Industiral Revolution

The Industrial, French and American Revolutions Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Starting in the later part of the 18th century there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labour based economy towards machine-based manufacturing.

It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. In terms of social structure, the Industrial Revolution witnessed the triumph of a middle class of industrialists and businessmen over a landed class of nobility and gentry. Ordinary working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, but these were often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour dominated by a pace set by machines.

Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. However, harsh working conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution took place. Pre-industrial society was very static and often cruel—child labour, dirty living conditions, and long working hours were just as prevalent before the Industrial Revolution. American Revolution The American revolutionary era began in 1763, after a series of victories by British forces at the conclusion of the French and Indian War ended the French military threat to British North American colonies.

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Adopting the policy that the colonies should pay an increased proportion of the costs associated with keeping them in the Empire, Britain imposed a series of direct taxes followed by other laws intended to demonstrate British authority, all of which proved extremely unpopular in America. Because the colonies lacked elected representation in the governing British Parliament, many colonists considered the laws to be illegitimate and a violation of their rights as Englishmen.

In 1772, groups of colonists began to create Committees of Correspondence, which would lead to their own Provincial Congresses in most of the colonies. In the course of two years, the Provincial Congresses or their equivalents rejected the Parliament and effectively replaced the British ruling apparatus in the former colonies, culminating in 1774 with the coordinating First Continental Congress. In response to protests in Boston over Parliament's attempts to assert authority, the British sent combat troops, dissolved local governments, and imposed direct rule by Royal officials.

Consequently, the Colonies mobilised their militias, and fighting broke out in 1775. First ostensibly loyal to King George III, the repeated pleas by the First Continental Congress for royal intervention on their behalf with Parliament resulted in the declaration by the King that the states were "in rebellion", and the members of Congress were traitors. In 1776, representatives from each of the original thirteen states voted unanimously in the Second Continental Congress to adopt a Declaration of Independence, which now rejected the British monarchy in addition to its Parliament.

The Declaration established the United States, which was originally governed as a loose confederation through a representative democracy selected by state legislatures. French Revolution The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses on the streets.

Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism (the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs), the development of modern ideologies, and the invention of total war all mark their birth during the Revolution

Destabilisation of accepted process and/or challenge tradition. The term ‘revolution’ is common in all three of the events as societal upheaval and revolt was at the very epicenter of the American, French and Industrial revolutions. Political, social and customary structures were vastly altered, and the ‘common man’ was given an unprecedented voice in matters of national concern. There was a newfound value and respect self determination, and people started to stand up for what they believed was right.

The Industrial Revolution profoundly changed the way society functioned as conventionally, people relied on manpower to produce goods and energy, not machines. The introduction of machines in Northern America conflicted with Southern America which lived off plantations and relied on slavery, and this eventually led to the American Civil War. In all three revolutions the destabilisation of a small number of people holding power occurred.

The Americans and the French overthrew their governments which were essentially a small number of aristocrats, and the Industrial revolution made it possible for anybody to produce goods and provide services. Job availabilities increased and the employment rate increased. Furthermore, the machinery introduced in the 18th and 19th centuries serves as the very basis of industries today. Whilst the machinery may have evolved, they foreshadowed the technologically savvy and advanced society that today we call the 21st century.

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