Chapter 17

Strayer pages 827-862

The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution was a huge transition with these technological advances that pretty much created a new manufacturing process. This either destroyed or made up companies; "It was a breakthrough of unprecedented proportions that made available for human use, at least temporarily, immense greater quantities of energy" (828). These raw materials fed and fueled the industry machinery. This altered the landscape (and well if you look at us now, we are still impacting the environment today, although there are more regulations now).
So whats the big deal? These raw materials? Well, these raw materials were a huge source of energy that increased goods in services. If you have taken any economics courses, you know that this is a huge deal (well, I guess if you're a person with common sense you know this was a huge deal too). Anyways, so this industrial revolution had a lot of money coming in. It was spotted in Europe, in specific, Britain. There was this great breakthrough of the coal- fired steam engine which provided an inanimate and almost limitless source of power beyond wind, water or muscle (830). Followed there was steel production...the railroads, construction, food processing, etc.. It then spread from Britain to Western Europe... then the US, Russia and Japan. The Industrial Revolution made economies become more efficient.

So why in Europe? Well you have to keep in mind that Europeans have been described as creative and freedom loving creatures. Its easier to bring ideas to the table when those above you encourage it rather than discouraged because of religious beliefs. It began in Britain and it was unplanned and unexpected. Like I mentioned before, the British political life encouraged commercialization and economic innovation... and in a place like this, something like the industrial revolution was bound to happen.

Social Classes: As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the 98% broke up into new social classes. They were the entrepreneurs. New kinds of economies developed. There was a massive movement of people to the cities because of the job loss. The way people worked.. they were either owners or not owners and this was fundamentally changing.

Environment: The people going through the Industrial Revolution did not even think that bering these fossil fuels was bad and caused pollution; they had no idea. Now, its a big problem. It begins with pollution to ultimately the death of the planet, which people are concerned now. They were using non renewable energy.

Social Structures:
The social classes used to just be three groups. After the industrial revolution, there were new classes forming.
Those who benefited more from this revolution were the middle class. It contained a wealthy factory and mine owners, bankers, and merchants. By the end of the century, the growing segment  of the middle class represented 20% of the population. Many opportunities opened up.
The laboring classes were shaped by the new working conditions of the industrial era. The living conditions were not the best: "vastly overcrowded and smoky, wit wholly inadequate sanitation, periodic epidemics, endless row houses and warehouses, few public services or open spaces and inadequate and often polluted water supplies"(839)

Summary: The industrial Revolution was important because of the technological advances. During this time, there was the creation of a new manufacturing process. Machines replaced many workers an they got pushed into the cities in search for jobs.
How did people respond? It depends on the group. There were protests because of this new change. Not everyone was satisfied with capitalism; they felt capitalism had a few problems. There were new economic systems coming to exist.

Echoes of the Atlantic Revolution Chapter 16

Strayer, pages 798-811 and documents 812-825


The abolition of slavery
During the time of 1780 to 1890, slavery lost its legitimacy and ended in a lot of places around the world, if not all.
Note, that the enlightenment thinkers believed that slavery was an act that violated the rights of man, It was "repugnant to our religion"and a "crime in the sight of God". Soon the whole slavery thing became "out of date". It was understood that this act of holding someone's life was "not only morally wrong and economically inefficient, but also politically unwise". The Haitian Revolution was a great spark that made many realize slavery should be abolished.
I know this to us seems like common sense. But to people that have been born with the idea of slavery their entire life, its pretty huge. This made a huge mark on our history. We should also keep in mind that just because there was the abolition of slavery, not much changed as soon as that happened. There was a lot of racism where they made their lives pretty much impossible. Yeah, we can agree they were "free"on paper... but how free were they? Could they vote without feeling any pressure or uncomfortable? Did they have that political equality? No, there was a lot of racism and segregation (this was a huge disadvantage because the same opportunities were not given to these ex slaves or family from these ex slaves).

Nations and Nationalism
In addition to this end of slaver, the idea of humankind was divided into separate nations. Every single one of these carried different beliefs, a different culture. Governments of the Western part of the world claimed to act now on behalf of their nations and installed national loyalties in their citizens through schools, public rituals, mass media, and military service (803). Nationalism took a lot of political ideologies.

Feminist Begins
Soon after there was a uprising of the feminist movement. Slaves have now gotten up the ladder of this "equality" thing everyone wanted. What about us women? Again here, the enlightenment thinkers challenged this inferiority the women held. But there were different groups of women. Some women wanted to be free from the household and go to work or have an education. Some women wanted to help their family or their country become better. Those who wanted to free themselves from the household were seen as selfish since they were willing to sacrifice their family.
But this made sense, of course women would want to be seen as someone. They were tired of being that stay in home mom. You know what men thought? That having women do all these duties would cause them to have too much stress and this would eventually affect their reproductive health. Is that not crazy? I know. Pretty insane.

Founders week

This week was founders week! It was a great week to really get involved with our community here at NDNU and to talk to the sisters. I love love love these kind of events. I really wish I could come to more but its hard with commuting and work. Anyways, I did get to talk to a few sisters on the province center. We ate some great sweets and talked about life basically haha. I thought it was cute. I m really bad with names but I met two sisters (we sat on the same table) and I was amazed at how much we actually had in common... I was also amazed at how much they really liked talking to us. Not going to lie, sitting through traffic, coming to NDNU, I wasn't really excited. What could I have in common with the sisters? I thought it was going to be awkward and I was just going to be there hearing stores. No. They made me feel so welcomed! They talked to me about some of their experiences and fun adventures. Great time. 

Never underestimate a sister, you will have a great time!

Strayer, Introduction to Part 5 & Chapter 16 pages 781-797

Strayer, Introduction to Part 5 & Chapter 16 pages 781-797

This section covered the atlantic revolutions. The big European powers: Britain, France, and Spain were the big bad boys. They all dealt with conflicts from the land they were controlling. These atlantic revolutions were very closely connected to each other. They had common ideas; "the ideas that animated the Atlantic revolutions derived from the European Enlightenment and were shared across the ocean in newspapers, books, and pamphlets"(783). The revolutions were common in some ways but also very different... they were triggered by different circumstances. In the North American Revolution, the people form North America wanted to free themselves from the ruling go the British. Reading on the French Revolution though...it seemed to be much more violent. I remember learning about this in high school as well. Very bloody. Then there was the Haitian Revolution and the Spanish American Revolutions where like in many revolutions, there was exclusion and oppression. All this fight against slavery and justice was huge. 

Blog: Reading due February 4th Strayer, Chapter 15 (740-752)

Blog: Reading due February 4^th

Strayer, Chapter 15 (740-752)

                                                                 

Chapter 15 talked about the birth of Modern Science. I loved reading about it by the way. During this time, around the sixteenth century, people still believed in the spread of Christianity. But something new was also becoming pretty popular: science. Yeah, the scientific revolution took place between the mid-sixteenth century and early eighteenth centuries. I liked how there was a switch from the bible to science… things like experiments, observations, and studies started happening. Now, it wasn’t the bible that answered all the questions. This happened in Europe. Why Europe? Its funny because I was talking to my dad about this earlier in the month. Why did all these things happen in Europe? Well, because in other parts of the world, there was still that belief that the bible, God’s words/ teachings were the way to live by (like the Quran); “May God protect us from useless knowledge” (741).   

The chapter talks about the scientific revolution challenging or changing the ways (beliefs) of the church (in a way). The revolution also had people question everything else, it challenged the understanding people had of the universe. Thus, the revolution, in the long run, became accepted globally.

Personally, I believe this was huge. I think the reason the developed countries are at a bigger advantage is because they allowed this “question the church” or “challenge the church”. Now, I’m sure this was not easy for Europe. But it was definitely easier for men to put out their science work rather that people from Islam. Because of science and the challenge with the church beliefs, education started trending. There were universities and students could study things besides what the church authorities told them.