They Will Become More Powerful

This week we learned about ideologies and the three different types: Liberal, Conservative and nationalism. Ideology is a system of ideas and ideals especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. This weeks essential question that I will be answering throughout this blog post is: what were the political ideologies of the 19th century and how did the influence social and political actions?

Our project was on the topic of Liberalism, we used chatter pix which shows a picture with a person talking; giving the information we wrote.

http://www.istockphoto.com/vector/boy-talking-22792219

The first picture we had was was boy who just gave the background information about liberalism.

Liberalism are people that are more accepting, they believe in being open to new ideas, willing to sacrifice their interests for the greater good.19th century liberalism was the ideology that asserted that the task of government was to promote individual liberty. Liberals viewed many traditions as impediments to that freedom and, therefore, campaigned for reform. Pointing to the accomplishments of the scientific revolution, 19th century liberals asserted that there were God-given natural rights and laws that men could descend through the use of reason. Accordingly, the supported innovation and reform, arguing that many traditions were simply superstitions. They promoted constitutional monarchy over absolutism, and they campaigned for an end to the traditional privileges of the aristocracy and the church in favor of a meritocracy and middle class participation in government. Supporters of liberalism originally came from the middle class.

http://fee.org/the_freeman/detail/john-locke-natural-rights-to-life-liberty-and-property

The second picture was a picture of John Locke. John Locke was a British philosopher and  was one of the people who was thought of one of the forefathers of liberalism. In the Second Treatise of Government (1609), John Locke made the argument for the existence of God-given natural rights and asserted that the proper goal of government was to protect and promote individual liberty.

http://livingeconomiesforum.org/Adam-Smith

The final picture is of Adam Smith. Adam Smith was also a British philosopher and was the other person who was thought of as one of the forefathers of liberalism. In Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith made the case for existence of economic laws which guided human behavior like an “Invisible hand.” The invisible hand is basically letting people trade and buy from whom they would like while the government sits back. In the late 18th century and early 19th century thinkers extended and hardened Adam Smith’s ideas.

There were two other ideologies as well; conservatism and nationalism. Conservatives are people with more of a narrow mind, they are much more interested in protecting those close to them making sure that their individual rights are sacred. Conservatives like to keep the old ways/tradition and not change the monarchies. They fear if it is changed it will cause war. They think change from tradition is a bad idea and the past shows that monarchy is the best route. The other ideology is nationalism, nationalists are people that take pride in their nation. The promote unification of similar culture, race, nationalities and they do not want foreigners. Italy and Germany were not unified under one rule so foreigners can take over small countries easier. They should combine all the small countries to make them stronger because of unification.

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He was Admired by Many

This week in class we reviewed Napoleon and what his impact on social, economic and political systems of Europe. In this blog post I will explain these impacts.

When Napoleon was young he was considered an outsider and spent most of his time in his studies. Napoleon’s career started at the age of nine, he became Brigadier General during the french revolution. Napoleon conquered most of Europe, Italy, Austria, Rhineland, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Venice, Berlin, Moscow, and Egypt.

http://nicolequinnnarrates.blogspot.com/2012/10/map-of-europe-in-1812.html

This shows the main area of where Napoleon conquered and the places that wanted to be allies with Napoleon, so that they would be protected.

He was a great military strategist and  a motivational speaker. Napoleon was admired by many for other reasons such as, he built massive armies, he was a very good leader and he conquered many countries. To restore economic prosperity Napoleon controlled prices, encouraged new industry and built roads and canals.

Napoleon had a Positive impact on the political system because he conquered many places and was rewarded with a lot of land and money, to be able to expand the empire and be able to buy more things. He had both a negative impact and a positive impact on the economic system. It was a positive impact because he created new industries, roads and many other things to strengthen the economy and make it so that the poor and get a job and make money. It was a negative impact for the other countries because he made the economy even better by stealing high trade from the countries he took control of. Finally, there was also a positive impact impact on the social system because of how he established a meritocracy, which is a government selected on the basis of their ability, in all the places he conquered, this would allow people to be rewarded on the work they put in.

Soon after there were arguments in favor of resuming monarchies and there were arguments in favor of redesigning the government. The advantages of resuming monarchies is that the monarchies like being in power, it would restore social order, there is only one person in charge and it keeps things from getting complicated. The advantages of redesigning governments is that it gives power to all, it was more fair, it gave them freedom to design whatever kind of government they think the country needs and people get more of a say.

http://www.glogster.com/teoirisarri/napoleon-bonaparte-leadership-style/g-6kudjp682m7kj98b04ei3a0

This picture shows Napoleon leading an army into battle, prepared to win, just like said above he was a very leader and a great military strategist.

They Just Wanted to Help the Poor

This week in class we did an activity to learn about capitalism, socialism and communism. We each got three hershey kisses except for two people who got ten. Then we had to play rock paper scissors shoot with other people in the class, for every game you lost you had to give the other person one of your hershey kisses. Everyone had to keep playing until you ran out of hershey kissed and it did not matter if you wanted to keep playing or not. It was very frustrating for me because I started with only three hershey kisses and I only played three games before I had to sit down because I had no more hershey kisses. Also while everyone was still playing, you just had to sit there and watch other people play rock paper scissors shoot. After the games were done, the teacher collected all of the hershey kisses back and redistributed them evenly. The people who had a lot of hershey kisses were angry and protested. Once we got three more hershey kisses we had the choice to play rock paper scissors shoot again. If you choose to play you would have to keep playing and you could lose all of your hershey kisses again not get anymore or you could become richer; if you choose to not play then you just keep your three hershey kisses and there is no way you can lose any but you will not be able to get anymore hershey kisses. The purpose of this activity was to show how Marxism was created through the processes of capitalism, socialism and communism.

Both Karl Marx and Adam Smith wanted to help the poor, but they both had different approaches as to how to do this. Marx theory of communism starts with capitalism. Capitalism is the private ownership of industry, freedom of competition and the results of unequal economic classes. After capitalism came socialism, this is where government had ownership of industries. The goal was to bring economic equality and Marx aimed for a classless society where no one individual is better than another. Finally after socialism was communism, this is where the goal of a classless society was achieved and no government was needed. The circumstances that lead to the development of Marx’s theory was that people were starving and were very poor so he had to find a way to even out the playing field and achieve equality. Marx’s theory continued to influence people in Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and around the world.

This is a picture of Karl Marx:

http://probaway.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/philosophers-squared-karl-marx/

Adam Smith is the other person who wanted to help the poor. Smith’s main idea was the invisible hand. The invisible hand was meant so the that the government would leave people alone to buy and sell freely with whomever they wanted and the economy would regulate itself so that people could do what interests them. What motivated Smith was the idea of free trade and migration and also allowing people to do what they want, there would be more options for the poor and they will be able to eventually be able to pay for things like everyone else.

This is a picture of Adam Smith:

http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/adam-smith-nicholas-phillipson

Here is a link to a video that talks more about the invisible hand: The Invisible Hand

In my opinion i think that the invisible hand is a better idea because it gives the people freedom to do what they want and trade and sell to whomever they want to with. Also this can give the poor a chance to get a job and be able to make money to pay for food and clothing. Even though both of these ideas are good there could also be a good third alternative. The alternative could be a system that more jobs are created and that people who make the most money do not have to be stripped away from them for the other people in the community like in Marx’s theory where everything should be equal.

Some Mills aren't as Bad as You Think

Last week in class we learned about the different working conditions between the United States and Great Britain. This blog post is all about what motivated women to work in the Lowell mills and the benefits of working in the Lowell mills.

Women wanted to work at the Lowell mills for many different reasons. There was something called “The Lowell Experiment” which was an industrial project that tried to avoid the negative aspects of industrialization in England. It was also a way to try to convince parents to let their daughters come and work at the mills by telling their parents that the girls will maintain mortality and dignity of temporary workers. The mill owners also said that they have something called a ‘Paternal System’, this is basically saying that the girls will be protected which was a big concern from the parents. There was both a mother and father figure at the Lowell mills. The father figure was the corporation and the person who sets the rules such as, church on Sunday, curfew at ten, mill hours and code for behavior. The mother figure was the boarding house keeper, she regulates behavior outside mill hours and maintain ‘home’ environment. We watched a video called “Daughters of Free Men” which also showed many of the benefits/motivations to work at the Lowell mills. Some of the benefits to the girls were that they got to earn their own money, buy their own clothes and their own independence, the girls family would also get money that the girls would send home

This picture is from an article we read in class called “Lowell- The Factory in the Garden”. This picture is from a book cover with many journal entries from girls working in the mills about their experience. This makes it look like the factories are very nice places to work, it also show the girl holding a book which could mean that the girls were educated and had free time to do other things which may make girl want to work at the Lowell mills.

The “Lowell Experiment” and the mill girls era ended around the same time of the civil war. The “Lowell Experiment” increased immigration, provided a cheap labor with cheap labor and living and working conditions deteriorated in the city. The mill girls left their impacts by changing the awareness of women working outside their homes, living away from their parents, being educated and writing for the public. Many mill girls would go become women’s activists or outspoken abolitionists when they leave the mills.

Would You Let Your Child Work in the Factories?

We did a lot to prepare for the MOSI Live Google Hangout chat. One day we watched a video of Jamie giving us a brief tour of the factory and  explaining some of the tools they used back then. During the video we made a list words that he used that we have never heard of before. After the video, we looked up all the words so that that when we would actually do the live chat we would know what he was talking about. Then the next day, in our groups we thought of some questions that we would want to ask him when we had the choice.

I learned a lot from the live chat with Jamie. I learned a lot about the hand loom and how it was used. It was used to weave cloth and it was operated by using petals which was very hard physical work. Since you would do this constantly all day many people ended up developing arthritis. Most children would comb fiber strands and get all the dirt out, since it did not require a lot of experience. The children would try to find the longest strands of fiber because they are better for spinning, the short fibers were called trash. The hand looms would be passed down from father to son and it is very valuable in the families. I also learned that Arkwright did not actually invent the water frame, he just improved it but he was the one who made the money. The water frame thins out fibers, then twists the fibers and puts it on a bobbin.

This is a picture of what the bobbins look like from the live video chat with Jamie:

I learned that there were also there were many risks and dangers to working in these factories. The working conditions were horrible, it was very unsanitary, there were many diseases spreading and you would breathe in a lot of the cotton fibers. People were working in the factories for 12 hours eventually your lungs would just stop working because of all the cotton fibers you would inhale and soon you would die, most people did not live past 30. The machines were also very dangerous. The oils they used were also very dangerous, it caused mouth, throat and lung cancer. Your clothing could get caught in the machines, they could damage your hearing because they were so loud. Children had to clean the machines while they were running, their hair would get caught and be ripped out.

Children would have to clean this machine above while it was running. Children’s hands would have to in between them while they are spinning very fast, many hands would get caught in these machines. If someone was injured they would be put on the street with whatever money they had and they got no support. Children would mainly clean machines because they were small enough to fit under them and it didn’t require any skills. Many orphans were sold to work in the factories instead of children with parents because the parents would not let them work there.

I think I did learn more from a discussion with and outside export because you can actually see the real machines that the factory workers used. I thought it was cool how we were talking with someone who lives on the other side of the world in a different country and it actually worked. I would do this again with different experts on different topics throughout the year.

What Can the Viewer Take Away?

This week in class we played the roles of museum curators and we built our own exhibits from a time in the Industrial Revolution.

The first thing that we had to do as museum curators is analyze your specific documents and pictures. This is important because you have to make sure that the sources are reliable and try to figure out what the author of either a document or picture wants the viewer to take away from it. My group's exhibit was all about child labour and the harsh working and living conditions. We had two different documents, one was "Bobbin Girls, 1794" and the other one was "The Factory Act, 1833." The "Bobbin Girls,1794" document is all about how the author doesn't think it is right to send their girls away at such a young age, but their parents have no choice but to send them away because they don't have enough money. "The Factory Act" lists many strict rules for the young children who work in the mills by restricting who can work there and for how long. We also had many pictures depicting the harsh treatment at the factories. One pictures is a picture of children in a coal mine in 1853, this picture shows the harsh conditions in the coal mines/factories and what the children have to do. Another picture is a picture of a child crawling through the mines dragging a cart filled with rocks, at the bottom of the picture it says, “Children had leather belts slung around them with a chain attached so that they could pull loads.” There was also a chart that shows the age distribution from 1818-1819 to the present, it shows how most kids started working at the age of 10 back then but now most people start working at the age of 21. The last picture we have its a pictures of young kids working at the Georgia textile mills in 1909, it shows how the kids are so small and can’t reach the top so they have to stand on top of the machines which can be potentially dangerous. The title of the exhibit is “Is the Pain worth the Gain?”, this is saying that is harming young children really worth getting the work done. I hope that when people see our exhibit they realize how bad child labour really was and how common it was.

Here is a picture of our exhibit:

There were also many other very good exhibits. One of the exhibits was called Making Money, Destroying Neighborhoods, this title is very intriguing and it made me wonder why people were destroying neighborhoods. This exhibit was mainly about the new machines that were being built and how it was effecting the environment, what shocked me the most was a picture of buildings on both sides of a river with a lot of smoke coming out of it; the water looked very dirty and polluted, I’m surprised that the people didn’t realize what they were doing to the earth.

This is the picture that shows the buildings on each side of the river polluting the river and air:

The second exhibit that I saw was one about the steam engine, the title of this exhibit is “America Runs on Steam Engine”; this is another intriguing title, it made me want learn more about the steam engine. Something interesting I learned from this exhibit is that the major product that were produced from the steam engine are coal, metal goods and woolen cloth and how these navigation routes helped other countries trade with each other. Another exhibit that I looked at was mainly about slavery, the title of this exhibit is called “Prosperity at the Cost of People”, when I saw this title instantly I thought of slavery because slave owners payed to have a slave. Something that I thought was really interesting how it says that in the past 90 years the amount of slaves has increased drastically and how there was a higher demand of slaves than there was cotton, because I know how important cotton.  The last exhibit that I looked at was all about the spinning machines and how it effected life during the Industrial Revolution, the title of this exhibit it “Just Keep Spinning”, this is based off of Dory from finding Nemo when she says “just keep swimming, which I think is a really good word play and it made me want to read more about the spinning machines. Something interesting that I learned was that children at the age of five could run the wheel to the machine, it was a good job for them because it was constant and it kept the children standing straight up so it won’t affect their growth.

What Makes the Industrial Revolution?

This week we got into groups and each had different ingredients that were a big part of the industrialization. In this blog post I am going to explain two of the ingredients in more depth.

One of the ingredients in the industrial revolution are the people. One of the things that the people did of this era was improve farming. Roy Townsend urged farmers to grow turnips which restored exhausted soil. Jethro Tull also helped with improving farming, he invented a new material device, the seed drill to be able to help the farmers plant seeds more quickly. The agriculture revolution decrease the risk of famines, because they were well fed women were healthier and that led to healthier and stronger babies which also decreased death rates. Rich landowners pushed ahead with enclosure, which is the process of taking over and fencing of land formerly shared by peasant farmers. The landowners pushed the peasants out which forced them to work in factories.

http://www.3benefitsof.com/3-benefits-of-farming-in-australia/

Another ingredient that was important in the industrial revolution are the resources. Iron as made better by Abraham Darby who was the founding father of iron, he found impurities in the iron from coal, so he found a way to take the impurities out. This was a big part in leading to the railroad industry. Coal was an important source of fuel for the production of iron, it was used to make the steam engine. Cotton was another very important because people can now make better clothing with the mills and the steam engine, this also includes the shuttle which made the making of clothes much faster. People made large business investments off of the industrial revolution.  

http://blog.world-mysteries.com/modern-world/without-knowledge-of-the-past-there-is-no-future/