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| Billie Silvey |
| Industrial Revolution |
| April 2007 |
| The Industrial Revolution, which occurred in England roughly from 1784-1837, was a revolution in art, politics, industry and society. It had far-reaching implications for the people at the time, and it still influences us today. It was the time of rapid change from * rural to urban living, * agriculture to manufacturing, * home production to factory production, * hand labor to machines, * direct exchange of goods to banking and capitalism. The change began with improvements in the textile industry. The spinning Jenny made it possible to stretch much more cotton into thread, and the flying shuttle, to weave threads into cloth faster than ever before. These improvements, coupled with recent improvements in the steam engine, made it possible for machines to do work which had formerly been done by many individual craftspeople. Within a 35-year period from the 1790s to the 1830s, more than 100,000 power looms with 9,330,000 spindles began working in England and Scotland. Starving weavers, forced out of work by the machines, took their frustrations out on the closest things at hand--the machines themselves. Known as the Luddites, in 1811 they began breaking into factories and smashing the frames that were depriving them of their livelihood. Government response was quick and brutal. Breaking frames became a capital offense, punishable by hanging. On February 27, 1812, the British poet, Lord Byron, made his maiden speech in the House of Lords on the Frame Bill. He defended the workers who had been replaced by machinery: “Nothing but absolute want could have driven a large, once honest and industrious body of people, into the commission of excesses so hazardous to themselves, their families, and their community,” he pointed out. Despite his efforts, the bill passed. People could be hanged for industrial sabotage. Byron followed his speech with a scathing satirical poem, “An Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill.” Here is a stanza: The rascals, perhaps, may betake them to robbing, The dogs to be sure have got nothing to eat-- So if we can hang them for breaking a bobbin, 'Twill save all the Government’s money and meat: Men are more easily made than machinery-- Stockings fetch better prices than lives-- Gibbets on Sherwood will heighten the scenery, Showing how Commerce, how Liberty thrives! Though the Luddite Rebellion occurred long ago and far away, we today can sympathize. In a society where technological improvements constantly force people from their jobs, we do well to look back and consider the questions raised by this initial Industrial Revolution: 1. What happens in a society when a few become rich and many are left jobless? 2. Just how valuable is money in contrast with people’s lives? 3. What does it say about us if we respond to desperate people with more prisons and increased death penalties? 4. Can we make financial gains without hurting others? 5. What is the real meaning of progress? |
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