military anarchy made the
constitution of the kingdom. . . .
Were all these dreadful things
necessary?
149
C PRIMARY SOURCE
Thomas Paine
In 1790, Paine—a strong supporter of
the American Revolution—defended
the French Revolution against Burke
and other critics.
It is no longer the paltry cause of kings
or of this or of that individual, that calls
France and her armies into action. It is
the great cause of all. It is the
establishment of a new era, that shall
blot despotism from the earth, and fix,
on the lasting principles of peace and
citizenship, the great Republic of Man.
The scene that now opens itself to
France extends far beyond the
boundaries of her own dominions.
Every nation is becoming her ally, and
every court has become her enemy. It
is now the cause of all nations, against
the cause of all courts.
1. In your own words, summarize
the attitude toward the French
Revolution expressed in each of
these excerpts.
2. Why might Edmund Burke
(Source B) be so against the
French Revolution?
3. In Source C, what is the
distinction Thomas Paine is
making between nations and
courts?
 150

Napoleon Forges an Empire

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

POWER AND AUTHORITY In times of political turmoil, • Napoleon • concordat

Napoleon Bonaparte, a military military dictators often seize Bonaparte • Napoleonic
genius, seized power in France control of nations. • coup d’état Code
and made himself emperor. • plebiscite • Battle of
• lycée Trafalgar

SETTING THE STAGE Napoleon Bonaparte was quite a short man—just five
feet three inches tall. However, he cast a long shadow over the history of mod-
ern times. He would come to be recognized as one of the world’s greatest mil-
itary geniuses, along with Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hannibal of
Carthage, and Julius Caesar of Rome. In only four years, from 1795 to 1799,
Napoleon rose from a relatively obscure position as an officer in the French
army to become master of France.

Napoleon Seizes Power TAKING NOTES

Following Chronological
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Order On a time line, note
When he was nine years old, his parents sent him to a military school. In 1785, the events that led to
at the age of 16, he finished school and became a lieutenant in the artillery. When Napoleon’s crowning as
the Revolution broke out, Napoleon joined the army of the new government. emperor of France.

Hero of the Hour In October 1795, fate handed the young officer a chance for
glory. When royalist rebels marched on the National Convention, a government 1789 1804
official told Napoleon to defend the delegates. Napoleon and his gunners greeted
the thousands of royalists with a cannonade. Within minutes, the attackers fled French Napoleon
Revolution crowned
in panic and confusion. Napoleon Bonaparte became the hero of the hour and breaks out. emperor.
was hailed throughout Paris as the savior of the French republic.
In 1796, the Directory appointed Napoleon to lead a French army against the
forces of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Crossing the Alps, the young
general swept into Italy and won a series of remarkable victories. Next, in an
attempt to protect French trade interests and to disrupt British trade with India,
Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt. But he was unable to repeat the successes
he had achieved in Europe. His army was pinned down in Egypt, and the British
admiral Horatio Nelson defeated his naval forces. However, Napoleon managed
to keep stories about his setbacks out of the newspapers and thereby remained a
great hero to the people of France.
Coup d’État By 1799, the Directory had lost control of the political situation
and the confidence of the French people. When Napoleon returned from Egypt,
his friends urged him to seize political power. Napoleon took action in early
November 1799. Troops under his command surrounded the national legislature
and drove out most of its members. The lawmakers who remained then voted to
The French Revolution and Napoleon 663
 151
dissolve the Directory. In its place, they established a group
of three consuls, one of whom was Napoleon. Napoleon
quickly took the title of first consul and assumed the pow-
ers of a dictator. A sudden seizure of power like Napoleon’s
is known as a coup—from the French phrase coup d’état Analyzing Causes
(KOO day•TAH), or “blow to the state.” How was
At the time of Napoleon’s coup, France was still at war. Napoleon able to
become a dictator?
In 1799, Britain, Austria, and Russia joined forces with one
goal in mind, to drive Napoleon from power. Once again,
Napoleon rode from Paris at the head of his troops.
Eventually, as a result of war and diplomacy, all three
nations signed peace agreements with France. By 1802,
Napoleon Bonaparte Europe was at peace for the first time in ten years. Napoleon
1769–1821 was free to focus his energies on restoring order in France.
Because of his small stature and thick
Corsican accent, Napoleon was Napoleon Rules France
mocked by his fellow students at
military school. Haughty and proud, At first, Napoleon pretended to be the constitutionally
Napoleon refused to grace his chosen leader of a free republic. In 1800, a plebiscite
tormentors’ behavior with any kind of (PLEHB•ih•SYT), or vote of the people, was held to approve
response. He simply ignored them, a new constitution. Desperate for strong leadership, the
preferring to lose himself in his people voted overwhelmingly in favor of the constitution.
studies. He showed a particular
passion for three subjects—classical
This gave all real power to Napoleon as first consul.
history, geography, and mathematics. Restoring Order at Home Napoleon did not try to return the
In 1784, Napoleon was nation to the days of Louis XVI. Rather, he kept many of the
recommended for a career in the changes that had come with the Revolution. In general, he
army and he transferred to the Ecole
supported laws that would both strengthen the central govern-
Militaire (the French equivalent of
West Point) in Paris. There, he proved ment and achieve some of the goals of the Revolution.
to be a fairly poor soldier, except His first task was to get the economy on a solid footing.
when it came to artillery. His artillery Napoleon set up an efficient method of tax collection and
instructor quickly noticed Napoleon’s established a national banking system. In addition to ensur-
abilities: “He is most proud, ing the government a steady supply of tax money, these
ambitious, aspiring to everything. This
young man merits our attention.”
actions promoted sound financial management and better
control of the economy. Napoleon also took steps to end
corruption and inefficiency in government. He dismissed
corrupt officials and, in order to provide the government with trained officials, set
up lycées, or government-run public schools. These lycées were open to male stu-
dents of all backgrounds. Graduates were appointed to public office on the basis of
merit rather than family connections.
One area where Napoleon disregarded changes introduced by the Revolution
was religion. Both the clergy and many peasants wanted to restore the position of
the Church in France. Responding to their wishes, Napoleon signed a concordat,
or agreement, with Pope Pius VII. This established a new relationship between
church and state. The government recognized the influence of the Church, but
rejected Church control in national affairs. The concordat gained Napoleon the
support of the organized Church as well as the majority of the French people.
Napoleon thought that his greatest work was his comprehensive system of laws,
known as the Napoleonic Code. This gave the country a uniform set of laws and
eliminated many injustices. However, it actually limited liberty and promoted order
and authority over individual rights. For example, freedom of speech and of the
press, established during the Revolution, were restricted under the code. The code
also restored slavery in the French colonies of the Caribbean.

664 Chapter 23
 152
Napoleon Crowned as Emperor In 1804, Napoleon decided to make himself
emperor, and the French voters supported him. On December 2, 1804, dressed in a
splendid robe of purple velvet, Napoleon walked down the long aisle of Notre
Analyzing Motives Dame Cathedral in Paris. The pope waited for him with a glittering crown. As thou-
Why do you
sands watched, the new emperor took the crown from the pope and placed it on his
think Napoleon
crowned himself own head. With this gesture, Napoleon signaled that he was more powerful than the
emperor? Church, which had traditionally crowned the rulers of France.

Napoleon Creates an Empire

Napoleon was not content simply to be master of France. He wanted to control the
rest of Europe and to reassert French power in the Americas. He envisioned his
western empire including Louisiana, Florida, French Guiana, and the French West
Indies. He knew that the key to this area was the sugar-producing colony of Saint
Domingue (now called Haiti) on the island of Hispaniola.
Loss of American Territories In 1789, when the ideas of the Revolution reached
the planters in Saint Domingue, they demanded that the National Assembly give
them the same privileges as the people of France. Eventually, enslaved Africans in
the colony demanded their rights too—in other words, their freedom. A civil war
erupted, and enslaved Africans under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture
seized control of the colony. In 1801, Napoleon decided to take back the colony
and restore its productive sugar industry. However, the French forces were devas-
tated by disease. And the rebels proved to be fierce fighters.
After the failure of the expedition to Saint Domingue, Napoleon decided to cut
his losses in the Americas. He offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the
United States, and in 1803 President Jefferson’s administration agreed to purchase
the land for $15 million. Napoleon saw a twofold benefit to the sale. First, he
Recognizing
would gain money to finance operations in Europe. Second, he would punish the ▼ This painting
Effects British. “The sale assures forever the power of the United States,” he observed, by Jacques Louis
What effects “and I have given England a rival who, sooner or later, will humble her pride.” David shows
did Napoleon Napoleon in a
Conquering Europe Having abandoned his imperial ambitions heroic pose.
intend the sale of
Louisiana to have in the New World, Napoleon turned his attention to Europe. He
on France? on the had already annexed the Austrian Netherlands and parts of Italy to
United States? on France and set up a puppet government in Switzerland. Now he
Britain? looked to expand his influence further. Fearful of his ambitions,
the British persuaded Russia, Austria, and Sweden to join them
against France.
Napoleon met this challenge with his usual boldness. In a
series of brilliant battles, he crushed the opposition. (See the
map on page 666.) The commanders of the enemy armies
could never predict his next move and often took heavy
losses. After the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, Napoleon
issued a proclamation expressing his pride in his troops:

PRIMARY SOURCE
Soldiers! I am pleased with you. On the day of Austerlitz,
you justified everything that I was expecting of [you]. . . .
In less than four hours, an army of 100,000 men,
commanded by the emperors of Russia and Austria, was
cut up and dispersed. . . . 120 pieces of artillery, 20 generals, and
more than 30,000 men taken prisoner—such are the results of this day
which will forever be famous. . . . And it will be enough for you to say,
“I was at Austerlitz,” to hear the reply: “There is a brave man!”
NAPOLEON, quoted in Napoleon by André Castelot
 153
War in Europe, 1805–1813
French Empire
Controlled by Napoleon
French victory
French defeat

24°E
W

8°W

16°E
16°

British blockade

0°
KINGDOM
OF KINGDOM
DENMARK OF Moscow
SWEDEN (1812)
AND Baltic
N o r t h NORWAY Borodino
UNITED KINGDOM Sea (1812)
Sea REP. OF
OF GREAT BRITAIN Neman R.
DANZIG
50°
N AND IRELAND Friedland (1807)

Elb SSIA RUSSIAN

London eR
. PRU EMPIRE
Berlin
GRAND DUCHY
Brussels CONFEDERATION OF
A TL A N T IC Amiens OF Leipzig (1813) WARSAW
Jena (1806)
Paris THE
O CE A N Versailles Seine
R. RHINE
R.
Austerlitz (1805)
i ne

Ulm (1805)
AUSTRIAN
Rh

Wagram (1809)
Loi

Aspern (1809)
re R
F

HELVETIC Vienna
EMPIRE
R

La Coruña (1809)
REPUBLIC
E

N
42° Milan KINGDOM
N C
H OF ITALY
IL OV d r
PR

Eb Po R.
LY IN i a
Vitoria
AL

r E e R.
RI CE t i
(1813)
ub
UG

Marseille
D an
o

M Black Sea
AN S c S
R.

Talavera P
RT

(1809) Madrid (1808) I R

E
PO

Ta g
us R. CORSICA MONTENEGRO
Rome
ea

SPAIN Valencia KINGDOM

(1808)
Naples
OF OTTOMAN
SARDINIA
Trafalgar (1805)
NAPLES EMPIRE
Mediterranean Sea
Gibraltar

0 500 Miles
SICILY
0 1,000 Kilometers
Battle of Trafalgar, Oct. 21, 1805
Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2, 1805
n

British fleet
o
Bagrati
s
Lanne

French and
Spanish fleet French forces
Allied Russian, Prussian,
tte

British thrust and Austrian forces

Villeneuve
do

Austerlitz
rna

French thrust
rat
Be

Allied thrust
low

Pratzen
Plateau
Kol

Nelson
Soult

NAPOLEON
Álava (About 70,000 troops)
rov

Collingwood CZAR ALEXANDER I

(About 85,000 troops)
Docto
ek
re

C
ch

0 2 Miles
Goldba
t
vou
Da

0 4 Kilometers

By drawing an Allied attack on his right flank, Napoleon was able to

split the Allied line at its center.
By dividing Villeneuve’s formation, Admiral
Nelson captured nearly two-thirds of the
enemy fleet. GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Maps
1. Region What was the extent of the lands under Napoleon’s control?
2. Location Where was the Battle of Trafalgar fought? What tactic did
Nelson use in the battle, and why was it successful?

666 Chapter 23
 154
In time, Napoleon’s battlefield successes forced the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and
Russia to sign peace treaties. These successes also enabled him to build the largest
European empire since that of the Romans. France’s only major enemy left unde-
feated was the great naval power, Britain.
The Battle of Trafalgar In his drive for a European empire, Napoleon lost only
one major battle, the Battle of Trafalgar (truh•FAL•guhr). This naval defeat, how-
ever, was more important than all of his victories on land. The battle took place in
1805 off the southwest coast of Spain. The British commander, Horatio Nelson,
was as brilliant in warfare at sea as Napoleon was in warfare on land. In a bold
maneuver, he split the larger French fleet, capturing many ships. (See the map inset
on the opposite page.)
The destruction of the French fleet had two major results. First, it ensured the
supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years. Second, it forced Napoleon
to give up his plans of invading Britain. He had to look for another way to control
his powerful enemy across the English Channel. Eventually, Napoleon’s extrava-
gant efforts to crush Britain would lead to his own undoing.
The French Empire During the first decade of the 1800s, Napoleon’s victories
had given him mastery over most of Europe. By 1812, the only areas of Europe free
from Napoleon’s control were Britain, Portugal, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire.
In addition to the lands of the French Empire, Napoleon also controlled numerous
supposedly independent countries. (See the map on the opposite page.) These
included Spain, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and a number of German kingdoms
in Central Europe. The rulers of these countries were Napoleon’s puppets; some, in
fact, were members of his family. Furthermore, the powerful countries of Russia,
Drawing Prussia, and Austria were loosely attached to Napoleon’s empire through alliances.
Conclusions Although not totally under Napoleon’s control, they were easily manipulated by
By 1805, how threats of military action.
successful had
Napoleon been in
The French Empire was huge but unstable. Napoleon was able to maintain it at
his efforts to build its greatest extent for only five years—from 1807 to 1812. Then it quickly fell to
an empire? pieces. Its sudden collapse was caused in part by Napoleon’s actions.

SECTION 3 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Napoleon Bonaparte • coup d’état • plebiscite • lycée • concordat • Napoleonic Code • Battle of Trafalgar

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which of these events do you 3. How did Napoleon become a 6. FORMING OPINIONS In your opinion, was Napoleon the
think had the greatest impact hero in France? creator or the creation of his times?
on Napoleon’s rise to power? 4. What did Napoleon consider 7. ANALYZING ISSUES Napoleon had to deal with forces
his greatest triumph in both inside and outside the French Empire. In your
domestic policy? judgment, which area was more important to control?
1789 1804 5. How was Napoleon able to 8. MAKING INFERENCES If you had been a member of the
control the countries bourgeoisie, would you have been satisfied with the
French Napoleon neighboring the French results of Napoleon’s actions? Explain.
Revolution crowned Empire? 9. WRITING ACTIVITY POWER AND AUTHORITY Look at the
breaks out. emperor.
painting on page 665. Write a paragraph discussing why
the painter portrayed Napoleon in this fashion.

CONNECT TO TODAY CREATING A VENN DIAGRAM

Identify and conduct research on a present-day world leader who has used dictatorial powers
to rule his or her country. Use your findings to create a Venn diagram comparing this leader’s
use of power to Napoleon’s use of power.

The French Revolution and Napoleon 667

 155

Napoleon’s Empire Collapses

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

POWER AND AUTHORITY In the 1990s, nationalistic • blockade • scorched-

Napoleon’s conquests aroused feelings contributed to the • Continental earth policy
nationalistic feelings across breakup of nations such as System • Waterloo
Europe and contributed to his Yugoslavia. • guerrilla • Hundred
downfall. • Peninsular War Days

SETTING THE STAGE Napoleon worried about what would happen to his vast
empire after his death. He feared it would fall apart unless he had an heir whose
right to succeed him was undisputed. His wife, Josephine, had failed to bear him
a child. He, therefore, divorced her and formed an alliance with the Austrian
royal family by marrying Marie Louise, the grandniece of Marie Antoinette. In
1811, Marie Louise gave birth to a son, Napoleon II, whom Napoleon named
king of Rome.

TAKING NOTES Napoleon’s Costly Mistakes

Recognizing Effects
Use a chart to identify
Napoleon’s three
mistakes and the
impact they had on
the French Empire.
Napoleon's Effect on
Mistakes Empire
668 Chapter 23
Napoleon’s own personality proved to be the greatest danger to the future of his
empire. His desire for power had raised him to great heights, and the same love
of power led him to his doom. In his efforts to extend the French Empire and ▼ “Little Johnny
crush Great Britain, Napoleon made three disastrous mistakes. Bull”—Great
Britain—waves
The Continental System In November 1806, Napoleon set up a blockade—a a sword at
forcible closing of ports—to prevent all trade and communication between Great Napoleon as
Britain and other European nations. Napoleon called this policy the Continental the emperor
straddles the
System because it was supposed to make continental Europe more self-suffi-
globe.
cient. Napoleon also intended it to destroy Great Britain’s
commercial and industrial economy.
Napoleon’s blockade, however, was not nearly tight
enough. Aided by the British, smugglers managed to bring
cargo from Britain into Europe. At times, Napoleon’s allies
also disregarded the blockade. Even members of Napoleon’s
family defied the policy, including his brother, Louis, whom
he had made king of Holland. While the blockade weakened
British trade, it did not destroy it. In addition, Britain
responded with its own blockade. And because the British
had a stronger navy, they were better able than the French to
make the blockade work.
To enforce the blockade, the British navy stopped neutral
ships bound for the continent and forced them to sail to a
British port to be searched and taxed. American ships were
among those stopped by the British navy. Angered, the U.S.
 156
Congress declared war on Britain in 1812. Even though the War of 1812 lasted two
years, it was only a minor inconvenience to Britain in its struggle with Napoleon.
The Peninsular War In 1808, Napoleon made a second costly mistake. In an
effort to get Portugal to accept the Continental System, he sent an invasion force
through Spain. The Spanish people protested this action. In response, Napoleon
removed the Spanish king and put his own brother, Joseph, on the throne. This out-
raged the Spanish people and inflamed their nationalistic feelings. The Spanish,
who were devoutly Catholic, also worried that Napoleon would attack the Church.
They had seen how the French Revolution had weakened the Catholic Church in
France, and they feared that the same thing would happen to the Church in Spain.
For six years, bands of Spanish peasant fighters, known as guerrillas, struck at
French armies in Spain. The guerrillas were not an army that Napoleon could
defeat in open battle. Rather, they worked in small groups that ambushed French
troops and then fled into hiding. The British added to the French troubles by send-
ing troops to aid the Spanish. Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this
Peninsular War—so called because Spain lies on the Iberian Peninsula. These
losses weakened the French Empire.
In Spain and elsewhere, nationalism, or loyalty to one’s own country, was
becoming a powerful weapon against Napoleon. People who had at first welcomed
Recognizing the French as their liberators now felt abused by a foreign conqueror. Like the
Effects Spanish guerrillas, Germans and Italians and other conquered peoples turned
How could the against the French.
growing feelings of
The Invasion of Russia Napoleon’s most disastrous mistake of all came in 1812.
nationalism in
European countries Even though Alexander I had become Napoleon’s ally, the Russian czar refused to
hurt Napoleon? stop selling grain to Britain. In addition, the French and Russian rulers suspected
each other of having competing designs on Poland. Because of this breakdown in ▼ Francisco
their alliance, Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Goya’s painting
In June 1812, Napoleon and his Grand Army of more than 420,000 soldiers The Third of May,
1808 shows a
marched into Russia. As Napoleon advanced, Alexander pulled back his troops,
French firing squad
refusing to be lured into an unequal battle. On this retreat, the Russians practiced executing Spanish
a scorched-earth policy. This involved burning grain fields and slaughtering live- peasants sus-
stock so as to leave nothing for the enemy to eat. pected of being
guerrillas.

669
 157
Napoleon's Russian Campaign, 1812
130,000
Sept. 7, 1812 Napoleon’s
army fights the Battle of
50,000 Borodino and suffers 30,000
Napoleon sends casualties. R.
Moscow
175,000 cow
West
ern
troops to Polotsk to M os
Dvi protect his left flank. Reduced by desertion,
na .
Riv disease, starvation, aR
er
and capture, an army Borodino Ok
of 175,000 arrives in
R U S S I A Smolensk. Another Vyazma Maloyaroslavets
422,000 30,000 die there.
Polotsk Sept. 14, 1812 Napoleon enters
June 1812
Napoleon and his Moscow to find it in ashes,
troops march across Vitebsk torched by the czar. He waits,
the Neman River Glubokoye hoping to induce the czar
Smolensk to surrender.
and into Russia.
Oct. 18, 1812 Frustrated and
Kovno Vilna starving, having waited too long

D n ieper Rive
November 1812 for the czar, the 100,000
PRUSSIA

The army returns to Smolensk survivors of the Grand Army

N em

and finds famine. The remaining begin their hellish retreat

an R

Molodechno Borisov 24,000 march on, abandoning through the cruel Russia winter.
their wounded.
iver

r
GRAND Dec. 6, 1812
Troops march for Minsk 37,000
B e r ez
DUCHY
OF the Neman River.
i na

WARSAW Only 10,000 make

it out of Russia. 0 100 Miles
Riv

28,000 The 30,000 in Polotsk

er

join the 20,000 survivors. 0 200 Kilometers

Thousands drown while
crossing the Berezina
River. GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Maps
Advancing troops
50,000 1. Movement How long did it take the Grand Army to cover the distance between
Retreating troops
the Russian border and Moscow?
= 10,000 soldiers
2. Place Why was it a mistake for Napoleon to stay in Moscow until mid-October?
= 10,000 lost troops

On September 7, 1812, the two armies finally clashed in the Battle of Borodino.
(See the map on this page.) After several hours of indecisive fighting, the Russians
fell back, allowing Napoleon to move on Moscow. When Napoleon entered Moscow
seven days later, the city was in flames. Rather than surrender Russia’s “holy city” to
the French, Alexander had destroyed it. Napoleon stayed in the ruined city until the
middle of October, when he decided to turn back toward France.
As the snows—and the temperature—began to fall in early November, Russian
raiders mercilessly attacked Napoleon’s ragged, retreating army. Many soldiers
were killed in these clashes or died of their wounds. Still more dropped in their
tracks from exhaustion, hunger, and cold. Finally, in the middle of December, the
last survivors straggled out of Russia. The retreat from Moscow had devastated the
Grand Army—only 10,000 soldiers were left to fight.

Napoleon’s Downfall
Napoleon’s enemies were quick to take advantage of his weakness. Britain, Russia,
Prussia, and Sweden joined forces against him. Austria also declared war on
Napoleon, despite his marriage to Marie Louise. All of the main powers of Europe
were now at war with France.
Napoleon Suffers Defeat In only a few months, Napoleon managed to raise
another army. However, most of his troops were untrained and ill prepared for bat-
tle. He faced the allied armies of the European powers outside the German city of
Leipzig (LYP•sihg) in October 1813. The allied forces easily defeated his inexpe-
rienced army and French resistance crumbled quickly. By January of 1814, the
allied armies were pushing steadily toward Paris. Some two months later, King
670 Chapter 23
 158

UNIT 4
1. The Industrial Revolution.

2. The nineteenth century. Family life and reform.

3. The years of self-confidence: Industrial development. The Agricultural

Revolution .The Revolution in transport : Roads ,
Canals and the railway. The metal industry : iron, coal and steam. The Steam Engine.
The textile industry.

4. Queen and Empire: The British Empire. Trade and Empire.

Queen Victoria & the Empire.

5. Culture: The rise of the middle classes, the growth of towns and cities.

6. Second Industrial Revolution.

Trade Unions. Industry and trade.
The role of women. Education.

7. George IV and William IV.

8. The Second Era of Reform- Gladstone

Culture: The end of an age: social and economic
improvements. Gladstone and Disraeli.

9. The Disraeli Ministry

10. Decline and Fall of Liberalism


18 The years of revolution
Industrial revolution ' Society and religion ' Revolution in France and
the Napoleonic Wars
Industrial revolution
Several influen ces ca me together at the same time
to revolution ise Britain's industry: mon ey, labour, a
greater dem and for goods, new power, and better
transport.
By the end of the eighteenth century, some fam ilies
had made huge private fortunes. G rowing merch ant
banks helped put thi s mon ey to use.
Increased food prod uction made it possible to feed
large popu lations in the new towns. These
populations were made up of th e peop le who had
lost th eir land through enclosures and were looking
for work. T hey now needed to buy things they had
never needed before. In the old days people in the
villages had grown the ir own food, made many of
their own clothes and generally man aged with out
having to buy very much . As landless workers th ese
people had to buy food, clot hing and eve ryth ing
else th ey needed. T his created an opportun ity to
make and sell more goods th an ever before. T he
same landless people who needed these things also
became the workers who made them.
By th e ea rly eightee nth century simple mac h ines
had alread y been invented for basic jobs. They
could mak e large quantities of simple goods qu ickly
and chea ply so that "mass producti on" became
possible for the fi rst t ime. Each machi ne carried out
one simp le proce ss, wh ich introdu ced the idea of
"division of labour " among workers. This was to
become an imporrant part of th e indu stri al
revolut ion .
By the I 740s the main prob lem holdin g back
159
indu strial growth was fuel. There was less wood,
and in an y case wood cou ld not produ ce the heat
necessary to make iron and steel either in large
quantities or of high quality. But at thi s time the
use of coa l for chang ing iron ore into good quality
iron or steel was perfected, and this made Britain
the leading iron produ cer in Europe. Th is happened
on ly just in time for the man y wars in which Britain
was to fight, mainly against Fran ce , for the rest of
the century. T he demand for coal grew very
quickly. In 1800 Brita in was prod ucing four t imes as
much coa l as it had don e in 1700 , and eight times
as much iron .
Increased iron production made it possible to
man ufacture new machinery for o the r industries.
No one saw th is more clearly than Joh n W ilkin son ,
a man with a tot al belief in iron . He built th e
largest ironworks in the co untry. He bu ilt the
world's first iron bridge, over the River Severn, in
1779. He saw the fi rst iron boats made . He built an
iron cha pel for th e new Methodist religious sect ,
and was him self buried in an iron coffin. Wilkinson
was also qu ick to see th e value of new inventions.
W he n [ arnes Watt made a greatly improved steam
engine in 1769, W ilkinson improved it furthe r by
making part s of the engine more accura tely with his
special skills in ironworking, In thi s way the skills
of one craft helped the skills of ano ther. U ntil then
steam engi nes had only been used for pumping,
usually in coal mines. But in 178 1 Watt prod uced
an en gine with a turnin g moti on , made of iron and
steel. It was a vit al devel opment beca use people
were now no longe r depe ndent on natural power.
121
 160
A n Illustrated H istory of Britain

Spinners at work. People looked

backat theage of cottage industry
as a happy time compared with the
bleak discipline of flUtory
employment. T heview was,
perhaps, over-idealised. Conditions
were dark and less pleasant than
this piclure suggests. Frequently it
was only women's spinning that
kept a family from start/a tion. 811.1
at leas t families warked wge fher as
a n economic unit. All thiswas
broken up by the new machinery.
Button making was one of the few
cottage industries to survit/e beyond
/850.

An early coal mine in the Midlands. The useof coal faralmmt allenergy led to a huge amount of
smoke which blackened buildings and created dark' 'smogs". mixtures of smoke andfog, in winter.

122

One invention led to ano ther. and increased
product ion in one area led to increased produc tio n
in othe rs. Other basic materi als of th e industr ial
revolut ion were co tt on and woollen clot h. wh ich
were popu lar abro ad. In th e middle of the century
other co untries were buying British uni for ms.
equipment and weapon s for th eir armies. T o meet
this increased demand. better meth ods of
production had to be found. and new mach inery
was inve nted wh ich replaced hand work. The
product ion of cotton goods had been limited by th e
spinn ing process. wh ich could not prov ide en ough
cotton thr ead for the weavers. In 1764 a spinning
machine was in vented which co uld do the work of
several hand spinne rs. and other impro ved
mach ines were made shortly after. With th e far
greater produc tio n of cotton thread. the slowest
part of th e cotton cloth rnaking industry became
weaving. In 1785 a power machine for weaving
revolut ionised clot hmaking. It allowed Britain to
make cloth more cheaply th an elsewh ere. and
Lancash ire co tton cloths were sold in ever y
contine nt . But this machi ne ry put many peop le out
ofwork. It also cha nged wha t had been a "cottage
industry" done at home int o a factory indu stry.
where work ers had to keep work hours and rules set
down by facto ry owne rs.
In the Midl ands. facto ries using locally found clay
began to develop very quickl y. and produced fine
quality plat es. cups and othe r china goods. These
soon replaced the old meta l plates and drinking
cups th at had been used . Soon large quantities of
china were being exported. T he most famous
factory was one started by Josiah Wedgwood. His
high quality bone ch ina became very popul ar. as it
still is.
The cost of such goods was made chea per tha n eve r
by improved t ran sport during the eigh teenth
century. New waterways were dug between towns,
and tran sport by these canals was cheaper than
transport by land. Road s. still used ma in ly by
people rather than by goods, were also improved
during the century. York. Man chester and Exeter
were three days' travel from Lond on in the 1720s.
but by the 1780s they could be reach ed in little
over twenty -four hours. Along th ese main roads.
161
18 The years of revolution
the coac hes stop ped for fresh ho rses in orde r to
keep up th eir speed. They beca me kn own as "stage"
coac hes . a name that became famous in th e "W ild
We st" of America. It was rapid road trave l and
chea p tran sport by ca na l that made possible the
econo mic success of the indu strial revolution.
Soon Britain was not on ly export ing cloth to
Europe . It was also importing raw cotton from its
co lonies and exporti ng finished cot ton clo th to sell
to those same co lon ies.
The social effects of th e indu strial revolution were
enormous. Workers tried to join togethe r to protect
themselves again st powerfu l employers. T hey
wanted fair wages and reason able condi t ions in
which to work . But the govern men t quickl y banned
these "combi nat ions" as the workers' societies were
I
known. Riots occ urred . led by the une mployed who
had been replaced in factories by mach ines. In 1799
some of these rioters. kn own as Luddit es, started to
break up th e machinery wh ich had put the m out of
work . The government supported th e factory
owne rs. and made the breaki ng of machi nery
pun ishab le by death . The govern ment was afraid of
a revolu tion like th e one in Fran ce .
Society and religion
Britain avo ided revolution partl y becau se of a new
religious movement. T his did not come from the
C hurch of England. which was slow to recogni se
cha nge . Man y new indu strial towns in fact had no
church or priests or any kin d of organ ised religion.
The C hurch of England did not recognise the
problems of th ese towns . and man y priests belo nged
to th e gentry and sha red the opin ions of th e
govern ment and ruling class.
The new movement wh ich met the needs of th e
growing industrial working class was led by a
remark ab le man caIled John We sley. He was an
Anglican priest who traveIled aro und th e country
preaching and teac h ing. In 1738 We sley had had a
mystical experience. " I felt my heart strange ly
warmed." he wrote afterwards. "I felt th ar 1 did
123

An Illustrated H istory of Britain
A Methodist meeting in 1777. The habit of preaching in rhe open air drew poorer
people who usually did not go to church. The Methodist prea.:hers uenr et!eT)'where,
riding fTom village to village wilh lheir good news thal Christ had died for f'wryone.
They even visited priSOTU, oflen to comfon Ihose condemned to hang.
trust in C hris t , C hrist alone for my salvat ion ; and
an assurance was given th at he had taken my sins,
eve n mine, an d saved me from sin and dea th ." For
fifty-three years John Wes ley trave lled 224,000
miles on horseback, preach ing at every village he
came to. Sometimes he preac hed in three different
villages in one day. Very soon ot he rs joined in his
work . John Wes ley visited the new villages and
indu stria l towns whi ch had no par ish church.
John W esley's "M erhodism" was above all a
persona l and emot iona l form of religion . It was
organ ised in sma ll groups, or "c ha pels", all ove r the
country. At a time when the C hurc h of England
itself showed little in terest in the socia l and
124
162
spiritual needs of the growing popul ation ,
Met hod ism was ab le to give ordina ry peop le a sense
of purpose and digni ty. T he C hurc h was ne rvous of
this powerfu l new movement which it cou ld not
control. and in the end Wes ley was forced to leave
the C hurch of England and start a new Method ist
C hurc h .
By th e end of th e cent ury the re were ove r 360
Met hod ist chapels, most of th em in indu strial areas.
These cha pels were more democrat ic th an th e
C hu rch of England, partly beca use th e memb ers of
eac h chapel had ro find the money to pay for them.
The Anglican Church, on the ot her hand, had a
good income from the land it owned.

John Wesley was no friend of the ruling classes but
he was deeply conser vative, and had no time for
radicalism. He disapproved of Wilkes and th ought
the Fren ch Revo lut ion was th e work of th e devi I.
"The greate r th e sha re th e peop le have in
governme nt," he wrote, lithe less liberty, civil or
religious, does a nat ion enjoy. " He carefully
avoided politics, and taugh t peop le to be
hardworking and honest. As a result of his
teaching, peop le accepted man y of the inju stices of
the times without complaint. Some beca me wealthy
through working hard and saving the ir money . As
an old man , W esley sadly noted how hard work led
to wealth, and wealth to pride and that thi s
threatened to destroy his work . "Although th e form
of religion remains," he wrote, lithe spirit is swiftly
vanish ing away." However, W esley probab ly saved
Britain from revolution . He certain ly brough t man y
people back to C h rist ianity.
The Methodists were not alone. Other C hris tians
also joined what beca me known as "t he evange lical
revival" , which was a return to a simple faith based
on the Bible. It was almost a reawaken ing of
Puritan ism, but this time with a social rather tha n a
polit ical invo lvement. Some, especia lly the
Quakers, beca me well known for social conce rn.
One of th e best kn own was Elizabeth Fry, who
made public the terr ible conditions in the prisons,
and started to work for refor m.
It was also a sma ll group of C hrist ians who were the
first to act against the ev ils of the slave trade , from
which Britain was making huge sums of money.
Slaves did not expect to live lon g. A lmost 20 per
cent died o n the voyage. Most of the othe rs died
young from crue l treat ment in the We st Indies. For
example, berween 1712 and 1768200,000 slaves
were sent to work in Barbados, but during thi s
period th e popu latio n of Barbados only increased by
26,000 .
The first success against slavery came when a judge
ruled th at "no man cou ld be a slave in Britain " ,
and freed a slave who had land ed in Bristol. This
victory gave a new and unexpect ed meaning to th e
wo rds of the na tion al song , "Britons never sha ll be
slaves. " In fact, just as Brita in had take n a lead in
163
18 Th e years of revo lution
slavery and the slave trade, it also too k the lead
int ernationally in ending them. The slave trade was
abo lished by law in 1807. But it took until 1833 for
slavery itself to be abolished in all Brit ish co lon ies.
O thers, also ma in ly C hrist ians, tried to limit the
cruelty of emp loyers who forced ch ildren to work
long hours. In 1802, as a result of the ir efforts,
Parliament passed the first Facto ry A ct , limiting
child labour to twelve hours each day. In 18 19 a
new law forbade th e emp loyment of ch ildren under
the age of nine. Ne ither of these two Acts were
obe yed everywhe re, but they were th e early
exa mples of gove rn ment act ion to protect the weak
against th e powerful.
T he influen ce of th ese eigh tee nth-century religious
movemen ts co ntin ued. A ce ntury later, when
workers started to organ ise the mselves more
effectively, man y of those involved had been
brought up in Methodist or othe r No nconformist
sects. This had a great influen ce on trade uni onism
and the labour move ment in Britain .
Revolution in France and the
Napoleonic Wars
France's neighbours only slowly realised that its
revolution in 1789 co uld be dangerous for th em.
Military power and the aut hority of kings hip were
almost useless against revol ut ion ary ideas.
In France the revo lut ion had bee n made by the
"bourgeo isie", or middle class, leading th e peasants
and urban work ing classes. In England th e
bourgeoisie and the gentry had acted toget her for
ce nturies in the House of Commons, and had
beco me the most powerful class in Britain in the
seventeenth century. They had no sympathy with
the French revolut iona ries, and were frigh tened by
the dan ger of "awaken ing" th e working classes.
They saw the danger of revol ut ion in the British
countryside, where th e enclosures were happening,
and in th e towns , to wh ich man y of the landless
were going in search of work. They also saw th e
political dang ers whic h cou ld devel op from the
great increase in popula tion .
125
 164
An Hlusrrarcd H istor y of Britain

" Breaking Ihd j ne" aI the banle of Trafalgar, 1805. T he traditioTltll iacuc
was re exchange "broadsides" of gunfire between opposing ships. Nelson
took his ships in two lines across (from right to left >, rather than alonRside,
the enemy farrnalion (Fren ch fleet sailing from back left to front righ t of
pic ture) . His ships' guns were able ro fire down thelength of each French
shiP as il passed. This had two advantages. The bows and stem of a wm ship
were the leas! defended parts, so the English ships suffered much less in the
exchangeof gunfire. Secondly, the gunshot travelled the whole length of the
enemy decks, calLSing grealdamaRe to the shiP and loss of life.

126
 165
18 The years 0 f revolution

r .., " /'rJlJS(l1(pr

'II"I~" •

{ the nme
" shaws WiIIul.m
A cartoon 0 Bonaparle can,mg
Piu and Napoleon le n has sliced off
up the world. Na{;;, ~ taken the
ITWSt of EUTOf "Uke almoSI e\leT)' other
Atlantic WhlC. contTOlled by
seaor ocean. was
Bn"rain's M \I)' .

127

A n Illustrated Histo ry of Britain
Several rad icals sympa th ised with the cause of the
Fren ch revolutionaries, and called for reforms in
Britain. In othe r co untries in Europe such sympathy
was see n as an attack on the aristocracy. But in
England both the gentry and th e bourge oisie felt
th ey were being atta cked, and the radicals were
accused of putting Brita in in danger. Tory crowds
attacked th e homes of radicals in Birmin gham and
seve ral ot her cit ies. T he Whig Parry was split. Most
feared "[acobinism'', as sympathy with th e
revolution aries was ca lled, and joined W illiam Pitr ,
"the Youn ger" (the son of Lord C ha tha rn) , whil e
those who wanted reform stayed with the radical
Whig leader , C ha rles James Fox . In spite of its
sma ll size, Fox's parry form ed the link between the
Whigs of the eigh teenth century and the Liberals of
th e nin et eenth century.
Not all th e radicals sympath ised with the
revolutionaries in France . In man y ways Edmund
Burke was a co nservat ive, in spite of his support for
the Am erican colon ists in 1776. He now quarrelled
with ot her rad icals, and wrote Reflections on the
Revolution in France, which became a popular book.
He feared th at the esta blished order of kin gs in
Europe would fall. Tom Paine, who had also
supported the A merican colon ists, wrote in answer
The Rights of Man, in wh ich he defended the rights
of the ordinary people against the power of th e
monarch y and the aristoc rats. T he ideas in th is
book were thought to be so dangerous that Paine
had to escape to Fran ce. He never returned to
Britain . But the book itself has remained an
important work on th e quest ion of political
freedom .
T hese marrers were discussed almost entirely by th e
middl e class and the gentry. Hardly any working-
class voices were heard , but it sho uld be noted
that the fi rst defin ite ly working-class political
organisa tio n. the Correspon ding Soc iety , was
esrablished at th is t ime. It did not last long,
because th e govern ment closed it down in 1798,
and it only had bran ch es in London , Norwich,
Sheffield , Nottingha m and one or two other
centres.
128
166
T he French Revolution had creared fear all over
Europe. The Brit ish govern ment was so afraid that
revol ution wou ld spread to Britain th at it
imprisoned radical leaders. It was part icularly
frigh tened tha t the army would be influenced by
these dangerous ideas. Until the n, soldiers had
always lived in inns and private homes. No w the
govern ment bu ilt army camps, where soldiers could
live separated from the ordinary peop le. T he
govern men t also brought togethe r yeomen and
gentry who suppo rted rhe ruling establishment and
trained the m as soldiers. T he gove rn ment cla imed
that these "yeomanry" forces were c reated in case of
a Frenc h atta ck. This may have been true, but they
were probably useless against an ene my army, and
th ey were used to prevent revolu tion by th e poor
and discontented.
As an island , Britain was in less dan ger, and as a
result was slower than othe r European sta tes to
make war on the French Republic. But in 1793
Britain went to war after Fran ce had inv aded the
Low Co untries (today, Belgium and Holland). One
by one th e Europea n countr ies were defeated by
Napoleon, and forced to ally th emselves with him.
Most of Europe fell und er Na poleon 's con tro l.
Britain decided to fight France at sea because it
had a stronge r navy, and because its own survival
depended on control of its trade routes. British
policy was to damage Fren ch trade by preve nt ing
Fren ch sh ips, including the ir navy, from moving
freely in and out of Fren ch seaporrs. T he
com mande r of the British fl eet , Ad miral Ho rat io
Ne lson, won brilliant victories ove r the French
navy, near the coast of Egypt, at Copenhage n , and
finally nea r Spain , at Trafalgar in 1805, whe re he
destroyed th e Fren ch- Spani sh fleet. Nelson was
him self killed at Trafalgar , but became one of
Britain's greatest nationa l heroes. H is words to the
fleet before the battle of T rafalgar, "En gland
expects th at every man will do his duty, " have
remain ed a reminde r of patr iot ic duty in time of
nation al danger.
In th e same year as Trafalgar, in 1805. a British
army land ed in Portugal to fight the Fren ch . T his
army, with its Portu guese and Spa n ish allies, was
eve ntually commanded by We llington, a man who
 167
18 The years of revolution

had fought in Indi a. But fi ght ing the Fren ch on

land was an entirely different matter. A lmost
everyone in Europe believed th e French army. and
its gene rals. to be the best in the world. We llingt on
was one of the very few gene rals who did not . " I am
not afraid of them." he wrote on h is appointment
as commande r. "I suspect th at all the Contine ntal
armies were more than half beate n before the battle
was begun . I, at least , will not be frightened
beforehand ." Like Ne lson he quick ly proved to be a
great co mmander. A fter several victories against
the Fren ch in Spain he invaded Fran ce. Napoleon ,
weaken ed by his disastrous invasion of Russia,
surren dered in 1814 . But th e following yea r he
escaped and quick ly assembled an army in France.
Wellington. with th e t imely help of the Prussian
army. finally defea ted Napoleon at Waterloo in
Belgium in Jun e 1815 .

129
 168

130
 169

The nineteenth century

19 The years of power and danger
T he danger at home, 181 5- 32' Reform ' Workers revolt· Family life

Britain in the nineteenth century was at its most However, the work ing class, th e large number of
powerful and self-confident. A fter the indu str ial peop le who had left th eir villages to become facto ry
revolu tion , nine reenth-centurv Britain was the workers, had not yet found a proper voice.
"workshop" of the world. Until th e last quarter of
Britain enjoyed a strong place in European counc ils
the cen tury British facto ries we re produ c ing more
after the defeat of Na poleon. Its strength was nor in
than any ot he r co unt ry in th e world.
a larger popu lation , as thi s was half that of France
By th e end of th e century, Britain's empire was and A ustr ia, and only a littl e greater th an that of
political rath er tha n co mmercial. Brita in used th is Prussia. It lay instead in industry and trade , and the
empire to co ntro l large areas of the world. T he navy which prote cte d rhis trad e.
empire gave th e British a feeling of the ir own
Brita in want ed two main things in Europe: a
importance which was difficu lt to forget when
"balance of power" whic h would prevent ~n y single
Britain lost its power in the twentieth cen tury. This
nat ion from beco ming too stro ng, and a free market
belief of th e British in the it own importan ce was at
in wh ich its ow n industrial and trade superiority
its he ight in th e midd le of th e n ineteen th cen tury,
wo uld give Brita in a clear advantage. It succeeded
among the new middle class, whic h had grown with
in the fi rst aim by encouraging the recov ery of
industrialisat ion. The novelist C ha rles Dickens
France, to balance the power of A ustr ia. Further
nicely described thi s nation al pride. One of his
eas t, it was glad th at Russia's influen ce in Europe
characters, Mr Podsnap, believed that Britain had
was limited by Prussia and th e empires of Austria
been spec ially chose n by Go d and "co nside red
and Turkey. These all sha red a borde r with Russia.
othe r countr ies a mistake".
O utside Europe, Brita in wished its trading position
The rapid growth of the middle class was part of th e
to be srronger rha n anyone else's. It defended its
enormous rise in the population. In 1815 th e
in terests by keepin g ships of its navy in almost
population was 13 million , but this had doub led by
every ocean of th e world . T h is was possible because
1871, and was over 40 million by 1914 . This
it had taken ove r and occ upied a nu mber of places
growth and the moveme nt of peop le to town s from
d uring the war against Napoleon . These inclu ded
the countryside forced a cha nge in th e polit ical
Mauritius (in th e Indian Ocean), the Ioni an Islands
balance, and by the end of the century most men
(in rhe easrern Mediterran ean ), Sierra Leon e (west
had the righ t to vote . Politi cs and govern ment
Africa) , Cape Co lony (south A frica), Cey lon, and
during th e nin eteenth century beca me increasingly
Singapore.
the property of the middl e class. The aristoc racy
and the Crown had little power left by 19 14. After 18 15 the British gove rnm ent did not on ly try
to develop its trading stations, Irs policy now was to
William Bdl Scan's "Iron and Co al", painted 1864-67, has a quile new control world traffic and world markets ro Brita in's
atmosphere of pride in labourand industry. Such pride was the mark of
Britain in the ninereenrh cemuT). One can feel (he enonnousenergyof advantage. Britain did not , how ev er, wish to
industrial revolution in rhis painting. co lonise everywhere . T here we re man y areas in

131

An Illustrated History of Britain
which it had no interest. But th ere were ot he r
areas , usually close to its own possessions or on
important trade routes, whi ch it wished eve ryone
else to leave alone . It was as a result of defending
these interests tha t Britain took ove r more an d
more land . Britain's main anx iety in its foreign
policy was tha t Russia would try to expand
southwa rds, by taking ove r th e Slavic parts of
Turkey's Balkan possessions, and might reach the
Mediterrane an. For most of th e cen tury, the refore,
Britain did its best to support Turkey against
Russian expansio n. In spite of its power, Britain
also felt increasingly anx ious about growing
co mper ition from Fran ce and Ge rmany in th e last
pa rt of the century. Most of the co lon ies esrablished
in the nineteen th century were more to do with
political control th an with tradin g for profit.
The conce rns in Europe and th e prot ecti on of trade
rout es in the rest of the world guided Britain 's
foreign po licy for a hundred years. It was to keep
th e balance in Europe in 1838 that Britain
promised to protect Belgium against stro nger
neighbours. In spite of political and eco no mic
troubles in Europe, thi s polic y kept Britain from
war in Europe for a century from 1815 . In fact it
was in defence of Belgium in 1914 that Britain
finally went to war against Ge rmany.
The danger at home, 1815-32
Until abo ut 1850, Britain was in great er dan ger at
home than abroad. The N apo leon ic Wa rs had
turne d th e nati on from th oughts of revolution to
rhe need to defeat the Fren ch. They had also
hidden th e soc ial effects of rh e indu strial
revolution . Britain had sold clothes, guns, and
othe r necessary war supplies to its allies' armies as
well as irs own. At the same time, corn had been
imported to keep th e nari on and irs army fed.
A ll thi s cha nged whe n peace came in 1815.
Sudde nly th ere was no lon ger such a need for
facto ry-made goods, and man y lost th eir jobs.
U nemployment was made worse by 300,000 men
from Britain 's army and navy who were now
looking for work. At th e same time , the
land owning farm ers' own incom e had suffered
132
170
beca use of chea per imported corn . T hese farmers
persuaded the government to introduce laws to
protect locally grown corn an d th e price at which it
was sold. T he cost of bread rose quic kly, an d th is
led to increases in the price of almost everyth ing.
W h ile prices doubled, wages remained the same .
New meth ods of farming also reduced the nu mber
of workers on th e land.
The gene ral misery began to cause trouble. In 1830,
for examp le, starving farmworkers in the south of
England rioted for increased wages. People tr ied to
add to th eir food supp ly by catc h ing wild birds and
an ima ls. But almosr all rhe woods had bee n
enclosed by th e local lan dlord and new laws were
made to stop peop le hunting animals for food .
Ma ny had to choose bet ween watc hing their family
go hungry and risking the severe pun ishment of
those who were caught. A man found with nets in
his home could be transported to the new "pena l"
co lony in A ustra lia for seven years. A man ca ught
hu n tin g with a gun or a kn ife migh t be hanged, and
un til 1823 th ieves caught entering houses and
stea ling were also hanged. T hese laws showed how
much th e rich feared the poor, and alrho ugh they
were slowly softened, the fear remained.
There were good reasons for this fear. A new poor
law in 1834 was in ten ded to improve the help given
to the needy. But central government did not
provide the necessa ry money and many people
receive d eve n less help than before. Now , on ly
those who actually lived in the workhouse were
given any help at all. The workhouses were feared
and hat ed. They were crowded and dirty, with
barely enough food to keep people al ive. T he
inha bitants had to work from early morn ing till late
at night. T he sexes were separated , so families were
divided. C ha rles Dickens wrote about the
workhouse in his novels. H is descriptions of the life
of crime and misery into whic h poor people were
forced shocked the riche r classes, and cond it ions
slowly improved.
In orde r to avo id the workho use, many looked for a
better life in the towns. Between 181 5 and 1835
Brita in changed from being a nation of cou ntry
peop le to a nation mainly of townspeople. In the
first th irty years of the n inet ee nth century, cit ies
 171
19 T he years of power and da nger

Above; Sheffield was link more rrum a large village in rhe early eighreenth Below; Engltmd's populalion distriburion. Even by 1801, ,he drif' CO ,he
cenno-y. By 1858 it was one of the fastesl growing towns of the industrial wums in rhe Midlands and nor,hwest of England Will considerable, and ,his
rct'Vlwi(Jn. with hundreds of facrory chimneys crearing a new skyline. JIIot/emell! increased during the firs' halfof the nineteench century.

FIDISTRIBUTION OF POPULA TlON I

,------~@®® ,---~~a'a'
D over 12 per squ are ~ over 40 per square
mile mile
EJ 8-11 per squ are ~ 30·40 per square
mile
mil e
D less than 8 per D less than 30 per
square mite
square mile

over 150 per over 200 per

square mile square mile
~ 1OQ.150per [ ] 150·200 per
square mile
o square mile
less than 100 per
square mile
D less than 150 per
square mile

l I3J

A n Illustrated History of Britain
like Birmin gham and Sheffield doub led in size,
while Manc hester, G lasgow and Leeds mo re than
doubled . Se veral town s close together grew into
huge ci ties with no co untryside left in be twee n .
The main city areas were northwest England, where
the new ca rron industry was based, the north
Mid lands, th e area around G lasgow, and south
Wales. But althoug h th ese cit ies grew fast, London
remain ed th e largest. In 18 20 London was home for
1.25 million , out of a total Brit ish popul ati on of
about IS million .
If the rich feared the poor in the countryside, they
feared eve n more those in the fast-growing towns.
These were harde r to cont rol. If they had been
organised , a revol ution like that in France might
have happen ed. But they were not orga nised, and
had no leaders. O nly a few radical polit icians spoke
for the poor , but th ey failed to work in close co-
operation with the workers who could have
supported them.
Severa l riots did, however , take place, and th e
go vernme nt reacted nervously. In 1819 , for
exampl e, a large crowd of workin g people and their
families gathe red in Manchester to prot est against
the ir conditions and to listen to a radical speech in
favour of cha nge. Sudden ly th ey were attacked by
soldiers on horses. Eleve n peop le were killed and
more than on e hundred wounded . The struggle
between the government, frightened of revoluti on ,
and those who wanted cha nge became greater.
Reform
T he Whigs understood bette r th an th e Tories th e
need to reform the law in order to improv e socia l
condit ions. Like the Tor ies they feared revolution ,
but un like the Tor ies they believed it could only be
avoided by reform . Indeed , the idea of reform to
make the parli amentary system fairer had begun in
the eightee nt h century. It had been started by early
radicals, and encouraged by th e Am erican War of
Independence, and by th e French Revolution .
The Tori es believed th at Parliamen t sho uld
represen t "property" and the property owners, an
idea tha t is still associated by some with toda y's
134
172
Tory Party. T he radicals believed that Parl iament
sho uld represent the peop le. The W h igs, or Liberals
as they later became known , were in the midd le,
wanting enough change to avo id re volu tion but
littl e more .
T he Tories hoped that th e House of Lords would
prote ct the interests of th e prope rty owners. When
the Commons agreed on reform in 18 30 it was
turne d down by th e House of Lords. But the Tories
fell from power the same year, and Lord G rey
formed a W h ig govern ment. G rey himself had
supported th e call for reform as a radical in 1792. In
18 32 th e Lords acce pted the Reform Bill, but more
because th ey were frightened by th e riots in th e
streets outside than because the y now accepted the
idea of reform. T hey fea red that th e co llapse of
political and civil order migh t lead to revolution.
At fi rst sigh t the Reform Bill itself seemed almost a
polit ical revolut ion . Sco tla nd's vot ers increased
from 5,000 to 65,000 . Forty-on e English towns,
inclu ding the large cit ies of Manch ester,
Birmingham and Bradford, were represen ted in
Parliament for the very fi rst t ime . But there were
limits to th e progress made. T he total number of
vot ers increased by on ly 50 per cent. T he 349
elector s of th e small tow n of Buckingham still had
as many MPs to represen t th em as th e 4, 192
electo rs of th e city of Leeds. A nd Eng land, with
unly 54 per cent of th e Brit ish populati on,
cont inued to have over 70 per cent of MPs as it had
done before . Howe ver, in spite of its sho rtcomings,
the 1832 Reform Bill was a polit ical recognit ion
that Britain had beco me an urban society.
Workers revolt
Since 18 24 workers had been allowed to join
toget her in union s. Most of these union s were small
and weak. Al th ough one of their aims was to make
sure employers paid reason able wages, they also
tried to prevent o ther peop le from working in their
parti cular trade. As a result the worki ng classes still
found it diffi cult to act toge the r. Det ermin ed
employers could still quite easily defeat strikers who
refused to work until the ir pay was improved, and
often did so with cruelty and violence. So ldiers

The Penny Blackslamp inrroduud
c1u:ap postage in 1840. ensuring
c1u:ap communications far
everyone. The Royal Mail prided
itself on 4ficienl seroice. Over the
)'ears it has remained one of the
best puslal services in the world.
were somet imes used to force people back to work
or break up meetings.
In 1834. there was an event of great importance in
trade uni on histor y. Six farmworkers in th e Dorset
village of T olpuddle joined together. promi sing to
be loyal to th eir "union" . Their employer man aged
tu find a law by which th ey cou ld be punished. A
judge had bee n specially appo inted by th e
govern me nt to fi nd th e six men guilty. and thi s he
did. In Lond on 30 .000 workers and radicals
gathe red to ask the government to pardo n the
"Tolpudd le Mart yrs". T he govern ment. afraid of
seeming weak. did not do so until the "m artyr s"
had co mpleted part of their puni shment . It was a
bad mistake. Tolpuddle became a symbol of
employers' cruelty. and of the working classes' need
to defend themselves through trade union strength.
The radicals and workers were greatly helped in
the ir efforts by the introd uct ion of a cheap postage
system in 1840. Th is enabled the m to organ ise
themselves across th e co untry far better than
before. For one penny a letter cou ld be sen t to
anyone , anywhe re in Britain.
173
19 The years of power and danger
The Chartist rally on Kennington Common. sOldh London. marked the end
of fhe mceemenr. It failed to changemuch by constitutionalmeans, and us
leaders feared fhe resulfS of trying to change socery by Imconstitldional
methods. This rally, likeprevious ones, uw altended mosrIy by men. Very
feu' ",'Omen can be seen,
Working toget he r for the fi rst time. un ions, worke rs
and rad icals put forward a People's C harter in 1838.
The Charter demanded rights th at are now
acce pted by everyone: th e vote for all adults; the
right for a man with out property of his own to be
an MP; voting in secret (so th at peopl e co uld not
be forced to vote for thei r landlord or his party);
payment for MPs. and an election eve ry year
(which eve ryone today recogni ses as impractical) .
A ll of these dema nds were refused by the House of
Co mmons.
The "Chartists" were not united for lo ng. They
were divid ed between th ose ready to use violence
and th ose who believed in cha nge by lawful mean s
on ly. Man y did not like the idea of women also
gett ing the vote. partly because they believed it
would make it harder to obtain voti ng rights for all
men . and thi s deman d. which had been includ ed in
the wording to the very fi rst C ha rte r. was quietly
forgotten . But riots and po litica l meet ings
co nt inued. In 1839 fourteen men were killed by
soldiers in a riot in N ewport. Wales. and man y
others sent to one of Britain's co lonies as prisone rs.
135

A n Illustrated History of Britain
Many parts of London and other large cities·were very dangerous,
particularly afterdark. It was fOT this reason that the first regular police fom
was established by Sir Robert "Bob" Peel, after whom the new police WCTe
nicknamed "bobbies".
T he government's seve re actions showed how much
it feared that the poor might tak e powe r, and
establish a rep ub lic.
T he govern ment was sav ed par tly by the skill of
Robert Peel , the Prime Min ist er of th e tim e. Peel
bel ieved th at cha nges sho uld be made slowly but
stea d ily. He was able to use th e improved econo mic
co n d itio ns in the 1840s to weaken the C ha rt ist
movement, wh ich slow ly d ied . In 1846 h e
abolished th e un pop ular Corn Law of 181 5, whi ch
had kept the price of co rn hi gh er th an n ecessary.
Not on ly had this made life hard for those wit h
litt le money, bu t it h ad brough t th eir emp loye rs,
the growing class of industrialists, into co nflict with
th e lan d lord class.
T hese ind ust rialists nei th er wishe d to pay h igher
wages, nor e mploy an underfed workforce. In th is
136
174
way, Peel's dec ision to rep eal the Corn Law was a
sign of the way power was passing out of the hands
of th e e igh te enth -ce ntury gen try cla ss. These had
kept the ir powe r in the early years of th e
n ineteenth century. But now power decisive ly
passed into th e h and s of th e growing number of
industri alists and trad ers.
Besides hunger, crime was th e mark of poverty.
Pee l h ad turned hi s attention to th is pro blem
a lready , by establishi ng a regul ar po lice for ce for
Lond on in 1829. A t first peopl e had laugh ed at h is
blue -un iformed men in th eir top h at s. But dur ing
the n ext th irt y years a lmos t every othe r to wn and
co unty sta rt ed its own poli ce for ce. The n ew police
forces soon pro ved th em sel ves successful, as much
crime was pushed out of th e larger c ities, th en out
of tow ns and th en out of the countryside. Peel was
able to sho w th at cert ain ty of pun ish men t was far
more effecrive tha n crue lty of pun ish me nt.
Britain's success in avo iding the storm of revolution
in Euro pe in 1848 was ad m ired a lmost everywhere.
Europ ean monarchs wished they were as safe on
th eir th rones as th e British qu een seemed to be.
A nd liberals and revolutionar ies wish ed th ey could
ac t as freely as radicals in Britain were able to do.
Britain h ad bee n a political model in the e igh -
teenth century, bu t wit h the Wa r of Ind ep endence
in Ameri ca and revolut ion in France interest in
liberalism and dem ocracy turned to thes e two
co untries. Now it moved back to Britain, as a
model bo th of indu str ial success and of free
cons tit ut ion al government . For much of the nine-
teen th cen tu ry Brita in was th e envy of th e wor ld.
Family life
In spite of the greater emph asis on the individual
and th e growth of open ly sho wn affect ion , th e end
of the e igh teent h ce ntury also saw a swing back to
str icter ideas of fam ily life. In part , th e clo se fam ily
resulted from the growth of new attitudes to
priv acy, pe rhaps a necessary part of individualism.
It was also th e result of th e rem oval, over a per iod
beginni ng in the sixtee n th ce ntury, of the social
an d economic suppor t of the wide r family and
village co mmun ity, wh ich had made family life so
 175
19 Th e years of power and danger

"Dinner Hour at Wigan" by

Eyre C rcee ( 1844- 19 10) gites
a fine bw romantic t'ieu' of life in
one of Britain's industrial roccns.
Factory women cannot often
have looked so clean Qf healthy.
Some wear uocdern soled clogs on
dlerr feet, others are barefoot. It
is a picture fuU of intereSl, and
perhaps die mosr important point
of die picture is the comtxJnion·
ship of women. Women's closest
friendships were probably more
often made u.ith oUter women
than with their husbands. In the
middlegrotmd stands a
policeman, a reminder of
awhority and that authority was
mnk.

much more public . Except for th e very rich . peop le
no longer married for eco nomic reason s. but did so
for personal happiness. However. wh ile wives might
be companions. th ey were certain ly not equal s. As
someone wrote in 1800 . "the hu sband and wife are
one. and th e hu sband is that one" . A s th e idea of
the close family und er th e "m aster" of the
household became stronger. so the possibility for a
wife to find emot iona l support or practi cal advice
outside th e immediate famil y became more limit ed.
In addit ion. as the idea of th e close fam ily slowly
spread down th e socia l order. an increa sing number
of wom en found th eir sole eco no mic and soc ial
usefulne ss ended when the ir ch ildren grew up. a
problem that continued into th e twentieth ce nt ury.
The y were discouraged from going out to work if
not eco no mically necessary. and also en cour aged to
make use of the growing number of people available
for domestic service.
Thi s return to autho rity exercised by th e head of
the family was largely th e result of th ree things.
These were fear of politi cal revolution spreading
from Fran ce. of social cha nge caused by indu stri al
revolution in Britain. and th e influen ce of th e new
religious movements of Methodism and
Evangeli calism.
O ne must wonder how much these things reduced
th e chance of happy famil y life. Indi vidu alism.
strict parental beh aviour. the regular beating of
children (whi ch was still widespread). and the cruel
co ndit ions for th ose boys at boarding schoo l. all
worked against it. O ne sho uld not be surprised that
family life ofte n ended when ch ildren grew up. As
one foreigner no ted in 1828. "grow n up ch ildren
and thei r parents soon become almost strangers". It
is impossible to be sure what effect this kind of
family life had on ch ildren. But no doubt it made
young men unfee ling towards th eir own wives who .
with unmarried sisters. were the responsibility of
the man of the house. A wife was legally a man 's
property. until nea rly the end of the century.
In spite of a stricter moral at mosp he re in Sco tla nd
which resulted from the strong influence of th e
Kirk. Scottish wome n seem to have continued a
stronger trad ition of independent attitudes an d
plain speaking. In 1830 a Scotswoma n ca lled for
"the perfect equa lity of her sex to tha t of man " .
A nothe r in 1838 wrote. "It is th e righ t of eve ry
woman to have a vote . . . in her cou nty, and more
so now that we have got a woma n [Qu een Vicroria]
at the head of government." She had a lon g tim e to
wait.

137

20 The years of self..confidence
The railway · The rise of the middle classes· The growth of towns and
cities· Population and politics· Queen and monarchy· Queen and
empire· Wales, Scotland and Ireland
In 1851 Q ueen Victoria opened th e G reat
Exhibition of th e Indu stries of All Nati on s inside
th e C rystal Palace, in London. T he exh ibit ion
aimed to sho w the wor ld th e greatness of Britain's
indu stry . No othe r nati on could produ ce as much at
that tim e. A t th e end of th e eighteenth century,
France had produ ced more iron th an Britain . By
1850 Britain was produ cin g more iron tha n the rest
of the world toget he r.
Britain had become powerful because it had enough
coal, iron and stee l for its own eno rmo us industry!
and co uld even export th em in large quantities to
Europe. With th ese materials it could produc e new
heavy indu strial goods like iron ships and stea m
engines . It cou ld also make machinery which
produ ced traditional goods like woollen and cotton
cloth in the factor ies of Lancashire. Britain 's cloth
was cheap and was exported to India, to other
co lon ies and throughout th e Middl e East, where it
quickly destro yed the local cloth indu stry, causing
great misery. Britain made and owne d more than
half th e world 's total sh ipping. This great indu strial
empire was supported by a strong banking syste m
developed during the eigh teenth cent ury.
The railway
The greatest example of Britain 's industrial power
in the mid-nineteenth ce ntury was its railway
system. Indeed , it was mainl y because of this new
form of tran sport that six million people were able
to visit th e Great Exhi bition , 109,000 of th em on
one day. Man y of th em had never visited Lond on
138
176
before . A s one newspaper wro te , "Ho w few among
th e last gene rat ion ever st irred beyond their own
villages. How few of th e present will die with out
visit ing Lond on. " It was impossible for politi cal
reform not to co ntinue on ce e veryone co uld escape
localism and travel all over th e coun try with such
ease.
In fact indu strialists had built th e railways to
transport goods , no t peo ple , in o rde r to bring down
the cost of tran sport. By 18402,400 miles of track
had been laid, connec ting not on ly th e indu strial
towns of the north , but also London, Birmingham
and even an econo m ically unimportan t town like
Brighton. By 1870 the railway system of Britain was
almost complete. The canals were soon empty as
everyth ing went by rail. The speed of th e railway
even made possible the delivery of fresh fi sh and
raspberries from Sco tland to London in one night .
In 1851 th e governmen t made th e railway
compan ies provide passen ger trains whi ch sto pped
at all sta t ions for a fare of one penny per mile. Now
people could move about much more quickly and
easily.
The middl e classes soon too k adva ntage of th e new
opportun ity to live in suburbs, from whi ch th ey
travelled into the city every day by train . The
suburb was a copy of the co untry village with all the
advan tages of th e town. Most of the London area
was built very rapidl y betwe en 1850 and 1880 in
respon se to the eno rmo us dem and for a home in the
suburbs.
 177
20 Th e years of self-confidence

"Home Sueer Home" fry Walter

Sadler shows a prosperOl;s home
in about 1850. The branches of
Iwlly decoratingthe mirror.
rrw.ntelpiece and picture feUus
that it is Christmas, but it is
before the age of greetings cards.
Silfing either side of the fireplace
ar/? me grandparenf5, enjoying
!he family scene, Mother plays
!he piano, while the father and
children sing. Theeldesl daughter
has been reading, possibly aloud
IQ git'e her grandparenf5 pleasure.
B6ide rhe grandmother stands a
round frame on which someone
has been doing embroidery work.
On the floor is a "Turkey
carpel", probably a British
machi fle~rruule copy of the more
e.tpensit'e handwoven carpelS from
r",key.

Poor peopl e's lives also ben efired by the railway.

Many moved with the middl e classes to the
suburbs, in to sma ller houses. The men trave lled by
train to work in th e town . Many of rhe women
became servant s in th e houses of the middle classes.
By 1850 16 per cent of th e population were "in
service" in private homes, more than were in
farming or in the cloth industry.

The rise of the middle classes

There had been a "middle class" in Brita in for
hundreds of years. It was a small class of merch ants,
traders and small farmers. In rhe second half of the
eighteen th century it had inc reased wirh the rise of
industrialists and factory owners.
In th e n ineteen th century, however, the middle
class grew more q uickly than ever before and
included greater differences of wealt h , soc ial
posit ion and kinds of work. It included th ose who
lsambard Kingdom Brunei( 1806- 1859) uus a middle-class man who
worked in th e profession s, such as the Church, the represenred the height of British engineering success and theleadership of rhe
law, medicine, rhe civil service, the dip lomat ic middle classes in nationallife. In 1833 heotJersaw the construction of rhe
Great Western Railway. In 1838 hedesigned lhe firs t steamshitJ10 cross rhe
service, merch ant ban king and th e army and the Aildntic regularly. In 1845 he built lhe Great Britain. the first /iITge shiP to
navy. be IIUtde of iron with a screw propeller.

139

An Illustrated History of Britain
It also included the co mmercial classes, however,
who were th e real creators of wealth in the co untry.
Industrialists were often "self-made" men who came
from poor beginnings. They believed in hard work ,
a regular style of life and bein g careful with mon ey.
This class included both the very successful and
rich indu str ialists and th e sma ll shopkeepers and
office workers of th e growing towns and suburbs.
In spite of the idea of "class" , the V ictori an age was
a time of great social movement. The ch ildren of
th e first gene rat ion of factory owne rs often preferred
commerce and banking to indu stry . While the ir
fathers remained Nonconformist and Libera l, some
children became Anglican and T ory. Some went
in to the profession s. The very successful received
kni ghthoods or became lords and joined the ranks
of the upper classes.
Those of the middl e class who could afford it sent
their sons to feepaying "public" schools. These
schools aim ed not only to give boys a good
educat ion, but to train th em in leadersh ip by rakin g
them away from hom e and making th eir livin g
conditions hard . These public schoo ls provided
man y of th e officers for the armed forces, th e
colon ial admini stration and the c ivil service .
140
178
"Capiwl and Lahour". tI cartoon
from Punch magazine. A
gentleman relaxes comforted in
the knowledge that the sufferings
of the poor have at least givenhis
family and himself such luxury.
Below. in the background, child
labourers can be seen roiling
along the galleries of a coal mine.
-=~~-- -
The growth of towns and cities
The escape of the middle classes to the suburbs was
und erstandable. The cit ies and tow ns were
ove rcrowded and unhealth y. O ne baby in four died
with in a year of its birth . In 1832 an outbreak of
cho lera, a disease spread by dirty water, killed
3 1,000 people. Proper drains and wat er supplies
were still limit ed to those who co uld afford them.
In th e middl e of the century towns began to
appo in t health officers and to provide prope r drains
and clea n water, which quick ly reduced th e level of
disease , particularly cho lera. T hese health officers
also tried to make sure that new housing was less
crowded. Even so, there were many "slum" areas for
factory workers. where tiny homes were built very
close toget he r. The better town co unc ils provided
parks in newly built areas, as well as librarie s,
public bath s where peop le co uld wash, and even
concert halls.
Some towns grew very fast. In the north , for
example, Middlesbrough grew from not hing to an
iron and steel tow n of 150 ,000 people in on ly fifty
years. Most people did not own th eir homes, but
rent ed the m. T he homes of the workers usually had
 179
20 The years of self-confidenc e

Mr G/adswlIe 5peaking in the

House of Commons, / 882. Each
sat on eith('T side of the
pa ri),
Speaker (seated hack right ) and
the cemral wble. The Speaker's
responsibility was to ensure the
arderly conduct of parliamentary
business. To help him, a line .
.dong !he jlom (running unde>-
the feel of oneof G/adstone's
.;olleagues) marks the boundary
each MPMd !O stay behind on
each side of the House. TIW uw
to amid angry arguments
becoming fights. The two lines
are two sUlOTd1engrhs' distance
apart. The si/,'eT mace on the
wble is a symbol of royal
allthority.

only four small rooms, two upstairs and two
downsta irs, wit h a small back yard. Most of the
middle classes lived in houses with a small garden
in front, and a larger on e at the back.
Population and politics
In 185 1, an official popu lation survey was carried
out for the fi rst t ime. It showed th at the nation was
not as religious as its people had believed. Only 60
per cent of the popul ation went to ch urch. The
survey also showe d that of rh ese only 5. 2 million
called th emselves Anglicans, compared with 4. 5
million No nco nformists and almost half a million
Catholics. C hanges in the law, in 1828 and 18 29,
made ir possible , for the first t ime since th e
seventee nth ce ntury, for Catho lics and
Nonconfo rmists to en ter government service and to
enter Parliamen t. In practice, howe ver, it remained
difficult for them to do so. The Tory-A nglican
alliance co uld hard ly keep rhem o ur' any lon ger. Bur
the No nco nfor mists naturally supported the
Liberals, rhe more reformisr parry. In fact the
Tories held office for less th an five years between
1846 and 1874 .
In 1846, when Sir Roberr Pee l had fallen from
power , the sha pe of British politics was st ill
uncl ear. Peel was a Tory, and man y T or ies felt tha t
his repeal of the Corn Laws tha t year was a betrayal
of T ory beliefs. Peel had already made himself very
unpopular by supporr ing th e right of Catho lics to
enter Parliament in 1829. But Peel was a true
representative of the style of po litics at th e t ime .
Like other po liticians he acted indepen dently, in
spite of his parry membership. One reason for thi s
was the nu mbe r of crises in Brit ish polit ics for a
whole generation after 1815. Those in power found
th ey ofte n had to avoid dan gerous polit ical,
eco nomic or socia l situations by taking steps they
th emselves wou ld have preferred no t to take. This
was the case with Peel. He did not wish to see
Catho lics in Parliament, but he was forced to let
them in . He did not wish to repeal the Corn Laws
because these served the farming int erests of the
Tory landowni ng class, but he had ro accep t that
th e power of the manufacruring middle class was
growing greater than that of the landed Tory
gentry.
Peel's actions were also evidence of a growing
accep ta nce by both Tories and Whigs of the
141

A n Illustrated H istory of Britain
econ om ic need for free trade, as well as th e need for
soc ial and political reform to allow th e middl e class
to grow riche r and to exp and . T h is mean r allow ing
a freer and more open socie ty, with all the dangers
that might mean , It also meant encouraging a freer
and more open soc iety in th e co untries with whi ch
Britain hoped to trad e. T h is was " Liberalism", and
the Whigs, who were genera lly more willing to
adva nc e these ideas, beca me known as Liberals.
So me T or ies also pursued essentially "Liberal"
policy. In 1823, for example, the T ory Foreign
Sec retary, Lord Can n ing, used th e navy to prevent
Spa in send ing troops to her rebell iou s co lon ies in
Sout h America. T he British were glad to see th e
liberation movement led by Simon Bolivar succeed.
However. this was partly for an economic reason,
Spain had prevented Brita in's free t rade with
Span ish co lon ies since the days of Drake.
C an n ing had also been responsible for helping the
Greeks ac hieve their freedom from the T urkish
empire. He d id th is partly in order to sat isfy
romant ic liberalism in Brita in , whi ch suppo rte d
G reek freedom mainly as a result of th e influen ce of
th e great poet of the time, Lord Byron , who had
visited G reece. But C an n ing also knew that Russia,
like G reece an ort hodo x C h rist ian country, might
142
180
7:1',
Much of London srilllooks as it
did in the closing years of the
nineleenth century. "SI Pcncnu
Hotel and Stalion from
PenlOnville Road: Sunset" by
John O 'CannOT (1884) shows SI
Pancras as it was meant W be
seen, a temple lO ViclOrian
values lowering above the
surrounding houses. St Pancra5,
buill by George G ilbert Seen. is
one of Lmu1m's fines t "Gothic
revival" buildings.
use th e exc use of Turkish misrule to take con trol of
G reece itself. Can n ing judged cor rectly th at an
ind ependent Greece would be a more effect ive
check to Russian expansion,
From 1846 until 1865 th e most impo rta nt political
fi gure was Lord Palmer ston , described by one
h istor ian as "the most charac te rist ica lly m id-
Vict orian statesman of all. " He was a Libera l, but
like Peel he often went against h is own party' s ideas
and values. Palmerston was kn own for liberalism in
h is foreign po licy. He strongly beli eved that
despotic states discoura ged free trade, and he
open ly supported Europea n libera l and
independence movemen ts. In 1859- 60, for
exam ple, Palmerston successfully suppo rted th e
Itali an inde penden ce movement against both
A ustrian and French interests. W ith in Britain ,
however , Palmersron was a goo d dea l less liberal,
and did not wan t to allow further political reform to
ta ke place. T his was not totally surprising, since he
had been a T or y as a young man un der Can ning
and had join ed the W h igs at the t ime of the 1832
Refor m Bill. It was also typical of th e co nfusing
individualism of po lit ics tha t th e Liberal Lord
Palmersron was invited to join a Tory gov ernment
in 1852.

Afte r Palrnersron's deat h in 1865 a much stricter
"two party" system deve loped , demanding greater
loyalty from its membe rsh ip. T he two parti es. Tory
(or Conse rvative as it became officially kn own ) and
Liberal, developed greater party organisation and
order. There was also a cha nge in th e kind of men
who beca me politi cal leaders. T his was a result of
the Reform of 1832, afte r which a much larger
numbe r of peop le co uld vote . T hese new vo ters
chose a different kind of MP. men from the
comme rcial rather tha n th e landown ing class.
G ladstone, the new Libera l leader . had been a
factory owner. He had also sta rted h is polit ical life
as a T ory. Even more surprisingly Benjamin
Disrae li, the new Conservative leader. was of
Jewish origin. In 1860 Jews were for th e first time
given eq ual righ ts with ot he r citizens. Disraeli had
led the Tory attack on Peel in 1846. and brought
down his gove rn ment. At th at tim e Disraeli had
strongly supported th e interests of the landed
gentry. Twenty years lat er Disrae li h imself changed
the outlook of the C on ser vat ive Party , de liberate ly
increasing th e party 's support among the midd le
class. S ince 188 1 the Co nservat ive Part y has
genera lly remain ed the strongest.
Much of what we kn ow tod ay as the modern sta te
was bu ilt in the 1860s an d 1870s. Between 1867
and 1884 the num ber of vote rs increased from 20
per cent to 60 per cent of men in towns and to 70
per cent in the country, incl uding some of th e
working class. O ne immediat e effect was th e rapid
growth in party organi sati on , with branc hes in
every town, ab le to orga nise things locally. In 18 72
voting was carried out in sec ret for the first time,
allowing o rdina ry peopl e to vot e freely and without
fear. Th is, and the growt h of the newspaper
industry, in particular "popu lar" newspapers for the
new half-educated popu lation. strengthe ned th e
importance of popu lar opin ion . Democracy grew
quickly. A nati onal political pattern appea red.
Englan d, particu larly th e south. was more
conservat ive, wh ile Sco tland. Ireland. Wales and
the north of England appea red more radical. This
pattern has gene rally continued since th en . The
House of Commons grew in size to over 650
members. and th e House of Lords lost th e powerful
181
20 The years of self-confidence
position it had held in th e eighteent h an d early
nin eteenth ce nturies. Now it no lon ger formed
policy but tried to prevent reform raking place
through th e House of Co mmons.
Democracy also grew rapid ly outs ide Parliament. In
1844 a "Co-operative Movement" was started by a
few C hartists an d trad e un ionists. Its purpose was
self-help, thro ugh a network of shops wh ich sold
goods at a fair and low price, and wh ich shared all
its profits among its members. It was very
successful, with 150 C o-operative sto res by 185 1 in
th e north of England an d Sco tla nd. By 1889 it had
o ver 800.000 members. Co-operat ive self-help was
a powerful way in whic h th e working class gain ed
self-confidence in spite of its weak posit ion .
After 1850 a number of trade un ions grew up. based
on part icular kin ds of skilled labour. However .
un like man y European worker struggles, the English
trade uni on s sought to ach ieve th eir goals through
parl iamen tary dem ocracy . In 1868 the first congress
of trade un ion s met in Manchester, represen ting
11 8,000 mem bers. T he following year the new
T rades Un ion Congress established a parliamentary
com mittee with the purpose of ach ieving worker
representation in Parliament. This wish to work
within Parliament rather tha n o utside it had already
brought trade unionists into close co-o peration with
radicals and reformi st Liberals. Even th e
Conservative Part y tried to attract worker suppo rt .
Howeve r, there were limit s to Conse rvative and
Liberal co-o perat ion . It was one thing to encourage
"friendly" societ ies for th e peaceful benefi t of
workers. It was quite anot her to enco urage union
campaigns using strike acti on . During the 18 70s
wages were lowered in many factor ies and th is led
to more strikes than had been seen in Brita in
before. T he trade un ions' mixture of worker struggle
and desire to work democratically withi n
Parl iament led eventually to the foundation of the
Labour Part y.
Durin g the same period th e machinery of modern
government was set up. Durin g th e 1850s a regular
civil service was established to carry out the work of
gove rnme nt . and "civil servants" were carefully
chosen after taking an examinati on. The system
143
 182
An Illustrated H istory of Britain

still ex ists today. The army, too, was reorganised,

an d from 1870 officers were n o longer ab le to buy
rh e ir co mmissions. The adm in istration of the law
was reorgan ised. Local gover nme nt in towns and
co unties was reorganised to make sure of good
govern me nt and proper serv ices for t he peo ple. In
1867 the first move was mad e to introdu ce free and
co mpulsory education for ch ildre n. In fac t socia l
impro vement and po litical reform acted on eac h
othe r througho ut the ce nt ury to cha nge the face of
th e n ation a lmost beyond recogni t ion.

Queen and monarchy

Q uee n V ictor ia ca me to the th rone as a young
woman in 1837 and re ign ed unti l h er death in
190 l. She did n ot like the way in wh ich power
see me d to be slipp ing so qui ck ly away from th e
mona rchy and ar istoc racy , bu t like he r adv isers sh e
was unable to prevent it. V ictoria married a
German, Prin ce A lbert of Saxe-Coburg, but h e
d ied at th e age of forty-t wo in 186 I . She co uld not
ge t over h er sorrow at hi s death , and for a long t ime
refused to be seen in public.
Th is was a dangero us th ing to do . Newspapers
began to criticise her. and some eve n questioned
th e va lue of th e monarch y. Ma ny radi cals act ua lly
be lieved th e end of monarch y was bound to happen
as a resul t of dem ocracy. Most h ad no wish to hur ry Queen Victoria in her six ty~e ighl h year, 1887. Because of lhe growth of
thi s process, an d were h appy to let th e monarch y parliamentary government she was less powerful than previous sovereigns .
However, as queen and empress, she ruledover more lands and peoples than
die n atur a lly. However , the queen 's ad visers any previous sovereigns. Furthermore, she enfoved the respect and affection
persuaded her to ta ke a more public interest in th e of her British subjects.
busines s of the kingdom. She did so, and sh e soon
becam e extraord ina rily po pular. By th e t ime
V ictoria died the monarch y was better loved among
the British than it h ad eve r been before . Prince of W ale s as "Ber tie" , and to th e Prin cess
Roya l as "Vicky". The qu een also wrote abou t her
O ne importan t step back to po pularity was th e
servan ts as if they were members of h er fami ly.
pu blication in 1868 of th e queen 's book Our life in
the Highlands. The book was the qu een 's own diar y, The increasingly dem ocratic Briti sh respected the
with draw ings, of h er life with Prin ce A lbe rt at example of famil y life whi ch the que en h ad given
Ba lmor al, her cas tle in th e Scottish H ighl and s. It them , and shared its moral and reli gio us valu es. But
deli ghted the publ ic , in particular the grow ing she also tou ched peop le's hear ts. Sh e succe ede d in
middle class. They h ad never before kn own sh owing a newly industrialised nation th at th e
anythi ng of th e pr ivate life of th e monarch , and monarch y was a co nnec tion with a glorious history.
th ey enjoyed being able to sha re it. She refe rred to In spi te of th e efforts of ea rlier monarch s to stop the
the Prince Consort simp ly as "Alberr", to the spread of democracy, the monarch y was now , quite

144

suddenly, out of danger. It was never safer th an
when it had lost most of its polit ical power.
"We have co me to believe tha t ir is narur al to have
a virtuous sove reign ," wrote one Victorian. Pure
family moralit y was an idea of royalty tha t wou ld
have been of little in terest to th e subjects of ea rlier
mona rchs.
Queen and empire
Brita in's emp ire had first been built on trad e and
the need to defend th is aga inst rival European
countries. A fter th e loss of the American co lon ies
in 1783, the idea of creat ing new co lon ies remain ed
unpopu lar until th e 1830s. Instead, Britain watc hed
the oceans carefully to make sure its trade route s
were safe, and fought wars in orde r to protect its
"areas of interest" . In 1839 it attacked C h ina and
forced it to allow the profitab le British trade in
opium from Ind ia to C h ina. The "Opium Wars"
were one of the more shameful ev ents in British
colon ial history.
Afrer about 1850 Britain was driven more by fear of
growing European co mpet ition than by co mmercial
need. This led to the taking of land, the creat ion of
colon ies, and to co lon ial wars th at were ext remely
expensive. Fear that Russia would advance
southwards towards Ind ia resulted in a disastrous
war in A fghanistan ( 1839 -42), in which one army
was completely destroyed by Afghan forces in th e
mountains. Soon after, Britain was fight ing a war in
Sindh, a part of modern Pak istan, th en anot her
against Sikhs in the Punjab, in northwest Indi a.
The Russian dan ger also affected south Europe and
the Middl e East. Brita in fea red that Russia would
destro y th e weak O tto man Empire, wh ich
cont rolled Turkey and th e A rab co untr ies. T his
would cha nge th e balance of power in Europe , and
be a dan ger to Britain 's sea and land routes to
India. When Russia and O ttoman Turkey went to
war Britain joined th e Turks against Russia in
Crimea in 1854 , in order to stop Russian expansio n
into Asiat ic Turkey in the Black Sea area.
It was th e fi rst, and last, t ime th at newspapers were
able to repo rt freel y on a British war wit hout army
183
20 The years of self-confidence
co nt rol. They told some unwelc ome truths; tor
example, th ey wrote abour the co urage of th e
ordi na ry soldiers, and the poor quality of their
officers. They also reported the shocking conditions
in army hospita ls, and th e remarkable work of the
nurse Florence N ight ingale.
In India, th e unwi se treatm ent of Indian soldiers in
British pay resulted in revolt in 1857. Known in
Britain as the "Indian Mutiny" , thi s revolt quickly
became a national movement against foreign rule ,
led by a number of Hindu and Muslim princes.
Many of these had recently lost power and land to
the British rulers. If they had been better organised,
th ey would have been able to th row the British o ut
of India. Both British and Indians behaved with
great violence, and the British cruelly punished the
defeated rebels. T he friend ship between the British
and th e Indian s never fully recovered . A feeling of
distrust and distan ce bet ween ruler and ruled grew
in to the Indian independen ce movement of the
twentieth century.
In Afr ica , Brita in's first interest had been the slave
trade on th e wesr coast. It then too k over the C ape
of Go od Hope at rhe southern point , because it
needed a port there to serv ice the sea route to
Indi a.
Britai n' s interest in Africa was increased by reports
sent back by European trav ellers and explorers. The
most famous of th ese was David Livingsrone, who
was a Scottish doctor, a C hrist ian missionary and
an ex plore r. In many ways, Livingstone was a "man
of his age". N o one could doubt his co urage, or his
hone sty. His journ eys from the east co ast into
"darkest" Africa excited th e British. They greatly
admired him . Livingston e discovered areas of Africa
un kn own to European s, and "open ed" th ese areas
to C hristianity, to European ideas and to European
trade.
C hrist ian ity too easily became a tool for building a
commercial and politica l empire in Africa . The
governments of Europe rushed in to take what th ey
co uld, using the excuse of bringing "c ivilisat ion" to
th e peop le. The rush for land became so great that
European co unt ries agreed by treat y in 1890 to
divide Africa int o "a reas of interest". By th e end of
145
 184
An Illustrated History of Britain

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Our Empire Atlas. 1897, cleaTly ,Show,S Britairi',S 'smuegic control of much
of the world. Although not marked as such. Egypt and the Sudan were else
colonies in praccce. T he extent of Britain's colonial possessions doubled
during the nineteenth century. Britain's appetite far new possessions roucrds the century , several European countries had taken
the end of the century was a sign of its nervousness concerning the growth of
OIher European world powers, particularly France and Germany. Allhvugh over large areas of Africa . Brita in succeeded in
Britain became rich partly through her colonial possessions, defending them taking most.
t'w nrudlly proved too grear a strain on Britain's economy.
In South Africa Britain found th at dealing wit h
other European set tlers present ed new prob lems.
T he Dut ch settlers, the Boers, fought two wars
against the Brit ish at the end of the century,
proving again. as the C rimea n W ar had done. the
weakn esses of the British army. The Boers were
defeated on ly with great difficulty.

The real problems of British impe rial ambition,

however. were most obvious in Egypt . Britain.
anxious abo ut the safety of th e route to Indi a
146
 185
20 Th e years of self-confidence

Britain had to usean il1CTeasing numberof soldiers to defend its grOU1ng

empire. The banleof lsandhlurana in southAfrica in 1879 UJaS a humiliating
defeat . Britain did not expect its soldiers to be defealed by black African
throug h th e ne wly dug Suez Cana l, bought a large Zulus.
number of sha res in the Suez Ca na l company .
Whe n Egyptian nation alists brought down the ruler
in 1882, Britain invaded " to protect internation al
shipping" . In fact, it acted to protect its imperial
inte rest, its route to India. Britain to ld the world its
occupa tion of Egypt was on ly for a short t ime, but it
did not leave until forced to do so in 1954.
Involvement in Egypt led to in vasion and takeo ver
of the Sudan in 1884, a country two-thirds the size
of India. Like ot he r powe rs, Britain found th at
every area conquered created new dan gers which in
turn had to be contro lled. In all th ese co unt ries, in

147

A n Illust rated Hi stor y of Brita in
!I .. ,'j'" ,11~n, I 11 Iu Il' .,. ~U(j :',"" of II,
Sixty years a queen, Victoria celebrates her Diamorul Jubilee. Immediately
behind her stands her son andsuccessor, Edward VIr, and his own son and
successor, George V, stands on his left. Victoria is acclaimed queen and
empress by themany different colonial peoples under herrule.
India , Afric a and elsewhe re, Britain found itself
invol ved in a con tra dict ion between its imperial
amb ition and the liberal ideas it wishe d to advance
elsewhe re. G ladsto ne 's view th at " the foreign po licy
of England sho uld always be inspired by a love of
freedom " seemed to have little place in th e
co lon ies. In the twen tieth century this
con tradict ion was a majo r reason for th e co llapse of
th e emp ire.
T he re was anothe r reason for the interest in
creat ing co lon ies. From the 1830s there had been
growing con cern at the rap idly increasing
148
186
popu lati on of Brita in . A n umber of people ca lled
for the dev elop ment of co lon ies for British sett lers
as an obvious solut ion to the prob lem. As a result,
there was marked increase in settlemen t in Ca nada,
A ustra lia and Ne w Zea land from the 1840s
onwards. The settlers arrived to take ove r th e land
and to farm it. In all thr ee countries th ere had been
earlier popu lation s. In C anada most of these were
pushed westwards, and those not killed became part
of the "white" culture . In Au stralia British setrIers
killed most of the aborigina l inhabitan ts, leavin g
on ly a few in the ce ntral desert areas. In Ne w
Zealand the Maori inhabitants suffered less than in
eithe r Ca na da or Au stra lia, altho ugh they still lost
most of the land.
The white co lon ies, unlike the othe rs, were soon
allowed to gove rn the mselves, and no lon ger
depended on Britain . They st ill, however, accepted
the British monarch as the ir head of sta te. T he
move toward s self-govern men t was the result of
tro uble in C ana da in 1837. A new governor , Lord
Durham , quickly understood th e dan ger tha t
Cana da might follow th e othe r American colonies
in to independence. His report established the
principle of self-govern ment, fi rst for the wh ite
co lon ies, but eventua lly for all Brit ish possessions.
It prepared the way from empi re to a British
"Commonwea lth of Nat ions" in th e twentieth
.,.1, ce ntury,
By the end of the ni nete enth ce ntury Brita in
controlled the ocea ns and much of the land areas of
th e world. Most Brit ish strongly believed in th eir
right to an empire, and were willing to defend it
against the least thr eat. T h is state of mind became
kno wn as J ingoism , afte r a famous Music Hall song
of 1878:
W e don't want to fi ght , bu t, by jingo if we do,
W e've got the sh ips, we've got the men , we've
got the money too.
But eve n at this moment of greatest power , Britain
had begun to spend more on its emp ire than it rook
from it. T he empire had sta rte d to be a heavy load.
It would become impossibly heavy in the twentieth
ce ntury, when the co lonies fi nally began to demand
th eir freedom .

Wales, Scotland and Ireland
As industrialisation continued, the areas at the
edge of British economic power became weaker.
Areas in Wales, Sco tla nd and Irelan d were
part icularly affected .
Wales had fewer proble ms tha n either Sco tla nd or
Ireland . Its popul at ion grew from ha lf a million in
1800 to ove r two million by 1900 . partly beca use
the average expecration of life doub led from th irty
to sixty. In south Wa les the re were rich coa l mines
wh ich quickly became the centre of a rapidly
growing coal and steel indu stry . In thei r search for
work. a huge num ber of people. between two-thirds
and three-q uarte rs of the to ta l Welsh populati on .
moved into the southeast co rner of the co untry . By
1870 W ales was main ly an ind ustrial society.
This new working-class community. born in
southeas t Wales. beca me increasingly in terested in
Nonconformist C hrist ian ity and radicalism. It
created its own cultural life. In many min ing
villages brass bands were created, and these quickly
became symbols of working-class unity. Other
people joined the local No nconformist chapel
cho ir. and helped to create the We lsh tradit ion of
fi ne chora l singing. Wales was soon a nat ion
divided bet ween the indu strialised areas and the
uncha nged areas of old Wales. in the centre and
north .
The parliamentary reforms of the nine teenth
century gave Wa les a new vo ice. As soon as they
were allowed to vote. the Wel sh workers go t rid of
the Tories and the landown ing fami lies who had
represented them for 300 years.
Scotla nd was also divided between a new
industrialised area. arou nd G lasgow and Edinb urgh.
and the Highl and and Lowland areas. Around the
two great cities there were coa l mines and factories
produci ng stee l and iron , as well as the centre of
the Brit ish sh ipbuilding ind ustry on the River
Clyde. Like Wales. Sco tland became strongly
Liberal once its workforce gained voting rights.
The cleara nces in the H igh land s co ntinued. In the
second half of th e century it became more profitable
to replace th e sheep with wild deer. wh ich were
187
20 Th e years of self-confidence
hunted for sport . Many old clan lands were sold to
new lan downers who had no previous connecti on
with the Highlands. and who on ly occa siona lly
visited the ir esta tes. The Highl and s have never
recovered from th e collapse of the clan system.
eithe r socially or economically. It is probable that
the Highland areas would have beco me depopu lated
anyway. as people moved away to find work in the
cities. But the way in which it happen ed was not
gentle . and left a bitte r memory.
T he Irish experien ce was worse than that of
Sco tland. In th e nineteenth century. an inc reasing
number of Protestant Irish turned to England as a
protection against the C at holic inhabit ants. T o the
C atho lics. however. most Irish Protestants were a
reminder th at England. a foreign country. was still
as powerful in Ireland as it had been in 1690. The
struggle for Irish freedom from English rule beca me
a struggle betwee n C atho lic and Prote stant. The
first great victory for Irish freedom was when
Ca tho lics were allowed to become MPs in 18 29. In
fact in Ireland thi s decision was acco mpanied by a
repression of civil and political liberties. Even so.
the fact tha t a C atho lic co uld enter Parli ament
increased Irish nat ional feeling.
But wh ile this feeling was growing. Irelan d suffered
the worst disaster in its ent ire history. For three
years. 1845. 1846 and 184 7. the potato crop . which
was the main food of th e poor. failed. Since th e
beginn ing of the cent ury. th e popu lation had risen
quickl y from fi ve to eight million . In th ese three
years 1.5 million (about 20 per cent) died from
hunger. At th e same time Irelan d had enough
wheat to feed the ent ire populati on. but it was
grown for expo rt to England by the mainl y
Protestan t landowners. The govern ment in Lon don
failed to realise the seriousness of the problem .
Man y Irish people had lirtle cho ice but to leave. At
least a million left during these years. but many
more followed during the rest of the century
because of the grea t pove rty in Ireland . Most settled
in the United Stat es. Between 1841 and 1920
almost five million settled there. Some went
eastwards to th e towns and cities of Britain . Man y
he lped to build Britain's railways.
149

A n Illustrated History of Brita in
The Irish popul ati on h as still not yet grown to the
same level. T oday it is less than five million (three
milli on in the Republic of Irelan d , 1. 5 milli on in
No rt h ern Irelan d ), on ly a littl e mor e tha n ha lf
wh at it was in 184 0 . Emigrat ion from Irelan d
cont inues.
The Irish wh o went to th e U n ited Sta tes d id not
forge t th e old co un try. N or did the y forg ive Britain .
By 1880 man y Irish Ame rican s were rich an d
powerful and we re able to suppor t the Irish freedo m
movement. They h ave had an in fluence on Brit ish
poli cy in Irelan d eve r since.
150
188
Many Sccmsh Highlanders and Irish were dritJen off {heir land in {he
nineteenth cemury. The Irish suffered worSI of all. Afll'T {he k'TTible POlalO
famine of 1845, there were ocher years of poor hart'est, nowbly in the years
/877-79, but many landlords refused to lvwer rents during {his lime. MallY
families, like the one shoum in this photograph, were locked out of their
homes a.~ {hey could no longer pay rent. Most of them made {heir way fa lhe
Uni{ed Stares of America, wllCTe Irish Americansstill remember how their
ancestors were lreated.
Meanwh ile, C ha rles Parnell , a Prot estant Irish MP,
dem and ed fuller rights for the Irish people , in
part icular th e righ t to self-gove rn me nt . W he n most
Irish we re able to vote for th e first time in 1885,
eighty-s ix mem bers of Parn e ll's Irish part y were
elec te d to Parl iam en t. Most Libe rals supported
Parne11 , but th e Tories d id n ot and Ireland did not
ga in the righ t to self-gove rn me nt, or "home rule",
until th irt y years later. But then Brita in's war with
G ermany delayed it tak ing place, and by the time
the war ended Irish n ationa lists had decided they
co uld on ly win the ir freedom by figh t ing for it .
 189

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY The changes that began in • Industrial • factors of

The Industrial Revolution started Britain paved the way for Revolution production
in England and soon spread to modern industrial societies. • enclosure • factory
other countries. • crop rotation • entrepreneur
• industrialization

SETTING THE STAGE In the United States, France, and Latin America, politi-
cal revolutions brought in new governments. A different type of revolution now
transformed the way people worked. The Industrial Revolution refers to the
greatly increased output of machine-made goods that began in England in the
middle 1700s. Before the Industrial Revolution, people wove textiles by hand.
Then, machines began to do this and other jobs. Soon the Industrial Revolution
spread from England to Continental Europe and North America.

Industrial Revolution Begins in Britain TAKING NOTES

Following Chronological
In 1700, small farms covered England’s landscape. Wealthy landowners, how- Order On a time line,
ever, began buying up much of the land that village farmers had once worked. note important events in
The large landowners dramatically improved farming methods. These innova- Britain‘s industrialization.
tions amounted to an agricultural revolution.
The Agricultural Revolution Paves the Way After buying up the land of vil- 1700 1830
lage farmers, wealthy landowners enclosed their land with fences or hedges. The
increase in their landholdings enabled them to cultivate larger fields. Within
these larger fields, called enclosures, landowners experimented with more pro-
ductive seeding and harvesting methods to boost crop yields. The enclosure
movement had two important results. First, landowners tried new agricultural
methods. Second, large landowners forced small farmers to become tenant farm-
ers or to give up farming and move to the cities.
Jethro Tull was one of the first of these scientific farmers. He saw that the
usual way of sowing seed by scattering it across the ground was wasteful. Many
seeds failed to take root. He solved this problem with an invention called the seed
drill in about 1701. It allowed farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at spe-
cific depths. A larger share of the seeds took root, boosting crop yields.
Rotating Crops The process of crop rotation proved to be one of the best devel-
opments by the scientific farmers. The process improved upon older methods of
crop rotation, such as the medieval three-field system discussed in Chapter 14.
One year, for example, a farmer might plant a field with wheat, which exhausted
soil nutrients. The next year he planted a root crop, such as turnips, to restore
nutrients. This might be followed in turn by barley and then clover.

The Industrial Revolution 717

 190

An English
▲

farmer plants his

fields in the early
1700s using a
seed drill.

Livestock breeders improved their methods too. In the 1700s, for example,
Robert Bakewell increased his mutton (sheep meat) output by allowing only his
best sheep to breed. Other farmers followed Bakewell’s lead. Between 1700 and
1786, the average weight for lambs climbed from 18 to 50 pounds. As food sup-
plies increased and living conditions improved, England’s population mushroomed. Recognizing
An increasing population boosted the demand for food and goods such as cloth. As Effects
farmers lost their land to large enclosed farms, many became factory workers. How did popu-
lation growth spur
Why the Industrial Revolution Began in England In addition to a large popula-
the Industrial
tion of workers, the small island country had extensive natural resources. Revolution?
Industrialization, which is the process of developing machine production of
goods, required such resources. These natural resources included
• water power and coal to fuel the new machines
• iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings
• rivers for inland transportation
• harbors from which merchant ships set sail
In addition to its natural resources, Britain had an expanding economy to support
industrialization. Businesspeople invested in the manufacture of new inventions.
Britain’s highly developed banking system also contributed to the country’s indus-
trialization. People were encouraged by the availability of bank loans to invest in
new machinery and expand their operations. Growing overseas trade, economic
prosperity, and a climate of progress led to the increased demand for goods.
Britain’s political stability gave the country a tremendous advantage over its
neighbors. Though Britain took part in many wars during the 1700s, none occurred
on British soil. Their military successes gave the British a positive attitude.
Parliament also passed laws to help encourage and protect business ventures. Other
countries had some of these advantages. But Britain had all the factors of pro-
duction, the resources needed to produce goods and services that the Industrial
Revolution required. They included land, labor, and capital (or wealth).

Inventions Spur Industrialization

In an explosion of creativity, inventions now revolutionized industry. Britain’s
textile industry clothed the world in wool, linen, and cotton. This industry was the
first to be transformed. Cloth merchants boosted their profits by speeding up the
process by which spinners and weavers made cloth.
Changes in the Textile Industry As you will learn in the feature on textile tech-
nology on page 719, by 1800, several major inventions had modernized the cotton
industry. One invention led to another. In 1733, a machinist named John Kay made
a shuttle that sped back and forth on wheels. This flying shuttle, a boat-shaped piece

718 Chapter 25
 191

Textiles Industrialize First

The Industrial Revolution that began in Britain was spurred by a
revolution in technology. It started in the textile industry, where British Cotton Consumption, 1800–1900
inventions in the late 1700s transformed the manufacture of cloth.

Cotton Consumption (in thousands of metric tons)

1000
The demand for clothing in Britain had greatly increased as a
900
result of the population boom caused by the agricultural revolution.
These developments, in turn, had an impact worldwide. For 800

example, the consumption of cotton rose dramatically in Britain 700

(see graph at right). This cotton came from plantations in the 600
American South, where cotton production skyrocketed from 500
1790 to 1810 in response to demand from English textile mills. 400

300
John Kay’s flying
▲

200
shuttle (below)
speedily carried 100
threads of yarn 0
back and forth 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
when the weaver Source: European Historical Statistics, 1750–1975
pulled a handle on
the loom. The
flying shuttle
greatly increased
the productivity
of weavers.
Patterns of Interaction
Technology Transforms an Age: The
Industrial and Electronic Revolutions
Inventions in the textile industry started in Britain
and brought about the Industrial Revolution. This
revolution soon spread to other countries. The
process of industrialization is still spreading around
the world, especially in developing countries. A
similar technological revolution is occurring in
electronics today, transforming the spread of
▲ Flying information around the world.
shuttle

1. Synthesizing How might the

technological innovation and
industrialization that took place in
the textile industry during the
Industrial Revolution have provided
a model for other industries?
See Skillbuilder Handbook, Page R21.

2. Recognizing Effects Research the

textile industry today to learn how it
has been affected by new technology,
including computerization. Prepare a
two-paragraph summary on the
effects of the new technology.
719
 192

Inventions in America
In the United States, American inventors worked at making
railroad travel more comfortable, inventing adjustable
upholstered seats. They also revolutionized agriculture, manu-
facturing, and communications:
1831 Cyrus McCormick’s reaper boosted American wheat
production.
1837 Samuel F. B. Morse, a New England painter, first sent
electrical signals over a telegraph.
1851 I. M. Singer improved the sewing machine by inventing a
foot treadle (see photograph).
1876 Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell patented
the telephone.

INTERNET ACTIVITY Create a photo exhibit on

American inventions of the 19th century. Include
the name of the inventor and the date with each
photograph. Go to classzone.com for your research.

of wood to which yarn was attached, doubled the work a weaver could do in a day.
Because spinners could not keep up with these speedy weavers, a cash prize
attracted contestants to produce a better spinning machine. Around 1764, a textile
worker named James Hargreaves invented a spinning wheel he named after his
daughter. His spinning jenny allowed one spinner to work eight threads at a time.
At first, textile workers operated the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny by
hand. Then, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame in 1769. This machine
used the waterpower from rapid streams to drive spinning wheels. In 1779, Samuel
Crompton combined features of the spinning jenny and the water frame to produce
the spinning mule. The spinning mule made thread that was stronger, finer, and
more consistent than earlier spinning machines. Run by waterpower, Edmund Summarizing
Cartwright’s power loom sped up weaving after its invention in 1787. What inventions
The water frame, the spinning mule, and the power loom were bulky and expen- transformed the
textile industry?
sive machines. They took the work of spinning and weaving out of the house.
Wealthy textile merchants set up the machines in large buildings called factories.
Factories needed waterpower, so the first ones were built near rivers and streams:

PRIMARY SOURCE
A great number of streams . . . furnish water-power adequate to turn many hundred
mills: they afford the element of water, indispensable for scouring, bleaching, printing,
dyeing, and other processes of manufacture: and when collected in their larger
channels, or employed to feed canals, they supply a superior inland navigation, so
important for the transit of raw materials and merchandise.
EDWARD BAINS, The History of Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain (1835)

England’s cotton came from plantations in the American South in the 1790s.
Removing seeds from the raw cotton by hand was hard work. In 1793, an American
inventor named Eli Whitney invented a machine to speed the chore. His cotton gin
multiplied the amount of cotton that could be cleaned. American cotton production
skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds in 1790 to 85 million pounds in 1810.

720 Chapter 25
 193

Improvements in Transportation
Progress in the textile industry spurred other industrial improvements. The
first such development, the steam engine, stemmed from the search for a cheap,
convenient source of power. As early as 1705, coal miners were using steam-
powered pumps to remove water from deep mine shafts. But this early model of a
steam engine gobbled great quantities of fuel, making it expensive to run.
Watt’s Steam Engine James Watt, a mathematical instrument maker at the
University of Glasgow in Scotland, thought about the problem for two years. In
1765, Watt figured out a way to make the steam engine work faster and more effi-
ciently while burning less fuel. In 1774, Watt joined with a businessman named
Matthew Boulton. Boulton was an entrepreneur (AHN•truh•pruh•NUR), a person
who organizes, manages, and takes on the risks of a business. He paid Watt a salary
and encouraged him to build better engines.
Water Transportation Steam could also propel boats. An American inventor
named Robert Fulton ordered a steam engine from Boulton and Watt. He built a
steamboat called the Clermont, which made its first successful trip in 1807. The
Clermont later ferried passengers up and down New York’s Hudson River.
In England, water transportation improved with the creation of a network of
canals, or human-made waterways. By the mid-1800s, 4,250 miles of inland chan-
nels slashed the cost of transporting both raw materials and finished goods.
Road Transportation British roads improved, too, thanks largely to the efforts of
John McAdam, a Scottish engineer. Working in the early 1800s, McAdam equipped
road beds with a layer of large stones for drainage. On top, he placed a carefully
smoothed layer of crushed rock. Even in rainy weather heavy wagons could travel
over the new “macadam” roads without sinking in mud.
Private investors formed companies that built roads and then operated them for
profit. People called the new roads turnpikes because travelers had to stop at toll-
gates (turnstiles or turnpikes) to pay tolls before traveling farther.

The Railway Age Begins

Steam-driven machinery powered English factories in the late 1700s. A steam ▼ First-class

engine on wheels—the railroad locomotive—drove English industry after 1820. passengers on

the Liverpool-
Steam-Driven Locomotives In 1804, an English engineer named Richard Manchester
Trevithick won a bet of several thousand dollars. He did this by hauling ten tons of Railway in the
iron over nearly ten miles of track in a steam-driven locomotive. Other British engi- 1830s rode
in covered
neers soon built improved versions of Trevithick’s locomotive. One of these early
cars; all others,
in open cars.

The Industrial Revolution 721

 194

railroad engineers was George Stephenson. He had gained a solid rep-

utation by building some 20 engines for mine operators in northern
England. In 1821, Stephenson began work on the world’s first railroad
line. It was to run 27 miles from the Yorkshire coal fields to the port of
Stockton on the North Sea. In 1825, the railroad opened. It used four
locomotives that Stephenson had designed and built.
The Liverpool-Manchester Railroad News of this success quickly
spread throughout Britain. The entrepreneurs of northern England
wanted a railroad line to connect the port of Liverpool with the
inland city of Manchester. The track was laid. In 1829, trials were
held to choose the best locomotive for use on the new line. Five
engines entered the competition. None could compare with the
Rocket, designed by Stephenson and his son.
Smoke poured from the Rocket’s tall smokestack, and its two pis-
tons pumped to and fro as they drove the front wheels. The locomo-
tive hauled a 13-ton load at an unheard-of speed—more than 24
miles per hour. The Liverpool-Manchester Railway opened officially
in 1830. It was an immediate success.
Railroads Revolutionize Life in Britain The invention and perfec-
tion of the locomotive had at least four major effects. First, railroads
▲ George
Stephenson’s
spurred industrial growth by giving manufacturers a cheap way to transport mate-
Rocket rials and finished products. Second, the railroad boom created hundreds of thou-
sands of new jobs for both railroad workers and miners. These miners provided
iron for the tracks and coal for the steam engines. Third, the railroads boosted
England’s agricultural and fishing industries, which could transport their products
to distant cities. Synthesizing
Finally, by making travel easier, railroads encouraged country people to take dis- How did
improvements in
tant city jobs. Also, railroads lured city dwellers to resorts in the countryside. Like transportation pro-
a locomotive racing across the country, the Industrial Revolution brought rapid and mote industrializa-
unsettling changes to people’s lives. tion in Britain?

SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Industrial Revolution • enclosure • crop rotation • industrialization • factors of production • factory • entrepreneur

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which of the events listed do
you think was the most
important? Explain.
1700 1830
3. What were four factors that
contributed to industrialization
in Britain?
4. How did rising population help
the Industrial Revolution?
5. What American invention aided
the British textile industry?
6. EVALUATING Was the revolution in agriculture necessary
to the Industrial Revolution? Explain.
7. MAKING INFERENCES What effect did entrepreneurs have
upon the Industrial Revolution?
8. FORMING AND SUPPORTING OPINIONS Do you agree or
disagree with the statement that the steam engine was
the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution? Why?
9. WRITING ACTIVITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Write a
letter, as a British government official during the
Industrial Revolution, to an official in a nonindustrial
nation explaining how the railroad has changed Britain.

CONNECT TO TODAY CREATING AN ILLUSTRATED NEWS ARTICLE

Find information on a recent agricultural or technological invention or improvement. Write a
two-paragraph news article about its economic effects and include an illustration, if possible.

722 Chapter 25
 195

CASE STUDY: Manchester

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

ECONOMICS The factory system Many less-developed countries • urbanization

changed the way people lived are undergoing the difficult • middle class
and worked, introducing a process of industrialization
variety of problems. today.

SETTING THE STAGE The Industrial Revolution affected every part of life in
Great Britain, but proved to be a mixed blessing. Eventually, industrialization led
to a better quality of life for most people. But the change to machine production
initially caused human suffering. Rapid industrialization brought plentiful jobs,
but it also caused unhealthy working conditions, air and water pollution, and the
ills of child labor. It also led to rising class tensions, especially between the work-
ing class and the middle class.

Industrialization Changes Life TAKING NOTES

Outlining Organize main
The pace of industrialization accelerated rapidly in Britain. By the 1800s, peo- ideas and details.
ple could earn higher wages in factories than on farms. With this money, more
people could afford to heat their homes with coal from Wales and dine on I. Industrialization
Changes Life
Scottish beef. They wore better clothing, too, woven on power looms in
A.
England’s industrial cities. Cities swelled with waves of job seekers.
B.
Industrial Cities Rise For centuries, most Europeans had lived in rural areas. II. Class Tensions
After 1800, the balance shifted toward cities. This shift was caused by the growth Grow
of the factory system, where the manufacturing of goods was concentrated in a
central location. Between 1800 and 1850, the number of European cities boast-
ing more than 100,000 inhabitants rose from 22 to 47. Most of Europe’s urban
areas at least doubled in population; some even quadrupled. This period was one
of urbanization—city building and the movement of people to cities.

As cities grew,
▲

people crowded
into tenements
and row houses
such as these in
London.

CASE STUDY 723

 196

The Day of a Child Laborer, William Cooper

William Cooper began working in a tex-

tile factory at the age of ten. He had a 5 A.M. The workday 12 NOON The children were
sister who worked upstairs in the began. Cooper and his given a 40-minute break for
same factory. In 1832, Cooper was sister rose as early as lunch. This was the only
called to testify before a parliamen- 4:00 or 4:30 in order to break they received all day.
tary committee about the conditions get to the factory by
among child laborers in the textile 5:00. Children usually
industry. The following sketch of his ate their breakfast on
day is based upon his testimony. the run.

Factories developed in clusters because entrepreneurs built them near sources of

energy, such as water and coal. Major new industrial centers sprang up between the
coal-rich area of southern Wales and the Clyde River valley in Scotland. But the
biggest of these centers developed in England. (See map on page 715.)
Britain’s capital, London, was the country’s most important city. It had a popu-
lation of about one million people by 1800. During the 1800s, its population
exploded, providing a vast labor pool and market for new industry. London became
Europe’s largest city, with twice as many people as its closest rival (Paris). Newer
cities challenged London’s industrial leadership. Birmingham and Sheffield
became iron-smelting centers. Leeds and Manchester dominated textile manufac-
turing. Along with the port of Liverpool, Manchester formed the center of Britain’s
bustling cotton industry. During the 1800s, Manchester experienced rapid growth
from around 45,000 in 1760 to 300,000 by 1850.
Living Conditions Because England’s cities grew rapidly, they had no develop-
ment plans, sanitary codes, or building codes. Moreover, they lacked adequate
housing, education, and police protection for the people who poured in from the
countryside to seek jobs. Most of the unpaved streets had no drains, and garbage
collected in heaps on them. Workers lived in dark, dirty shelters, with whole fam-
ilies crowding into one bedroom. Sickness was widespread. Epidemics of the deadly
disease cholera regularly swept through the slums of Great Britain’s industrial cities.
▼ Elizabeth Gaskell In 1842, a British government study showed an average life span to be 17 years for
(1810–1865) was working-class people in one large city, compared with 38 years in a nearby rural area.
a British writer
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848) is a work of fiction. But it presents a
whose novels show
a sympathy for the startlingly accurate portrayal of urban life experienced by many at the time.
working class. Gaskell provides a realistic description of the dank cellar dwelling of one family in
a Manchester slum:

PRIMARY SOURCE
You went down one step even from the foul area into the cellar in which a family of Analyzing Primary
human beings lived. It was very dark inside. The window-panes many of them were Sources
broken and stuffed with rags . . . . the smell was so fetid [foul] as almost to knock How does
the two men down. . . . they began to penetrate the thick darkness of the place, Gaskell indicate her
and to see three or four little children rolling on the damp, nay wet brick floor, sympathy for the
through which the stagnant, filthy moisture of the street oozed up. working class in this
ELIZABETH GASKELL, Mary Barton passage?

But not everyone in urban areas lived miserably. Well-to-do merchants and factory
owners often built luxurious homes in the suburbs.

724 Chapter 25
 197

3 P.M. The children 6 P.M. There was no 9 P.M. William Cooper’s 11 P.M. Cooper’s sister worked
often became drowsy break allowed for an day ended after an another two hours even
during the afternoon evening meal. Children exhausting 16-hour shift though she had to be back at
or evening hours. In again ate on the run. at work. work at 5:00 the next morning.
order to keep them
awake, adult over-
seers sometimes
whipped the children.

Working Conditions To increase production, factory owners wanted to keep their

machines running as many hours as possible. As a result, the average worker spent
14 hours a day at the job, 6 days a week. Work did not change with the seasons, as it
did on the farm. Instead, work remained the same week after week, year after year.
Industry also posed new dangers for workers. Factories were seldom well lit or
clean. Machines injured workers. A boiler might explode or a drive belt might
catch an arm. And there was no government program to provide aid in case of
injury. The most dangerous conditions of all were found in coal mines. Frequent
accidents, damp conditions, and the constant breathing of coal dust made the aver-
age miner’s life span ten years shorter than that of other workers. Many women and
children were employed in the mining industry because they were the cheapest
source of labor.

Class Tensions Grow

Though poverty gripped Britain’s working classes, the Industrial Revolution cre-
ated enormous amounts of wealth in the nation. Most of this new money belonged
to factory owners, shippers, and merchants. These people were part of a growing
middle class, a social class made up of skilled workers, professionals, business-
people, and wealthy farmers.
The Middle Class The new middle class transformed the social structure of Great
Britain. In the past, landowners and aristocrats had occupied the top position in
British society. With most of the wealth, they wielded the social and political
power. Now some factory owners, merchants, and bankers grew wealthier than the
landowners and aristocrats. Yet important social distinctions divided the two
wealthy classes. Landowners looked down on those who had made their fortunes
in the “vulgar” business world. Not until late in the 1800s were rich entrepreneurs
considered the social equals of the lords of the countryside.
Gradually, a larger middle class—neither rich nor poor—emerged. The upper
middle class consisted of government employees, doctors, lawyers, and managers
of factories, mines, and shops. The lower middle class included factory overseers
Summarizing and such skilled workers as toolmakers, mechanical drafters, and printers. These
Describe the people enjoyed a comfortable standard of living.
social classes in
The Working Class During the years 1800 to 1850, however, laborers, or the
Britain.
working class, saw little improvement in their living and working conditions. They
watched their livelihoods disappear as machines replaced them. In frustration,
some smashed the machines they thought were putting them out of work.

CASE STUDY 725

 198

One group of such workers was called the Luddites. They were named after Ned
Ludd. Ludd, probably a mythical English laborer, was said to have destroyed weav-
ing machinery around 1779. The Luddites attacked whole factories in northern
England beginning in 1811, destroying laborsaving machinery. Outside the factories,
mobs of workers rioted, mainly because of poor living and working conditions.

Positive Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Despite the problems that followed industrialization, the Industrial Revolution had
a number of positive effects. It created jobs for workers. It contributed to the wealth
of the nation. It fostered technological progress and invention. It greatly increased
the production of goods and raised the standard of living. Perhaps most important,
it provided the hope of improvement in people’s lives.
The Industrial Revolution produced a number of other benefits as well. These
included healthier diets, better housing, and cheaper, mass-produced clothing.
Because the Industrial Revolution created a demand for engineers as well as cleri-
cal and professional workers, it expanded educational opportunities.
The middle and upper classes prospered immediately from the Industrial
Revolution. For the workers it took longer, but their lives gradually improved
during the 1800s. Laborers eventually won higher wages, shorter hours, and better
working conditions after they joined together to form labor unions.
Long-Term Effects The long-term effects of the Industrial Revolution are still evi-
dent. Most people today in industrialized countries can afford consumer goods that
would have been considered luxuries 50 or 60 years ago. In addition, their living
and working conditions are much improved over those of workers in the 19th cen-
tury. Also, profits derived from industrialization produced tax revenues. These
funds have allowed local, state, and federal governments to invest in urban
improvements and raise the standard of living of most city dwellers.
The economic successes of the Industrial Revolution, and also the problems cre-
ated by it, were clearly evident in one of Britain’s new industrial cities in the
1800s—Manchester.

CASE STUDY: Manchester

The Mills of Manchester

Manchester’s unique advantages made it a leading example of the new industrial
city. This northern English town had ready access to waterpower. It also had avail-
able labor from the nearby countryside and an outlet to the sea at Liverpool.
“From this filthy sewer pure gold flows,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville
(ah•lehk•SEE duh TOHK•vihl), the French writer, after he visited Manchester in
1835. Indeed, the industrial giant showed the best and worst of the Industrial
Revolution. Manchester’s rapid, unplanned growth made it an unhealthy place for
the poor people who lived and worked there. But wealth flowed from its factories.
It went first to the mill owners and the new middle class. Eventually, although not
immediately, the working class saw their standard of living rise as well.
Manchester’s business owners took pride in mastering each detail of the manu-
facturing process. They worked many hours and risked their own money. For their
efforts, they were rewarded with high profits. Many erected gracious homes on the
outskirts of town.
To provide the mill owners with high profits, workers labored under terrible
conditions. Children as young as six joined their parents in the factories. There, for
six days a week, they toiled from 6 A.M. to 7 or 8 P.M., with only half an hour for
726 Chapter 25
 199

Industrialization GROWTH OF CITIES

Industrialization is the process of developing industries that use machines to MANCHESTER

produce goods. This process not only revolutionizes a country’s economy, it Population (in thousands)
also transforms social conditions and class structures. 500
400
300 351
Effects of Industrialization 200
100 90
• Industry created many new jobs. 0
• Factories were dirty, unsafe, and dangerous. 1800 1870
• Factory bosses exercised harsh discipline.
▼

Long-Term Effect Workers won higher wages, BIRMINGHAM

shorter hours, better conditions.
Population (in thousands)
500
400
• Factory workers were overworked and underpaid.
300 344
• Overseers and skilled workers rose to lower middle
200
class. Factory owners and merchants formed upper 100 74
middle class. 0
• Upper class resented those in middle class who 1800 1870
became wealthier than they were.
Long-Term Effect Standard of living generally rose.
▼

GLASGOW
Population (in thousands)
• Factories brought job seekers to cities.
500
• Urban areas doubled, tripled, or quadrupled in size. 522
400
• Many cities specialized in certain industries. 300
Long-Term Effect Suburbs grew as people fled
▼

200
crowded cities. 100 77
0
1800 1870

• Cities lacked sanitary codes or building controls.

• Housing, water, and social services were scarce. LONDON
• Epidemics swept through the city. Population (in thousands)
Long-Term Effect Housing, diet, and clothing improved.
▼

4000
3,890
3000
2000
1000
▼ This engraving shows urban growth 1,117
0
and industrial pollution in Manchester. 1800 1870

Source: European Historical

Statistics, 1750–1975

1. Recognizing Effects What were

some advantages and disadvantages
of industrialization?
See Skillbuilder Handbook, page R6.
RESEARCH LINKS For more on
industrialization, go to classzone.com 2. Making Inferences Many nations
around the world today are trying to
industrialize. What do you think they
hope to gain from that process?
727
727
 200

lunch and an hour for dinner. To keep the children awake,

Child Labor Today
To save on labor costs in the 1990s
and 2000s, many corporations
moved their manufacturing
operations overseas to developing
countries. There, in sweatshops,
young children work long hours
under wretched conditions. They are
unprotected by child labor laws. For
mere pennies per hour, children
weave carpets, sort vegetables, or
assemble expensive athletic shoes.
Several organizations are working
to end child labor, including the Child
Welfare League of America and the
International Labor Rights Fund.
mill supervisors beat them. Tiny hands repaired broken
threads in Manchester’s spinning machines, replaced thread
in the bobbins, or swept up cotton fluff. The dangerous
machinery injured many children. The fluff filled their
lungs and made them cough.
Until the first Factory Act passed in 1819, the British gov-
ernment exerted little control over child labor in Manchester
and other factory cities. The act restricted working age and Drawing
hours. For years after the act passed, young children still did Conclusions
heavy, dangerous work in Manchester’s factories. Whose interests
Putting so much industry into one place polluted the nat- did child labor
serve?
ural environment. The coal that powered factories and
warmed houses blackened the air. Textile dyes and other
wastes poisoned Manchester’s Irwell River. An eyewitness
observer wrote the following description of the river in 1862:
PRIMARY SOURCE
Steam boilers discharge into it their seething contents, and
drains and sewers their fetid impurities; till at length it rolls on—
here between tall dingy walls, there under precipices of red
sandstone—considerably less a river than a flood of liquid
manure.
HUGH MILLER, “Old Red Sandstone”
Like other new industrial cities of the 19th century,
Manchester produced consumer goods and created wealth
on a grand scale. Yet, it also stood as a reminder of the ills
of rapid and unplanned industrialization.
As you will learn in Section 3, the industrialization that
began in Great Britain spread to the United States and to
continental Europe in the 1800s.

SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• urbanization • middle class

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which change brought about
by industrialization had the
greatest impact?
I. Industrialization
Changes Life
A.
B.
II. Class Tensions
Grow
3. Why did people flock to British
cities and towns during the
Industrial Revolution?
4. What social class expanded as
a result of industrialization?
5. What were some of the
negative effects of the rapid
growth of Manchester?
6. SUMMARIZING How did industrialization contribute to
city growth?
7. EVALUATING How were class tensions affected by the
Industrial Revolution?
8. FORMING AND SUPPORTING OPINIONS The Industrial
Revolution has been described as a mixed blessing. Do
you agree or disagree? Support your answer with text
references.
9. WRITING ACTIVITY ECONOMICS As a factory owner during
the Industrial Revolution, write a letter to a newspaper
justifying working conditions in your factory.

CONNECT TO TODAY CREATING A COMPARISON CHART

Make a comparison chart listing information on child labor in three developing nations—one
each from Asia, Africa, and Latin America—and compare with data from the United States.

728 Chapter 25
 201

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

EMPIRE BUILDING The The Industrial Revolution set the • stock

industrialization that began in stage for the growth of modern • corporation
Great Britain spread to other cities and a global economy.
parts of the world.

SETTING THE STAGE Great Britain’s favorable geography and its financial
systems, political stability, and natural resources sparked industrialization. British
merchants built the world’s first factories. When these factories prospered, more
laborsaving machines and factories were built. Eventually, the Industrial
Revolution that had begun in Britain spread both to the United States and to con-
tinental Europe. Countries that had conditions similar to those in Britain were ripe
for industrialization.

Industrial Development in the United States TAKING NOTES

Comparing Use a Venn
The United States possessed the same resources that allowed Britain to mecha- diagram to compare
nize its industries. America had fast-flowing rivers, rich deposits of coal and iron industrialization in the
ore, and a supply of laborers made up of farm workers and immigrants. During United States and in
the War of 1812, Britain blockaded the United States, trying to keep it from Europe.
engaging in international trade. This blockade forced the young country to use
its own resources to develop independent industries. Those industries would United States
manufacture the goods the United States could no longer import.
both
Industrialization in the United States As in Britain, industrialization in the
Europe
United States began in the textile industry. Eager to keep the secrets of industri-
alization to itself, Britain had forbidden engineers, mechanics, and toolmakers to
▼ Teenage mill
leave the country. In 1789, however, a young British mill worker named Samuel
girls at a Georgia Slater emigrated to the United States. There, Slater built a spinning machine
cotton mill from memory and a partial design. The fol-
lowing year, Moses Brown opened the first
factory in the United States to house Slater’s
machines in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. But the
Pawtucket factory mass-produced only one
part of finished cloth, the thread.
In 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell of Boston
and four other investors revolutionized the
American textile industry. They mechanized
every stage in the manufacture of cloth. Their
weaving factory in Waltham, Massachusetts,
earned them enough money to fund a larger
The Industrial Revolution 729
 202

Railroad System, 1840 Railroad System, 1890

The United States

Railroad tracks

0 500 Miles

0 1,000 Kilometers Total trackage: 2,818 miles Total trackage: 208,152 miles

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Maps

1. Region In what part of the country were the first railroads built? By 1890, what other part
of the country was densely covered by railroad tracks?
2. Movement In what direction did the railroads help people move across the country?

operation in another Massachusetts town. When Lowell died, the remaining part-
ners named the town after him. By the late 1820s, Lowell, Massachusetts, had
become a booming manufacturing center and a model for other such towns.
Thousands of young single women flocked from their rural homes to work as
mill girls in factory towns. There, they could make higher wages and have some
independence. However, to ensure proper behavior, they were watched closely
inside and outside the factory by their employers. The mill girls toiled more than
12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for decent wages. For some, the mill job was an
alternative to being a servant and was often the only other job open to them:

PRIMARY SOURCE
Country girls were naturally independent, and the feeling that at this new work the few Analyzing Primary
hours they had of everyday leisure were entirely their own was a satisfaction to them. Sources
They preferred it to going out as “hired help.” It was like a young man’s pleasure in Why did Lucy
entering upon business for himself. Girls had never tried that experiment before, and Larcom think mill
they liked it. work benefited
LUCY LARCOM, A New England Girlhood young women?

Textiles led the way, but clothing manufacture and shoemaking also underwent
mechanization. Especially in the Northeast, skilled workers and farmers had for-
merly worked at home. Now they labored in factories in towns and cities such as
Waltham, Lowell, and Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Later Expansion of U.S. Industry The Northeast experienced much industrial
growth in the early 1800s. Nonetheless, the United States remained primarily agri-
cultural until the Civil War ended in 1865. During the last third of the 1800s, the
country experienced a technological boom. As in Britain, a number of causes con-
tributed to this boom. These included a wealth of natural resources, among them
oil, coal, and iron; a burst of inventions, such as the electric light bulb
and the telephone; and a swelling urban population that consumed the new
manufactured goods.
Also, as in Britain, railroads played a major role in America’s industrialization.
Cities like Chicago and Minneapolis expanded rapidly during the late 1800s. This
730 Chapter 25
 203

stockyards and Minneapolis’s grain industries prospered by selling products to the

rest of the country. Indeed, the railroads themselves proved to be a profitable busi-
ness. By the end of the 1800s, a limited number of large, powerful companies con-
trolled more than two-thirds of the nation’s railroad tracks. Businesses of all kinds
began to merge as the railroads had. Smaller companies joined together to form a
larger one.
The Rise of Corporations Building large businesses like railroads required a great
deal of money. To raise the money, entrepreneurs sold shares of stock, or certain
rights of ownership. Thus people who bought stock became part owners of these
businesses, which were called corporations. A corporation is a business owned by
stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its
debts. Corporations were able to raise the large amounts of capital needed to invest
in industrial equipment.
In the late 1800s, large corporations such as Standard Oil (founded by John D.
Rockefeller) and the Carnegie Steel Company (founded by Andrew Carnegie)
sprang up. They sought to control every aspect of their own industries in order to
make big profits. Big business—the giant corporations that controlled entire indus-
tries—also made big profits by reducing the cost of producing goods. In the United
States as elsewhere, workers earned low wages for laboring long hours, while
stockholders earned high profits and corporate leaders made fortunes.

Continental Europe Industrializes

European businesses yearned to adopt the “British miracle,” the result of Britain’s
profitable new methods of manufacturing goods. But the troubles sparked by the
▼ Danish
French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars between 1789 and 1815 had halted workers labor
trade, interrupted communication, and caused inflation in some parts of the conti- in a steel mill
nent. European countries watched the gap widen between themselves and Britain. in this 1885
Even so, industrialization eventually reached continental Europe. painting by Peter
Severin Kroyer.

731
 204

Beginnings in Belgium Belgium led Europe in adopting

Britain’s new technology. It had rich deposits of iron ore
and coal as well as fine waterways for transportation. As in
CHINA the United States, British skilled workers played a key role
Sea
of in industrializing Belgium.
Japan
JAPAN Samuel Slater had smuggled the design of a spinning
machine to the United States. Much like him, a Lancashire
PACIFIC
OCEAN carpenter named William Cockerill illegally made his way to
Belgium in 1799. He carried secret plans for building spin-
Industrialization in Japan ning machinery. His son John eventually built an enormous
With the beginning of the Meiji industrial enterprise in eastern Belgium. It produced a vari-
era in Japan in 1868, the central ety of mechanical equipment, including steam engines and
government began an ambitious
railway locomotives. Carrying the latest British advances,
program to transform the country
into an industrialized state. It
more British workers came to work with Cockerill. Several
financed textile mills, coal mines, then founded their own companies in Europe.
shipyards, and cement and other Germany Industrializes Germany was politically divided
factories. It also asked private in the early 1800s. Economic isolation and scattered
companies to invest in industry.
resources hampered countrywide industrialization. Instead,
Some companies had been in
business since the 1600s. But new pockets of industrialization appeared, as in the coal-rich
companies sprang up too. Among Ruhr Valley of west central Germany. Beginning around
them was the Mitsubishi company, 1835, Germany began to copy the British model. Germany
founded in 1870 and still in business. imported British equipment and engineers. German
The industrializing of Japan
manufacturers also sent their children to England to learn Analyzing Causes
produced sustained economic
growth for the country. But it also
industrial management. What factors
Most important, Germany built railroads that linked its slowed industrial-
led to strengthening the military and
ization in Germany?
to Japanese imperialism in Asia. growing manufacturing cities, such as Frankfurt, with the
Ruhr Valley’s coal and iron ore deposits. In 1858, a German
economist wrote, “Railroads and machine shops, coal mines
and iron foundries, spinneries and rolling mills seem to spring up out of the ground,
and smokestacks sprout from the earth like mushrooms.” Germany’s economic
strength spurred its ability to develop as a military power. By the late 1800s, a uni-
fied, imperial Germany had become both an industrial and a military giant.
Expansion Elsewhere in Europe In the rest of Europe, as in Germany, industri-
alization during the early 1800s proceeded by region rather than by country. Even
in countries where agriculture dominated, pockets of industrialization arose. For
example, Bohemia developed a spinning industry. Spain’s Catalonia processed
more cotton than Belgium. Northern Italy mechanized its textile production, spe-
cializing in silk spinning. Serf labor ran factories in regions around Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
In France, sustained industrial growth occurred after 1830. French industrial-
ization was more measured and controlled than in other countries because the
agricultural economy remained strong. As a result, France avoided the great social
and economic problems caused by industrialization. A thriving national market
for new French products was created after 1850, when the government began rail-
road construction.
For a variety of reasons, many European countries did not industrialize. In some
nations, the social structure delayed the adoption of new methods of production.
The accidents of geography held back others. In Austria-Hungary and Spain, trans-
portation posed great obstacles. Austria-Hungary’s mountains defeated railroad
builders. Spain lacked both good roads and waterways for canals.

732 Chapter 25
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The Impact of Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution shifted the world balance of power.
It increased competition between industrialized nations and
poverty in less-developed nations.
Rise of Global Inequality Industrialization widened the
wealth gap between industrialized and nonindustrialized coun-
tries, even while it strengthened their economic ties. To keep
factories running and workers fed, industrialized countries
required a steady supply of raw materials from less-developed
lands. In turn, industrialized countries viewed poor countries
as markets for their manufactured products.
Britain led in exploiting its overseas colonies for resources
and markets. Soon other European countries, the United ▲ The Crystal

States, Russia, and Japan followed Britain’s lead, seizing colonies for their eco- Palace Exposition
in London in 1851
nomic resources. Imperialism, the policy of extending one country’s rule over
(shown above)
many other lands, gave even more power and wealth to these already wealthy celebrated the
nations. Imperialism was born out of the cycle of industrialization, the need for “works of industry
Clarifying resources to supply the factories of Europe, and the development of new markets of all nations.”
Why did impe- around the world. (See Chapter 27.)
rialism grow out of
Transformation of Society Between 1700 and 1900, revolutions in agriculture,
industrialization?
production, transportation, and communication changed the lives of people in
Western Europe and the United States. Industrialization gave Europe tremendous
economic power. In contrast, the economies of Asia and Africa were still based on
agriculture and small workshops. Industrialization revolutionized every aspect of
society, from daily life to life expectancy. Despite the hardships early urban work-
ers suffered, population, health, and wealth eventually rose dramatically in all
industrialized countries. The development of a middle class created great opportu-
nities for education and democratic participation. Greater democratic participation,
in turn, fueled a powerful movement for social reform.

SECTION 3 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• stock • corporation

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which development had the
most impact in the United
States? in continental Europe?
United States
both
Europe
3. What early industries
mechanized in the United
States?
4. Why did Belgium lead Europe
in adopting industrialization?
5. How did the Industrial
Revolution shift the world
balance of power?
6. RECOGNIZING BIAS Go back to the quote from Lucy
Larcom on page 730. Do you think her feelings about
working in the mill are typical? Why or why not?
7. MAKING INFERENCES Why was Britain unable to keep
industrial secrets away from other nations?
8. FORMING AND SUPPORTING OPINIONS What was the
most significant effect of the Industrial Revolution?
9. WRITING ACTIVITY EMPIRE BUILDING Draw a political
cartoon that could have been used by the British govern-
ment to show their sense of their own superiority over
nonindustrialized nations that they planned to colonize.

INTERNET ACTIVITY
Use the Internet to research the economy of a less-developed nation INTERNET KEYWORD
in either Asia, Africa, or South America. Create a database of economic country profiles
statistics for that country.

The Industrial Revolution 733

 206

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

ECONOMICS The Industrial Many modern social welfare • laissez faire • Karl Marx
Revolution led to economic, programs developed during this • Adam Smith • communism
social, and political reforms. period of reform. • capitalism • union
• utilitarianism • strike
• socialism

SETTING THE STAGE In industrialized countries in the 19th century, the

Industrial Revolution opened a wide gap between the rich and the poor. Business
leaders believed that governments should stay out of business and economic
affairs. Reformers, however, felt that governments needed to play an active role
to improve conditions for the poor. Workers also demanded more rights and pro-
tection. They formed labor unions to increase their influence.

TAKING NOTES The Philosophers of Industrialization

Summarizing Use a
chart to summarize the The term laissez faire (LEHS•ay•FAIR) refers to the economic policy of letting
characteristics of owners of industry and business set working conditions without interference.
capitalism and socialism. This policy favors a free market unregulated by the government. The term is
French for “let do,” and by extension, “let people do as they please.”
Capitalism Socialism
Laissez-faire Economics Laissez-faire economics stemmed from French eco-
1. 1. nomic philosophers of the Enlightenment. They criticized the idea that nations
2. 2.
3. 3.
grow wealthy by placing heavy tariffs on foreign goods. In fact, they argued, gov-
ernment regulations only interfered with the production of wealth. These philoso-
phers believed that if government allowed free trade—the flow of commerce in
the world market without government regulation—the economy would prosper.
Adam Smith, a professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, defended
the idea of a free economy, or free markets, in his 1776 book The Wealth of
Nations. According to Smith, economic liberty guaranteed economic progress.
As a result, government should not interfere. Smith’s arguments rested on what
he called the three natural laws of economics:
• the law of self-interest—People work for their own good.
• the law of competition—Competition forces people to make a better product.
• the law of supply and demand—Enough goods would be produced at the
lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy.
The Economists of Capitalism Smith’s basic ideas were supported by British
economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo. Like Smith, they believed that nat-
ural laws governed economic life. Their important ideas were the foundation of lais-
sez-faire capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of
production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make
a profit. These ideas also helped bring about the Industrial Revolution.
734 Chapter 25
 207

In An Essay on the Principle of Population, written in

1798, Thomas Malthus argued that population tended to
increase more rapidly than the food supply. Without wars
and epidemics to kill off the extra people, most were des-
tined to be poor and miserable. The predictions of Malthus
seemed to be coming true in the 1840s.
David Ricardo, a wealthy stockbroker, took Malthus’s
theory one step further in his book, Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation (1817). Like Malthus, Ricardo
believed that a permanent underclass would always be poor.
In a market system, if there are many workers and abundant
resources, then labor and resources are cheap. If there are
Adam Smith
few workers and scarce resources, then they are expensive.
1723–1790
Ricardo believed that wages would be forced down as
In his book The Wealth of Nations,
population increased. Smith argued that if individuals freely
Summarizing Laissez-faire thinkers such as Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo followed their own self-interest, the
What did opposed government efforts to help poor workers. They world would be an orderly and pro-
Malthus and gressive place. Social harmony would
thought that creating minimum wage laws and better working
Ricardo say about
conditions would upset the free market system, lower profits, result without any government
the effects of popu-
direction, “as if by an invisible hand.”
lation growth? and undermine the production of wealth in society.
Smith applied an invisible hand
of his own. After his death, people
The Rise of Socialism discovered that he had secretly
donated large sums of his income
In contrast to laissez-faire philosophy, which advised gov-
to charities.
ernments to leave business alone, other theorists believed
that governments should intervene. These thinkers believed
that wealthy people or the government must take action to RESEARCH LINKS For more on Adam
Smith, go to classzone.com
improve people’s lives. The French writer Alexis de
Tocqueville gave a warning:

PRIMARY SOURCE
Consider what is happening among the working classes. . . . Do you not see spreading
among them, little by little, opinions and ideas that aim not to overturn such and such a
ministry, or such laws, or such a government, but society itself, to shake it to the
foundations upon which it now rests?
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, 1848 speech

Utilitarianism English philosopher Jeremy Bentham modified the ideas of Adam

Smith. In the late 1700s, Bentham introduced the philosoophy of utilitarianism.
Bentham wrote his most influential works in the late 1700s. According to Bentham’s
theory, people should judge ideas, institutions, and actions on the basis of their util-
ity, or usefulness. He argued that the government should try to promote the greatest
good for the greatest number of people. A government policy was only useful if it
promoted this goal. Bentham believed that in general the individual should be free
to pursue his or her own advantage without interference from the state.
John Stuart Mill, a philosopher and economist, led the utilitarian movement in
the 1800s. Mill came to question unregulated capitalism. He believed it was wrong
that workers should lead deprived lives that sometimes bordered on starvation. Mill
wished to help ordinary working people with policies that would lead to a more
equal division of profits. He also favored a cooperative system of agriculture and
Clarifying
How did Mill
women’s rights, including the right to vote. Mill called for the government to do
want to change the away with great differences in wealth. Utilitarians also pushed for reforms in the
economic system? legal and prison systems and in education.
 208

Utopian Ideas Other reformers took an even more active approach. Shocked by
the misery and poverty of the working class, a British factory owner named Robert
Owen improved working conditions for his employees. Near his cotton mill in New
Lanark, Scotland, Owen built houses, which he rented at low rates. He prohibited
children under ten from working in the mills and provided free schooling.
Then, in 1824, he traveled to the United States. He founded a cooperative com-
munity called New Harmony in Indiana, in 1825. He intended this community to
be a utopia, or perfect living place. New Harmony lasted only three years but
inspired the founding of other communities.
Socialism French reformers such as Charles Fourier (FUR•ee•AY), Saint-Simon
(san see•MOHN), and others sought to offset the ill effects of industrialization with
a new economic system called socialism. In socialism, the factors of production are
owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all.
Socialism grew out of an optimistic view of human nature, a belief in progress,
and a concern for social justice. Socialists argued that the government should plan
the economy rather than depend on free-market capitalism to do the job. They
argued that government control of factories, mines, railroads, and other key indus-
tries would end poverty and promote equality. Public ownership, they believed,
would help workers, who were at the mercy of their employers. Some socialists—
such as Louis Blanc—advocated change through extension of the right to vote.

Marxism: Radical Socialism

Karl Marx
1818–1883
Karl Marx studied philosophy at the
University of Berlin before he turned
to journalism and economics. In
1849, Marx joined the flood of
radicals who fled continental Europe
for England. He had declared in The
Communist Manifesto that “the
working men have no country.”
Marx’s theories of socialism and
the inevitable revolt of the working
class made him little money. He
earned a meager living as a journalist.
His wealthy coauthor and fellow
German, Friedrich Engels, gave Marx
financial aid.
RESEARCH LINKS For more on Karl
Marx, go to classzone.com
The writings of a German journalist named Karl Marx intro-
duced the world to a radical type of socialism called
Marxism. Marx and Friedrich Engels, a German whose father
owned a textile mill in Manchester, outlined their ideas in a
23-page pamphlet called The Communist Manifesto.
The Communist Manifesto In their manifesto, Marx and
Engels argued that human societies have always been
divided into warring classes. In their own time, these were
the middle class “haves” or employers, called the bour-
geoisie (BUR•zhwah•ZEE), and the “have-nots” or workers,
called the proletariat (PROH•lih•TAIR•ee•iht). While the
wealthy controlled the means of producing goods, the poor
performed backbreaking labor under terrible conditions.
This situation resulted in conflict:
PRIMARY SOURCE
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-
master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed,
stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an
uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each
time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at
large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.
KARL MARX and FRIEDRICH ENGELS, The Communist Manifesto (1848)
According to Marx and Engels, the Industrial Revolution Summarizing
had enriched the wealthy and impoverished the poor. The What were the
two writers predicted that the workers would overthrow ideas of Marx and
Engels concerning
the owners: “The proletarians have nothing to lose but relations between
their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all the owners and the
countries, unite.” working class?
209
210
211
212
213
 214
L O r jG e S T

Section 1: Reading
Before you read - think and discuss
B ritain's p o w e r was at its h eight d u rin g the V ictorian
age, w hen Queen V ictoria reigned. However, the
era is also associated w ith negative th in g s like
te rrib le fa c to ry co n d itio n s and cruel tre a tm e n t
o f children.

■ W hen w as y o u r c o u n try at its m ost pow erfu l?

K Did everyone in the co u n try b en efit at th is tim e?
■ W ho w as (were) the m ost im p o rta n t leader(s)?
■ W hat do you know abo ut the V icto rian era,
if anything?

B Read the text

THE LONGEST REIGN:

'The history of the Victorian age
w ill never be written: we know
too much about it. ’

Lytton Strachey (British writer and biographer o f Queen Victoria) industrial society, producing vast quantities of coal, iron, steel,
ships and textiles. The free-trade policies of successive
governments boosted Britain’s dominance of world trade. Well
f the 20th century was the American century, the 19th over half of the world’s goods were transported on British

I was the British and it was a period of breathtaking

change. Britain’s monarch for most of that time was
Queen Victoria, whose reign stretched from 1837 to 1901.
Much of Britain’s physical appearance today dates from the
Victorian era. Millions live in houses that were built by the
Victorians. Many town halls, libraries, theatres, museums,
universities and churches also date from that time.
The achievements of the age were built on economic
10 success. By the mid-19th century, Britain proudly called itself
the ‘workshop of the world’. It was the first fully mature
ships. Technological inventions seemed to shrink the world. In
1851, the first cross-Channel telegraph cable was laid from
Dover to Calais. News could now travel much faster between
Europe and London. In 1866, a similar cable was laid across
the Atlantic, linking Britain directly to the USA. 20
This economic transformation of Britain was marked by
major population movements from rural to industrial areas. By
1901, a remarkable 80 per cent of Britons lived in towns.
They developed modern infrastructures for education, public
transport, drinking water, sewerage, and gas and electricity

supplies. Britain’s banking and commercial sector became
fully established, employing hundreds of thousands in offices
and banks. Railways transformed not only communications
but also the landscape itself. Victorian engineers built new
30 bridges, stations and tunnels for the steam-powered
locomotive engines which reached speeds of over 100 miles
per hour. On the roads, the first internal combustion engines
marked the start of the age of the motor car.
Yet millions were forced to make great sacrifices for these
developments. The labourers (also known as navvies) who
built the railway lines suffered a higher death rate than the
British soldiers who had fought in the Napoleonic Wars
against France. The celebrated author Charles Dickens
exposed the extreme hardship suffered by poor working-class
40 townsfolk in novels such as Oliver Twist and Hard Times. The
Victorian slums, factories and workhouses remain potent
symbols of the human cost of progress.
Politically, the Victorian age was a golden age of
Parliament. More people got the vote and the party system
gradually emerged. The rivalry between the Conservative and
Liberal parties was personified by Benjamin Disraeli and
William Gladstone in the 1860s and 1870s. The Conservative
Party is traditionally the party of wealth and privilege. But
thanks to the brilliant and witty Disraeli, it won considerable
50 support from working-class voters. Gladstone, a deeply
serious, highly principled and reform-minded man, was
Liberal prime minister a record four times. He left a
substantial and positive mark on the country as a whole, but
he failed to win the approval of his monarch. Queen Victoria
adored the flattery and attention she received from Disraeli,
not least after he made her Empress of India in 1877. But
she despised Gladstone. ‘He always addresses me,’ she once
protested, ‘as though I were a public meeting.’
The Victorians were very private in their social habits.
60 Because of this, ‘Victorian’ can mean oppressively formal,
even prudish. In middle- and upper-class society, manners
and appearance were everything. No one ever dared mention
Glossary
sewerage drains for toilet waste
slums very overcrowded and bad housing occupied by poor people
potent strongest and hardest
personified represented by a person
prudish shocked by sexual things
mourn be sad because something/someone no longer exists
215
sex. Some Victorians even
dressed their piano legs in
little skirts, for the sake of
modesty. Their serious-minded
behaviour was reflected by
their monarch, who wore black
for the rest of her life after the
death of her beloved husband, 70
Prince Albert, in 1861. In her
declining years, she was
widely associated with the
phrase ‘We are not amused’. She meant that she ms not
amused, but it expressed how many of her subjects felt, too.
Though it is often thought that the Victorians were too
busy getting things done to have much time for fun, they did
put on The Great Exhibition of 1851. Thousands of exhibits
were displayed to capture the mood and values of the nation
in the spectacular iron and glass Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. 80
Most of the exhibits were British-made and the display was
shamelessly self-congratulatory. It aimed to show the world
just how inventive, rich and economically supreme the British
were. The Exhibition coincided with a period of social peace,
both in Britain and abroad. With the Victorians leading the
way, the path of industry suddenly became a moral one which
could ensure continued peace, progress and prosperity.
Victoria’s 64-year reign finally ended in January 1901. By
then, the nation was feeling far less self-confident. The
Second Boer War (1899-1902) was proving surprisingly 90
difficult to win. Britain’s economic domination was also
beginning to face serious challenges from its main
competitors, the USA and Germany. In 1900, the Labour
Party grew out of various socialist societies and trade unions.
This signalled the end of the dominance of the two traditional
parties. In the years up to the outbreak of the First World War
in 1914, more and more Britons had reason to mourn the
passing of the longest reign. Many of them had believed the
power and superiority it symbolized would last forever.

C Check your facts!
1 'B ritish to w n s now look c o m p le te ly
d iffe re n t fro m how th e y did in the V ictorian
era.' True o r false?
2 Nam e thre e im p o rta n t B ritish in dustries in
the V icto rian era.
3 P opulation m o ve m e n t in V ictorian B ritain
was m ainly:
a) fro m the cou n trysid e to to w n s and cities.
b) betw een d iffe re n t to w n s and cities.
c) fro m to w n s and cities to the coun trysid e.
d) betw een d iffe re n t parts o f the country.
4 'It w as m ore dangerous to w o rk on the
V ictorian railw ays than to fig h t in the
N apoleonic W a rs / True or false?
5 Nam e the tw o m ost im p o rta n t p o litica l
parties o f the V ictorian age.
6 Queen V ictoria w o re black afte r 1861:
a) fo r the sake o f m odesty.
b) to sh o w th a t she w as not am used.
c) because her beloved husband had died.
d) to sh o w th a t she w as m ore o f a private
fig u re than a pub lic one.
7 W hat w as the Crystal Palace m ade of?
8 'Q ueen V ictoria's reign ended on a national
h ig h / True or false?
mmmmmmmmm
216
D W hat do you think?
V ictorian B ritain was the 'w o rk s h o p o f the
w o rld '. This m eant:
a) it m ade m ost o f the w o rld 's goods.
b) its w o rkers w e re cheaper than those o f
oth e r countries.
c) m ost o f its people w o rke d in shops.
d) all its people did was w o rk and shop.
The percentage o f the w o rld 's goods
carried on British ships was about:
a) 45 per cent.
b) 50 per cent.
c) 60 per cent.
d) 85 per cent.
Give tw o reasons w h y Queen V ictoria
preferred D israeli to G ladstone.
Does the w o rd 'V ic to ria n ' have a m ore
po sitive or negative m eaning in m odern
English, according to the text?
The phrase 'W e are not am used ' revealed
th a t V icto rian Britons:
a) d id n 't e n jo y v is itin g the Crystal Palace.
b) w ere rather seriou s-m in ded ab o u t life.
c) had no sense o f h u m o u r at all.
d) w ere alarm ed by the rise o f socialism .
 217

Section 2: Topic development

Queen Victoria: Fifteen facts and one lie!

1 A ll o f these facts about Queen V ictoria are tru e - except fo r one. Read the facts and discuss
w h ich one is not true. Use the phrases in the box to help you.

I’m fairly sure th a t... is true. It must be true. It can’t be true. It might be true. What a b o u t...?
Why do you think that? If X is true, Y can’t be. I just don’t believe it. I’m not sure a b o u t...

a She had 9 ch ildren b Her husband's

c She w as th e firs t
and 40 g ra n d ch ild re n , and fa th e r was her uncle.
m onarch to live at
becam e know n as the Buckingham Palace.
'g ra n d m o th e r o f Europe'.

She w as buried w ith a

piece o f her m anservant John
B row n's hair, a picture o f him She loved Ireland
d Disraeli w as her
and his m other's w e d d in g ring and donated £2,000 of
special fa v o u rite
on her hand. her ow n m oney to help in
am ong p o liticia ns.
the p otato fam ine.

She never ate

a n o th e r potato after
Her m o th e r to n g u e
th e Irish fam ine.
w as G erm an and she
never spoke perfect
English.

i A yo u n g m an once
trie d to s h o o t her w ith
a gun loaded w ith paper
and tobacco.

co m p la in e d it w as to o fast
I She becam e know n
as the 'Fam ine Q ueen' and
w as m uch criticized fo r
a llo w in g the Irish to
starve.
She w as made
The firs t tim e she
Em press o f India in
tra ve lle d in a tra in , she
1877.
at 20 m ph (30 kph).
She d id not like
m She w o re black
black funerals. On the
fro m A lb e rt's death
day o f her ow n funeral,
in 1861 un til she
London w as decorated
died in 1901.
in pu rp le and w hite.

3 She started the

tra d itio n o f brides She w as the firs t
w e a rin g w h ite at th e ir know n carrier o f *when your blood does not thicken as it
w e d din g s. h a e m o p h ilia * in the should, for example, when you cut yourself
royal fam ily.
 218

2 W rite ten facts a bo ut yourself, in clu d in g one lie. S h ow them to a partner. Can he/she guess
w h ich one is the lie?

B The Q ueens English

1 Queen V ictoria is fa m o u s fo r using the Royal We, p a rticu la rly in the expression 'W e are not
am used' w hen she m eant 'I am not am used'. Choose the best explana tion o f w h y she said
we instead of /:
a) She w as a native G erm an speaker and often m ade little m istakes in English.
b) It show ed th a t she represented a w h o le nation and in s titu tio n , not ju s t herself.
c) She alw ays th o u g h t o f herself as being to g e th e r w ith her dear husband A lbert.
d) It m eant th a t both the Queen and God w ere speaking to g e th e r in her person.
2 Queen Elizabeth II and the m odern royal fa m ily are w id e ly th o u g h t to prefer the fo rm a l one
to we w hen speaking about th e ir fe e lin g s and attitudes, e.g., 'O ne is not am used' and 'O ne
hopes th a t the w e a th e r im p ro ve s'. Decide if th is fo rm is:
a) an incorrect use o f the Royal We.
b) a va ria tio n on the Royal We.
c) the com ple te o pp osite o f the Royal We.
d) the fe m in in e fo rm o f the Royal We.
3 A n o th e r phrase the youn g Queen Elizabeth II was fa m o u s fo r using was 'M y husband and I'.
No d o u b t Queen V ictoria used it to o on m any occasions. However, the Royal seal o f
a pproval does not stop people m aking g ra m m a tica l m istakes w hen th e y use expressions
like this.
In the sentences below , b is g ra m m a tic a lly correct but a is not. W hich o f the o th e r tw o
sentences is correct, c or d?
(Clue: Is I the subject or object o f the sentence?)

a) They have in vited m y husband and I to dinner.

b) M y husband and I are d e lig hte d w ith the in vita tio n .
c) M y husband and I w ill arrive s h o rtly before 8 p.m.
d) A taxi w ill com e fo r m y husband and I around m id n ig h t.
Can you correct the two wrong sentences? W hat’s the rule?

Section 3: Extension activities

A D iscu ss
V ictorian society appears prudish in com pariso n w ith m odern British society. Discuss:
■ w h ich o f the tw o societies' a ttitu d e s is better, in y o u r o p in io n .
■ w h ich o f the tw o is closer to y o u r ow n co u n try's attitudes.
m if you th in k British attitu des to d a y are still a little Victorian.
 219

The Victorian Era (1832–1901)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The Victorian Age—the era when the sun never set on

the British Empire, a time when the upper classes of
Snow Hill, Holburn, London
Britain felt their society was the epitome of prosperity, (Anonymous).
progress, and virtue—Dickens’s words, however, could
apply to his own Victorian age as well as they apply to
the French Revolution setting of his novel. The
Victorian Era was a time of contrasts—poverty as well as
prosperity, degrading manual labor as well as technological progress, and depravity
as well as virtue.

Queen Victoria

The last seventy years of the 19th century were named for the long-reigning Queen
Victoria. The beginning of the Victorian Era may be rounded off to 1830 although
many scholars mark the beginning from the passage of the first Reform Bill in 1832
or Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1837.

Victoria was only eighteen when her uncle William IV died and, having no surviving
legitimate children, left the crown to his niece.
 220

Although by the 19th century Britain was a

constitutional monarchy and the queen held little
governing power, Victoria set the moral and political
tone of her century. She became a symbol of decency,
decorum, and duty.

Three years into her reign, Victoria married Albert of

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a region in what is now Germany. Victoria receives the news that
she is Queen. Engraved by Emery
Prince Albert (given the title “Prince” by Victoria), Walker (1851–1933), from the
although he had no actual power in the government, picture by Henry Tanworth Wells
became one of Victoria’s chief advisors and a proponent (1828–1903) at Buckingham
of technological development in Britain. Together the Palace.

couple had nine children who married into many of

Europe’s royal and noble families. Victoria and Albert
were considered the model of morality and respectable
family life.

When Prince Albert died in 1861, Victoria retired from

public view, spending time in her Balmoral Castle in
Scotland or Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Public
opinion of the queen waned as years passed without her
resuming her official duties. Even when she conceded to
her advisors’ urging to return to London and to honor
her public obligations, she continued to wear mourning
until her own death. She also commissioned many Balmoral Castle, the royal
public memorials to Prince Albert, including the Albert residence in Scotland.
Memorial in Hyde Park (near the original location of the
Crystal Palace), Royal Albert Hall, and the Victoria &
Albert Museum.

Osborne House, the royal

residence on the Isle of Wight.
 221

Queen Victoria reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom

and Empress of India until her death in 1901.

Victorian Conflicts

The Victorian Era was, in many ways, paradoxically “the

best times” and “the worst of times.”

Conflicts of Morality

Queen Victoria embodied ideals of virtue, modesty, and

honor. In fact, the term Victorian has in the past been Photograph by Alexander
almost a synonym for prim, prudish behavior. At the Bassano 1829–1913.
same time, London and other British cities had
countless gaming halls which provided venues not just
for gambling but also opium dens and prostitution. With
the influx of population into the cities, desperate working class women turned to
prostitution in attempts to support themselves and their children. Historian Judity
Walkowitz reports that 19th century cities had 1 prostitute for every 12 adult males
(quoted in “The Great Social Evil”: Victorian Prostitution by Prof. Christine Roth).
Because of rampant sexually transmitted diseases among the British military,
Parliament passed a series of Contagious Diseases Acts in the 1860s. These acts
allowed police to detain any woman suspected of having a sexually transmitted
disease and to force her to submit to exams that were considered humiliating for
women at that time. Police needed little basis for such suspicions, often simply that
a woman was poor.

Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Ruined Maid” reveals one reason many women turned
to prostitution (ruined is a Victorian euphemism for an unmarried woman who has
lost her virginity): in the poem, two young women converse. One woman, Melia, has
left the farm to become a prostitute. When she meets a former friend, the contrast
between the two women is pronounced: Melia is wearing fine clothes and is well fed
and well cared for. The virtuous young woman, doing honest work on the farm, is
wearing rags, digging potatoes by hand for subsistence, and suffering poor health.
Hardy forces his readers to question what kind of society would reward prostitution
while leaving the virtuous woman in abject poverty.

Conflicts of Technology and Industry

As an advocate of Victorian progress in science and industry, Prince Albert

commissioned the Great Exhibition of 1851, a type of world’s fair where all the
countries in the British Empire had displays and Britain could show off its
 222

prosperity to the rest of the world. Albert had the Crystal Palace, a huge, modern
building of glass and iron, built in Hyde Park to house the exhibition. After the
Great Exhibition ended, the building was dismantled and moved and in its new
location was destroyed by fire in 1936.

The Albert Memorial commemorated all the same things

the Great Exhibition vaunted. The four arms extending
from the main statue represent four continents on
which the British Empire had holdings: Europe, Asia,
Africa, and the Americas—the sun literally never set on
the British Empire. The figures on the frieze are great
painters, poets, sculptors, musicians, and architects,
representatives of the world’s accomplishments which
culminated in the British Victorian culture. The mosaics
on the canopy represent manufacturing, commerce,
agriculture, and engineering—the foundations of British
prosperity. And, of course, in the center, is the gilded The Great Exhibition of 1851 held
figure of Albert himself. in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park,
London.

Source: Exterior: from

Dickinson's Comprehensive
Pictures of the Great Exhibition
of 1851, 1854 interior: William
Simpson (lithographer),
Ackermann & Co. (publisher),
1851, V&A.
 223

Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851 focused

attention on the technological advances made during
the Industrial Revolution. Although achievements such
as the building of the railroad system and the
implementation of mechanized factories produced great
prosperity for some, others suffered. Even before the
Victorian Era, writers drew attention to these problems.
Wordsworth’s “Michael,” for example, portrays a man Arm representing Africa.
whose family had made their living from their land for
many generations. With the advent of machines to
weave woolen cloth, their livelihood, their way of life,
was lost. Blake’s “Chimney Sweeper” poems illustrate
how children suffered in the industrial age.

In addition, working conditions in factories were

deplorable. With no safety regulations and no laws
limiting either the number of hours people could be
required to work or the age of factory workers, some
factory owners were willing to sacrifice the well-being
of their employees for greater profit. Children as young
as five worked in factories and mines. Shelley’s “Men of
England” and Barrett Browning’s “The Cry of the
Children” are two examples of poems written
specifically to address these problems.

The 1833 Factory Act outlawed the employment of

people under age eighteen at night, from 8:30 p.m. to
5:30 a.m. and limited the number of hours those under
eighteen could work to twelve hours a day. For the first
time, textile factory owners were forbidden to employ
children under the age of nine. Children under age A girl pulling a coal tub in a
eleven could not work more than nine hours a day. The mine.
1833 Factory Act also stipulated that children working
in factories attend some type of school. Source: Parliamentary Papers
1842.

The Mines Act of 1842 prohibited females and boys

under ten from working below ground in mines.

While these provisions hardly seem protective according to modern standards, the
resulting conditions greatly improved life for many children. Throughout Victoria’s
reign, other parliamentary acts continued to alleviate working conditions in the
ever-expanding Victorian industrial age.
 224

Conflicts of Faith and Doubt

The scientific and technological advances celebrated at the Great Exhibition of 1851
led to another crisis in Victorian England: a crisis of faith and doubt. During the
earlier part of the 19th century, the work of Charles Lyell and other geologists with
their discoveries of fossilized remains of animals never seen before led to debates
among scientists about the origins of these creatures. Debates about the age of the
earth for some called into question the Genesis account of creation. In 1859, Charles
Darwin published his On the Origin of Species. Lyell and Darwin were among many
who contributed to scientific theories that some saw as contradictory to established
religious beliefs.

These scientific issues together with apparent lack of concern for appalling human
conditions among the lower classes led some to doubt the presence of a divine being
in the world and others to question the value of Christianity. Literature by writers
such as Thomas Hardy and Matthew Arnold questions the presence of religious
faith in the world.

At the same time, a conviction that Britain had a duty to spread Christianity around
the world became one reason, or to some an excuse, for British imperialism.

Conflicts over Imperialism

A desire to expand industrial wealth and to have access to inexpensive raw

materials led to the British occupation of countries around the globe. Although the
United States and other European countries participated in this type of imperialism,
the British Empire was the largest and wealthiest of its time.

Along with their desire for material gain, many British saw the expansion of the
British Empire as what Rudyard Kipling referred to as “the white man’s burden,”
the responsibility of the British to bring their civilization and their way of life to
what many considered inferior cultures. The result of this type of reasoning was
often the destruction of local cultures and the oppression of local populations. In
addition, a religious zeal to bring British religion to “heathen” peoples resulted in
an influx of missionaries with the colonialists.

A backlash of protest against the concept of imperialism further divided a British

nation already divided by class, religion, education, and wealth. While many British
citizens sincerely desired to share their knowledge and beliefs with less developed
nations, others found the movement a convenient excuse to expand their country’s,
and their own, power and wealth.
 225

Conflicts over Women’s Rights

“The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this
mad, wicked folly of ‘Woman’s Rights,’ with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor
feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feeling and propriety.”Queen Victoria,
1870

- quoted in Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria)

Ironically, as seen in this passage from a letter written in the royal third person by
Queen Victoria, even the Queen opposed women’s rights. Nonetheless, the Victorian
Era did see advancement in women’s political rights. The Married Woman’s
Property Act of 1870 gave married women the right to own property they earned or
acquired by inheritance. The upper classes were, of course, primarily concerned
with inheritances. Before the passage of this act, money or property left to a
married woman immediately belonged to her husband. By the late 19th century,
women had some rights to their children and the right to leave their husbands
because of physical abuse.

Education for women also improved. The idea Mary Wollstonecraft expressed in her
“A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792 very gradually, over more than 100
years, became a reality.

The first schools for the lower classes, girls or boys, were Sunday schools organized
by churches to teach children basic literacy as well as religious lessons on the only
day they were not working full time. Not until the Education Act of 1870 were public
schools in all areas of the country provided by law. Even then, attendance was not
made compulsory for another ten years and then only for children aged five to ten.

Girls from the lower classes were included in the first

public schools; however, girls from the upper classes
continued to receive their basic education primarily in
the home and in finishing schools for young ladies.
Cambridge University and Oxford University established
the first colleges for women in the latter half of the 19th
century. Women were not allowed to attend the existing
colleges for men and were not considered full members
of the universities until the 20th century.

1. As defined in the Holman/
Harmon Handbook to Literature,
an “extended fictional prose
narrative.”
2. Novels published in
installments over a period of
time.
3. A long narrative poem.
4. A form of poetry which
presents a speaker in a
dramatic situation.
226
Although there was an active woman’s suffrage movement during the Victorian Era,
women did not receive the right to vote until the 20th century.
Take the Women’s Rights Quiz on the BBC website to see how much you know about
the rights of Victorian women.
Language
The major change in the English language during the 19th century was the
introduction of vocabulary to communicate new innovations, inventions, and
concepts that resulted from the Industrial Age. Language mirrored class
distinctions in both vocabulary and accents. The well educated upper classes were
distinguished by their speech. Slang and an entirely differently accented English
were the marks of the lower classes.
Forms of Literature
Novel
As noted in the Romantic Period introduction, a novel1, as defined in the Holman/
Harmon Handbook to Literature, is an “extended fictional prose narrative.” The novel
was a dominant form in the Victorian Era. Many Victorian novelists—Charles
Dickens, William Thackeray, Wilke Collins, George Eliot, Robert Louis
Stevenson—wrote serial novels2, novels published in installments over a period of
time. Serial novels appeared in newspapers or magazines or could be published in
independently printed booklets. As larger portions of the population became
literate, demand for reading material grew. The inexpensive booklets, each
containing a chapter or other small portion of a novel, were affordable
entertainment for the middle classes.
Poetry
As in the Romantic Period, lyric poetry was popular in the Victorian Era. In addition
to the lyric, the verse novel3, a long narrative poem, such as Barrett Browning’s
Aurora Leigh, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and Browning’s The Ring and the Book, also
was a prevalent form. Browning popularized the dramatic monologue4, a form of
poetry which presents a speaker in a dramatic situation.
Non-Fiction Prose
The many conflicts of the Victorian Era provided fertile subject matter for non-
fiction prose writers such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, John Stuart Mill,
John Henry Newman, Walter Pater, and John Ruskin.
 227

Drama

Popular forms of entertainment such as the music hall and melodramas flourished
during the Victorian Era as entertainment became divided along class lines. Popular
music and musical plays, separated from legitimate theater in their own venues,
provided leisure-time amusement for the middle classes. Robert Browning wrote
closet dramas5, plays not actually intended for the stage. Oscar Wilde revived the
comedy of manners with plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of
Being Earnest.

• Although Queen Victoria symbolized decency, decorum, and duty,

Victorian society spanned a wide spectrum of prosperity and poverty,
education and ignorance, progress and regression
• Victorian society wrestled with conflicts of morality, technology and
industry, faith and doubt, imperialism, and rights of women and ethnic
minorities.
• Many Victorian writers addressed both sides of these conflicts in many
forms of literature.
• Typical forms of Victorian literature include novels, serialized novels,
lyric poetry, verse novels, dramatic monologues, non-fiction prose, and
drama.
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240
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1815–1914

The Triumph
of Reform
While some were asking why the poor should suffer to underwrite
Britain’s booming wealth, a rising middle class was questioning the
justice of the electoral system—and demanding change.

T
he urban middle class had already The House of Commons
shown their strength in the success Rebuilt since the fire of 1834, the Palace of Westminster
of the Abolitionist movement (see made an impressive home for Britain’s Parliament. Yet
pp.234–35), compassion reinforced by a democracy had its limits: there was no place in the
steelier sense that slavery was a brake Commons for representatives of the working poor.
on the free market.
Parliament abolished the slave trade which was represented by the Tories. The
throughout the Empire in 1807 and the Whigs, to whose cause the class of newly
Royal Navy enforced the policy at sea. wealthy industrialists had naturally
Again, idealism and economic realism gravitated, favored a free market in food
went together. Britain, the inevitable so cheaper produce could be imported
winner in trials of economic strength, and wages kept down.
opposed all kinds
Wage slaves
of anticompetitive
practice. 5 The number of electors who, in the
constituency of Old Sarum, Wiltshire, In general, the
sent two members to Parliament in the Whigs had come
Corn Laws 1802 elections. Gatton, Surrey, had seven to have the
Yet a certain voters, while Camelford, Cornwall, had 25. interests of the
ambivalence was industrialists at
evidenced by the introduction of the heart, so it was the Tories who took
Corn Laws in 1815. They barred all the lead in trying to ease conditions
wheat imports unless the domestic price for the working poor. The 1802 Factory
reached a certain level. Unabashedly Act stipulated a maximum eight-hour
protectionist, the laws guaranteed the working day for children aged between
income of an aristocratic landed interest, nine and 13 years; 12 hours for those
aged 14–18. But the repeated outlawing
of the employment of under-nines
B EF O R E in textile mills thereafter underlined
how often legislation was ignored.
Besides, the law could influence
The people of Britain had learned to take only the most readily regulated
pride in their perceived tradition of liberty, industries—chiefly textiles. Others—
courageously—but moderately—upheld. including mines and garment-making
sweatshops—were unaffected.
PEOPLE POWER Lord Shaftesbury, a Tory, and Radical
Tyranny was successfully resisted during MP John Fielden fought for a new
the Civil War ❮❮ 168–69 and the Factory Act, though they were
Glorious Revolution of the not finally to prevail until
17th century ❮❮ 188–89. Yet 1847. Others were
the dangers of “people campaigning too.
power” when taken to In 1838, Richard
extremes were all too Cobden and John
clear from France’s Bright launched
recent Reign of Terror their Anti-Corn
❮❮ 236–37. Law League,
providing a
AN END TO powerful focus for
SLAVERY the Free Trade lobby.
Ordinary people took heart
from the fact that, as the Electoral absurdity
19th century began, their Social injustice was
voices were being heard and their perpetuated by political
opposition spurred an end to the cruel inequality. Only those owning a
slave trade ❮❮ 234–35. property could vote, so a mere 200,000
out of more than 10 million adult males
were eligible. Of more significance to

268

the property-owning middle classes,
however, were the glaring geographical
inequities in the system. Many
constituencies were “pocket boroughs”,
their electors voting at the behest of the
local lord. Several “rotten boroughs”
had only a handful of electors, but still
sent members to Parliament on the
landowner’s say-so.
The Industrial Revolution had
demographically transformed Britain.
Cities such as Manchester and Leeds
grew, and with them substantial, new
(and predominantly Whig-supporting)
electorates. A system that placed a
major conurbation on a par with a
quaint cathedral city (or even Oxford
and Cambridge Universities, which
both had their own MPs) appeared to
them to be crying out for reform.
Lord Grey’s Whig government, elected
in 1830 after George IV’s death, tried
twice to bring in reform, but both
times it was rebuffed—when they got
legislation through the Commons, it
was thrown out by the Lords.
The Great Reform Act
The Tories tried to block yet another
attempt in 1832, but gave in to
William IV’s threat to create more lords
who would vote the bill through. So
the Great Reform Act was duly passed.
It abolished the worst rotten boroughs
and extended the electoral franchise—
though not as much as working-class
campaigners had hoped. Parliament
was far more cleanly elected by a much
246
THE TRIUMPH OF REFORM
1832 Reform Act
Whig leaders attack the Old Rotten Tree with the axes AF TER
of reform—whilst frantic Tories try to keep the whole
tottering structure standing. Rural magnates sit pretty
in their nests while, from nearby Constitution Hill, the It was in the 1840s that philosopher Karl
smaller British nations—and the aristocracy—look on. Marx made “bourgeoisie” the dirty word it
has remained for writers and thinkers on
larger electorate, but a property the left. Whether by accident or design,
qualification remained, so only about the electoral reforms of the 1830s drove
one in six men (and no women at a wedge between the middle class and
all) could vote. the working class.
British politics looked different, even
so. Having long since won the fight FIGHT FOR CHANGE
for parliamentary power under a Professional men, who had been excluded, now
constitutional monarchy, the Whigs had their place in Parliamentary democracy, but
were moving on to the battle for free working-class men (and all women) were still
trade and for limits to government out in the electoral cold. Even so, many in
intervention in the economy: the middle class strove to improve social
increasingly they called themselves conditions 278–79 ❯❯. Among the workers,
“Liberals.” The Tories too were however, the conviction was growing that if they
changing. Robert Peel’s Tamworth wanted change they were going to have to fight
Manifesto (1834) laid the foundations for it themselves. 310–11 ❯❯.
for the modern Conservative
Party. Endorsing the Great
Reform Act, Peel promised
to support change where
truly needed.
As good as his word, in
1846 he sacrificed his second
term as prime minister to
repeal the Corn Laws. And
it was to be a Conservative
prime minister, Benjamin
Disraeli, who introduced a
Second Reform Act in 1867;
the Liberal William Ewart VOTING BY BALLOT
Gladstone brought in the
Third Reform Act in 1884.
269
 247
1815–1914

BRITISH MONARCH Born 1819 Died 1901

Queen Victoria Queen Victoria

For some years after Albert’s
death, it seemed that the Queen
had all but abdicated, but she

“ I shall do my utmost to resumed her duties, and her

dignity and decorum were much
admired. She is seen here in

fulfil my duty towards 1899, still in mourning for

the Prince Consort.

my country.”
QUEEN VICTORIA, ON HER ACCESSION, 1837

B
oth of William IV’s daughters had defeated Melbourne, resigned in 1839
died soon after birth, leaving him when she refused to go along with
with no immediate successor. Of changes he proposed to her royal
the King’s younger brothers, none of household. (This despite the fact that
the next three in line had lived long the appointment of new personnel
enough to ascend the throne, and only was at that time customary with
the late Duke of Kent (formerly next incoming administrations.) Far
in line after William) had a legitimate from feeling embarrassment,
surviving child. So it was that, on
William’s death in June 1837, Prince Albert
his young niece, Victoria, Victoria’s public image
came to the throne. She was of austerity, even
was ill-prepared in many coldness, but her
ways for the responsibility love for her Prince
of monarchy. Consort was clear.
Hers had been an She never got
isolated childhood: over his death
she had been closely in 1861.
protected—possibly
overprotected, many
felt—by a manipulative
mother, the Duchess
of Kent, from whom
she was eventually to
become estranged. There
had been some question
that the Duchess might
become regent, acting on
behalf of her daughter, but
Victoria had just reached the age
of 18 when her uncle died, and Lord
Melbourne, the Whig Prime Minister,
took the new Queen under his wing,
winning her eternal gratitude and
affection in return.

Queenly bearing
“I may call you Jane,” she had told a
childhood playmate, “but you may
not call me Victoria.” Britain’s longest-
serving monarch felt a strong sense of
regal entitlement from the start. While
in many ways Victoria is rightly taken
as a model of the modern constitutional
monarch, she had a distinctly despotic
streak at the same time. Her strong
favoritism for Melbourne and the
Whigs was quickly established, and she
took very little trouble to conceal it.
Tory Prime Minister Robert Peel, having

270

Queen Victoria and her family, 1890s
Victoria’s family was the center of her life; her children
married many of the crown heads of Europe. Her
grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II is seen here (front row, left).
Victoria was only too delighted when
Peel’s resignation cleared the way for
Melbourne and the Whigs to return to
office. However, her hostility toward
Tory governments was only a short-
lived feature of her reign.
Wife and mother
Queen she may have been, but as an
unmarried woman Victoria still had
to live with her mother, according to
the convention of the time, and the
Duchess still bullied her the way she
had when she was a girl. This in part
may have driven her in her desire
to marry Prince Albert
of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha, for this
relationship does not
appear to have been
a case of love at
first sight. The
attachment
became
legendary,
however, once the Queen fell madly in
love with her Prince Consort, who also
became her key adviser. They had nine
children, who were destined to make
matrimonial connections with all the
leading royal houses of Europe.
Victorian morality
The idea of a “royal family” became
celebrated at this time. The sanctity
of the home and the joys of domestic
life were widely idealized; sober
respectability was much prized.
Traditionally, the ruling class had been
conspicuously lax in their sexual
conduct: if Victoria’s uncles had been
short of legitimate children, they had
produced plenty on the “wrong side
of the blanket.”
However,
“Victorian
Morality” had
no better
exemplar than
the Queen herself.
A devoted (even
passionate) wife
to Albert, she was
seriously prudish and
intolerant of anything
that smacked of
sexual license.
Albert and after
As her Prince Consort, Albert further
developed the role of the monarchy in
promoting all-round good works. He
was an important patron of the Great
Exhibition in 1851, and encouraged the
Queen’s own close identification with
the armed forces, underlined by her
introduction of the Victoria Cross for
valor, in 1856, against the background
of the Crimean War. However, tragedy
struck in December 1861, when Albert
died from typhoid fever while at
Windsor Castle. He was only 42.
The Queen was left desolate. She wore
mourning from that time on, and
shunned public appearances where she
could. While she always met minimum
requirements, her failure to go further
caused public muttering (gossip about
her attachment to her Balmoral gillie
John Brown did not help). There was
some serious anger at what some saw
as a dereliction of duty. On the other
hand, her retreat from the political
front line was welcomed by those in
government. She slipped back into the
largely ceremonial role that is now
expected of monarchy.
Musical queen
From childhood, Victoria
was an enthusiastic
pianist, particularly
loving works by
Beethoven, Schubert,
and Mendelssohn,
who wrote pieces
especially for her.
Imperial monarch
In the latter part of her reign, Victoria
regained her popularity as the symbol
for a successful and ever-more powerful
imperial nation. More experienced
now, she also regained the confidence
to act on her own initiative. As a result,
she was a much greater influence over
(and nuisance for) senior politicians. In
1876, Tory Prime Minister Benjamin
Disraeli arranged for her to be given
the additional title of Empress of India.
Whatever Victoria’s personal flaws,
they were rendered insignificant by her
sheer longevity as reigning monarch.
There was a huge outpouring of joy at
her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
248
Q U E E N V I C TO R I A
TIMELINE
■ May 24, 1819 Princess Alexandrina Victoria is
born to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld
and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn,
George III’s fourth son.
■ June 20, 1837 Princess Victoria becomes
Queen at the age of 18.
■ February 10, 1840 Victoria marries Prince
Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the Chapel
Royal of St. James’s Palace, London.
■ May 1, 1840 The Queen’s profile appears on
the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black.
■ November 9, 1841 The Queen gives birth to
Prince Albert Edward, the future King Edward VII.
■ 1845 The Queen and Albert buy Osborne
House, on the Isle of Wight, to redevelop as
a holiday home.
■ April 1848 Victoria and her family leave London
for Osborne House, amid fears of revolutionary
violence in the capital.
■ April 7, 1853 The Queen is anesthetized with
chloroform for the birth of her seventh child,
Prince Leopold of
Albany, giving this
medical innovation
an important boost.
■ October 1853
Outbreak of Crimean
War. The hostilities
do not cease until
February 1856.
■ January 29, 1856
The Victoria Cross for
valor is introduced.
■ April 24, 1857 OSBORNE HOUSE
Outbreak of Indian
Mutiny. After it has been put down, the Crown
takes direct charge of administrating India.
■ May 1, 1876 Victoria is awarded the additional
title of Empress of India; it is formally proclaimed
in Delhi the following year.
■ March 2, 1882 After seven earlier attempts,
would-be poet Roderick MacLean tries to
assassinate the Queen with a pistol. He is
finally confined to an insane asylum.
■ March 27, 1883 Victoria’s personal attendant
John Brown dies. His passing, the Queen’s letters
suggest, leave her feeling almost as though she
has been widowed a second time.
■ June 8, 1886 Gladstone’s Government of
Ireland Bill, proposing Home Rule for Ireland, is
voted down in the House of Commons, to the
Queen’s ill-concealed relief.
■ June 20, 1887 The Queen’s Golden
Jubilee—50 years on the throne—is celebrated.
Celebrations are intensified by news that an Irish
Fenian plot to kill her has been discovered.
■ June 20, 1897 Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee—60
years on the throne—sparks general celebration.
■ October 11, 1899 The Second Boer War
begins. It ends in a British victory—although
British tactics cause controversy and the war lasts
until May 31, 1902.
■ January 22, 1901 Victoria dies at Osborne
House at the age of 81.
271