THE PROGRAM

I.        

1.      The Tudor Dynasty: Henry VII and the renaissance

2.      Henry VIII and the reformation

3.      Anglicanism vs. Catholicism from Edward to Mary

4.      Queen Elizabeth and the religions settlement

5.      The Tudor and foreign policy

II.     

1.      The Stewart Dynasty

2.      The accession of James I to the English crown and his policy

3.      Charles and his conflict with parliament (the great civil war)

4.      England as a protectorate and Oliver Cromwell

5.      The restoration of the republic and the reign of Charles II

6.      James II and the English Revolution

7.      The revolution settlement

8.      Early Hanoverian English

9.      the prime minister cabinet and parliament

10.  the industrial revolution

Introduction

Henry the second became the new king of England as the result of the war of roses. He adopted a number of polices either at national and international level, he was an educated king.

National level:

ü Ha gave importance to the merchants because he believed that business is good for the flourishing of the kingdom.

ü He supported the economic field, and gave freedom to merchants to act freely.

ü He imposed the system of Feudalism (Feudal judiciary system).

International level:

ü Henry VII tried to keep peace with other European countries.

ü The German pay Hanseatic League.

ü The impact of the war of roses on the trading Activities of England.

ü England had relation in trade with the Baltic and Northern Europe.

ü During the civil war, England was so weak, so that the German traders replace the British in Baltic and Northern Europe and that is why England lost an important foreign Market. (Baltic/Northern Europe).

ü Another market were lost, which was France and Italy because the British had a conflict with French people. The only Market that England were linked to it was middle land and Belgium.

ü Henry VII tried to improve his market at the national level, and he also tried to keep peace with neighbor kingdoms like France.

ü Henry VII was more powerful with the previous monarch, because he had a larger peace of land, this means that he had an important source of money (wealthy).

ü Henry VII was so powerful because he had controlled the majority of the kingdoms.

ü Feudalism collapsed with the war of roses.

ü Henry VII took the lands of the death nobles and peoples who rebelled against him (The confiscation of land).

ü  He also enforced the judiciary system and he found his own army.

ü He imposed taxes upon certain classes and that is why he accumulated a lot of money (when he died, he let the kingdom treasure with 2 millions pounds).

The Renaissance:

Another important event took place in Europe, it was the renaissance. There was a change in thinking started from Italy effected the artistic and intellectual men, one of them was Leonardo da vinci.

This movement came to England with the last two decades of the 15^thC, by wealthy businessmen like Humphrey Tiploft. It developed in England by Colt, Erasmus, Thomas Moor, and it was affected the intellectual artists and the religious field.

Was the effect of the Renaissance on Italy the same as England?

An important event took place in England on the two decades of the 15thC, it was and intellectual, artist, scientific movement.

The Italian society was prospered, and they think of learning art, so they go back to the Greek. This movement came by wealthy men like intellectual men and businessmen and this movement spread in universities of Oxford, Cambridge by a young colt.

The English people felt jealous with religious men, because the renaissance affected the religious men. They swear to abandon wealth, which mean they will live poor. And the English Educators said that these practices of church were not corresponded to what was demanded by the Bible.

This new learning came with a new thinking based on translation of the bible from Greek to English. So an anticlerical movement was appeared against the church men.

Henry the Eighth:

Henry VIII was a sportive man, he was a good hunter and educated, he was catholic and he studied in the University. He excommunicated laws, he was nationalistic, and he was not against Catholicism, but the institution that manage this religion. He was married with Catherine of Aragon (from Spain). Before that time, Catherine was the wife of the brother of Henry, and when he died, the pope validated the marriage between Catherine and Henry VIII, but Catherine could not bring to him a son, because she was so older, so that Henry wanted to divorced of it, and that is why the pope of Spain refused this divorce J. Henry VIII decides to execute the pope, and he entered in conflict with the Catholic Church. So that, the church in England changes from Roman church to Anglican Church. The king Philip of Spain got angry, after that Henry married with Ann, and she brought a daughter. He also married with Jame Simer because Ann committed adultery with other person J.

Population:

They supported the king Henry VIII, because he was so nationalistic, and they supported him because the feared the Spain king. There was a change in political field, and the king Henry VIII became the official authority. It was a national and nationalistic movement.

Religious men:

there were two categories:

Clergy: they accepted to take part in the meeting that the king had, they were families with the machinery government that the king made, so they accepted.

Monks: they refused the authority of the king Henry VIII, they lived separately, but that case did not influence on the English society.

Henry VIII ousted the monks, he confiscated their lands and their wealth and he gave them to the merchants. He also imposed control on the bible, and established the Anglican religion.

There were three kinds of peoples: intelereclic feeling, catholic, and protestant.

ü Intelereclic: found that this policy was owned their point of views (suitable).

ü Catholic: accepted the king authority (represented the majority in England).

ü Protestant: they refused management of the king.

English Reformation:

Henry VIII made a reformation which was political and different from the German reformation, which was religious, so there was a break between the king Henry VIII and the pope of England church.

Church was for Catholics and the temple for the Protestants. The bible was one bible, but its interpretations were deferent.

The Catholics and Protestants believed in God and Trinity and Spirits. The bible was written in Greek by Jewish (Old Testament, New Testament).

Henry VIII had one son (Edward VI) and two daughters (Mary and Elizabeth). After his death, his son Edward VI replaced him. Edward VI was very young (9 years), his maternal uncle had to control the kingdom (his name was Edward the Simmer). He was the head of the Council of Protestants who ruled England.

the introduction of ?The Book Of Common Prayer? was a translation of the bible from late Latin to English, because the Catholics master Latin. Latin meant the return of Catholicism in England, and this is why the council translates the bible in English (they tried to avoid Catholicism because the council was made of Protestants).

After the death of Henry VIII, Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, was Catholic and there ideas were in relation with the pope of Spain, so Protestants were in danger. Mary was not nationalistic; she had a Catholic education (religion and secular). The first thing that she did is to organize a marriage with the king of Spain. She became the vassal of the pope in religion field, and she also the vassal of the king in the secular.

The Queen:

When they started criticise his eligibility and his policy, the king started to think of the marriage with the Elizabeth, the sister of Mary.

Before her death, Mary had problems, one of them was the criticising of people of her policy, but they could not do any thing, and the other problem was that the king of Spain started thinking of the marriage of her sister Elizabeth for the aim of taking her land. She was called the bloody Mary because she killed three protestant brothers.

Henry VIII organized his information, he broke up with the pope of Rome, he became the religious authority of the English church, and he replaced the pope by himself.

Differences between Catholicism and Protestantism:

Catholics go the church freely, whereas the Protestants had no relation with the pope, and for them it is wrong to do that, so they were against the Catholics. For the Protestants, the church does not exist, but the temple does.

Both of them use the bible and believe in God. Bible was translated from Latin to English.

Elizabeth, the Half Sister of Mary:

Religious issue:

What was the policy that was adopted by Elizabeth?

Elizabeth broke the relationship with the Roman church as a result she became the religious authority in England (the official religious authority in English church).

She brought back Protestantism, so it was closer to the Catholicism. It was different from the one which had been applied during the reign of Edward (the Anglican church of her father). She tried to satisfy Protestants and Catholics; however, they organized a church against her to bring the Queen Mary of Scotland to England.

She also arranged some sermons to be preacher during the church to the English population. After that, it was a sin to rebel against the king of the Queen, because they were considered as the servants of the God (representative of God in England).

dangers faced the Queen Elizabeth:

The Internal Dangers:

The internal dangers were connected to the Catholics. First, the Catholic population (English) rebelled against her because they wanted to replace her by the Queen Mary, who was Catholic, and who had a closed relationship with Elizabeth. But Elizabeth tried to avoid internal problems.

The External Dangers:

Was the conflict of England with France and Spain. One of the two wanted to invade it because the pope asked them to do, and also because England became protestant. So France and Spain wanted to conquest England.

Why did they invade it?

Because they wanted Mary to be their Queen, Mary grew up in France, she became Catholic when she moved to France, she married a man in England, she decide to kill him J, she killed him and decided to take the throne, but Elizabeth knew that, se Elizabeth jailed her. France and Spain kings tried to help Mary but they failed. So they organized a r rebellion, so Elizabeth didn?t know what to do with Mary, either to kill her or to keep her in jail.

The Queen Elizabeth decided to execute Mary because Mary stimulated the Spanish king to invade England and take the Throne after her death.

The decision of Elizabeth made the Spanish king invading England, so English people were afraid of powerfulness of Spanish army. This conflict carried on until the death of Elizabeth.

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The Stewart dynasty

 

During this period tree important events took place:

a.       The great civil war

b.      The establishment of the English republic and the restoration.

c.       The glorious revolution

The civil war:

1- Causes of the civil war:

The main reason that contributes of the reaction of civil war was the conflict that took place between Stewart monarch and parliament. Stewarts used parliament in order to achieve their policy, there was a good relationship.

The conflict started with James I in 1566-1675. He became king of England because he had a clause relationship with Elizabeth I. He was already king of Scotland.

The Scottish monarchs believed that they were the servant of god, and suggest that no one could judge them, nor discuss their policies. This was the main source of the conflict.

Parliament wanted to interfere in the king?s policy, they wanted to extend this power. However, this decays to extend the power over. The king did not accept. He needed money so he covert parliament to get money he needed in return. Parliament asked James to discus about his policy. However the king refused.

English republic and the restoration:

Charles IV the son of James I accepted in the first, then he refused the conditions of the parliament. So what did the king Charles IV do?

Parliament had more powerful army than of the king. He convict parliament at several stages and derives these conditions, the parliament rebel against the king, and this led to the civil war. During the reign of James I, England invaded Ireland. And those who invaded Ireland were Protestants. Charles was attracted by Catholicism, so Catholicism was brought back in England.

18th-Century British Politics

Following the union with Scotland, the British government functioned according to an unwritten constitution put in place after the Revolution of 1688. This agreement between the monarchs and Parliament provided for the succession of Anne?s German Protestant cousin, George of Hanover, and his heirs. It excluded from the throne the Catholic descendants of James II who now lived in France and who periodically attempted to regain the throne. Their supporters were known as Jacobites, and they rose in an unsuccessful rebellion in 1715. The Church of England remained the official religious establishment, but most Protestants who belonged to other churches enjoyed toleration.

The revolution also resolved the struggle for power between the monarch and Parliament, which had been an ongoing issue under the Stuarts. Parliament emerged as the leading force in government. The Hanoverians ruled as constitutional monarchs, limited by the laws of the land. During the 18th century, British monarchs ruled indirectly through appointed ministers who gathered and managed supporters in Parliament. Landowners eligible to vote elected a new House of Commons every seven years, although membership into the upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords, remained limited to hereditary and appointed lords and high church clergy. Parliament passed laws, controlled foreign policy, and approved the taxes that allowed the monarch to pay the salaries of officials, the military, and the royal family.

The Hanoverian monarchs associated the Whig Party with the revolution that brought them to power and suspected the Tory Party of Jacobitism. As a result, the Whigs dominated the governments of George I (1714-1727) and his son, George II (1727-1760). Neither king was a forceful monarch. George I spoke no English and was more interested in German politics that he was in British politics. George II was preoccupied with family problems, particularly by an ongoing personal feud with his son. Although they both were concerned with European military affairs (George II was the last British monarch to appear on a battlefield), they left British government in the hands of their ministers, the most important of whom was Sir Robert Walpole.

Walpole led British government for almost 20 years. He spent most of his life in government, first as a member of Parliament, then in increasingly important offices, and finally as prime minister. Walpole had skillful political influence over a wide range of domestic and foreign policy matters. He was chiefly interested in domestic affairs and was able to improve royal finances and the national economy. He reduced the national debt and lowered the land tax, which had slowed investment in agriculture. He secured passage of a Molasses Act in 1733 to force British colonists to buy molasses from British planters and ensure British control of the lucrative sugar trade. Walpole kept Britain out of war during most of his administration. A growing sentiment in Parliament for British involvement in European conflicts forced Walpole to resign in 1742.

Walpole so firmly established the Whigs that the two-party system all but disappeared from British politics for half a century. He created a patronage system, which he used to reward his supporters with positions in an expanding and increasingly wealthy government. Opposition to patronage eventually grew within the Whig Party among those who believed that ministers had acquired too much power and that politics had grown corrupt.

In 1745 a Jacobite rebellion posed a serious threat to Whig rule. Led by Charles Edward Stuart, the grandson of James II, the rebellion broke out in Scotland. The rebels captured Edinburgh and successfully invaded the north of England. The rebellion crumbled after William Augustus, who was the duke of Cumberland and a son of George II, defeated the Jacobites at Culloden Moor in Scotland in 1746.

British Colonial Expansion

Revolution and War

In 1783 the king turned power over to William Pitt the Younger, who was only 24 when he became prime minister. Pitt, the son of a former prime minister, immediately set about repairing the damage that had been done to the colonial empire by the recent losses. The India Act of 1784 removed the administration of India from the English East India Company and placed it directly under the control of the British government. Pitt?s greatest concern was to reduce the huge debt acquired from nearly a half century of warfare. He encouraged the resumption of trade with the United States. Pitt also created a fund to pay government creditors and to accumulate the money necessary to repay long-term loans. This strategy might have resulted in financial stability had it not been for developments in France.

French Revolution

In 1789 the French Revolution erupted. French citizens rose against their monarch, Louis XVI, eliminated the ancient legal distinctions based on social class, and established a republican government. The French revolutionaries invited all of the peoples of Europe to follow their example. Conservative monarchs throughout Europe were hostile toward the revolution. Within a few years wars broke out between France and a number of European powers.

In Britain, there were early supporters of the cause of revolution. Anglo-American political philosopher Thomas Paine, who had been instrumental in the American Revolution, took up the French cause with vigor. Most British politicians adopted a more conservative philosophy because they were frightened by the introduction of radical social and political changes in France. First, the British government suspended civil rights in 1792 and began actively prosecuting individuals for sedition (inciting revolution). Individuals who advocated even minor government reform were imprisoned. Then, in 1795, Parliament approved a law allowing the government to imprison without trial anyone who criticized its policies. The last years of the century were dark days for the government as food prices rose, the Bank of England suspended the gold payments that guaranteed its debts, and fear of a French invasion mounted.

In 1793 France declared war on Britain, and the final phase of nearly 500 years of warfare between France and Britain began. It was a titanic struggle. Initially, Britain stayed out of the land war in Europe and chose instead to focus on defending its colonial possessions and maintaining control of the seas. In 1798 British admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French navy in Egypt (see Battle of the Nile), securing India?s safety throughout the war. The Royal Navy captured nearly all of the important French colonies in the West Indies and Africa. In 1805 Nelson achieved one of the greatest of all naval victories at the Battle of Trafalgar when he defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet.

Napoleonic Wars

Britain could not stay out of the European conflict indefinitely. The rise of French emperor Napoleon and his powerful armies threatened the international balance of power. The Napoleonic Wars were fought between France and a variety of European nations from 1799 to 1815.

Napoleon?s policy of blockading trade between Britain and the European continent hurt British trade. In response Britain instituted a blockade of goods going into or out of European ports controlled by Napoleon. The British policy of stopping and searching ships suspected of traveling to French-held areas of Europe led to the War of 1812 (1812-1815) between Britain and the United States. The war began when the United States insisted that Britain had no right to stop, search, or seize ships belonging to neutral countries.

After Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 and suffered a disastrous defeat, Britain mobilized its forces for a land war and joined a coalition with Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The center of fighting shifted to Spain, where a British force under the duke of Wellington successfully fought its way across the country and invaded France in 1813. Two years later Wellington led the coalition of forces that decisively defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and ended the French revolutionary wars.

The Congress of Vienna, which ended the Napoleonic Wars, was a great diplomatic victory for Britain. France was left intact but its continental neighbors achieved security of their borders. The treaty created a balance of power among the nations of Europe that led to 40 years of peace on the continent. With peace established in Europe, Britain was free to spend its energy and resources on expanding its overseas empire.

The 18th-Century Economy

More than anything else, the economic development of Britain in the 18th century made possible its military successes and the expansion of its empire. The creation of financial institutions?such as the Bank of England and the Bank of Scotland?at the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century helped increase the circulation of money and the speed with which business transactions could take place.

The establishment of a permanent national debt, funded by the sale of bonds that investors redeemed at a later date at an increased value, allowed the British government to amass the vast sums necessary to mount military expeditions of unprecedented size and cost. At the end of the century Britain had more than half a million men in the military, and the task of supplying and paying them was gargantuan. The War of the Spanish Succession, which ended in 1714, had cost less than £100 million; the Napoleonic Wars, which ended a century later, cost £1.5 billion. The national debt rose accordingly. Despite these enormous outlays for war, and the accumulation of debt, Britain was a richer society at the end of the century than at the beginning. Roughly, income per capita more than doubled despite rapid population growth.

Following the union with Scotland in 1707, the British population stood at about 6.5 million; a century later it had reached 15.75 million. More importantly, most of that growth had taken place after 1750 in one of the greatest population explosions in British history. Before the 19th century, most people still lived in the countryside and engaged in agricultural occupations.

Agricultural production changed gradually over the course of the century, but these changes had a profound impact on British society. In the regions where soil was rich, landowners converted small family farms into large commercial enterprises. Acts of Parliament allowed them to enclose land and create vast estates where single crops intended for the marketplace could be grown. New techniques brought increased productivity. Scientists developed new strains of grasses to restore the fertility of the soil, bred more productive livestock, and pioneered the use of new fertilizers. Agriculture became a business rather than a means of subsistence, and the owners of small plots of land gradually became agricultural laborers rather than independent farmers.

Although most people lived in the country, the 18th century was notable for the growth of towns. Ports such as Bristol and Liverpool grew from the prosperity of overseas trading. Seaside resorts catered to the middle and upper classes, and the resort town of Bath became a vacation center. In the Midlands of west central England, towns turned to cities as agricultural workers from the south and east began to migrate north toward the new industrial jobs. Birmingham, Sheffield, and above all Manchester grew rapidly.

But nothing matched the colossus that was London. Already the largest city in the Western world at the beginning of the century, London continued to expand, reaching a population of 1 million by 1800. It was almost completely rebuilt after a great fire destroyed much of the city in 1666. Eighteenth-century improvements included sewers, water mains, streetlights, and even the numbering of houses. One out of every eleven Britons lived in the capital. London was the center of every important institution in the nation except for the universities, which were located in Cambridge and Oxford.

Increased wealth and a rapidly growing population were sustained by the profits of commerce. At the beginning of the century, Britain still competed on an equal footing with the Dutch, the Spanish, and the French. By the century?s end Britain was the dominant commercial power in the world marketplace. Traders bought brightly colored cotton cloth in Asia; they exchanged the cloth in Africa for slaves, who were brought either to the southern colonies in America or to the West Indies. In the West Indies slaves were exchanged for sugar, the most desirable of the products of the Americas.

The importation of goods from British colonies and the exportation of these goods all over the world became the key to British prosperity. Roads were built connecting London to every other center of population, and canals were excavated to connect inland waterways so that goods could move farther faster. Commerce drove the expansion of the shipbuilding industry, provided tens of thousands of jobs for laborers on the London docks, and spawned wholesale and retail trade everywhere. Commerce was so important to the British economy that Scottish economist Adam Smith described Britain as ?a nation of shopkeepers.?

Industrialization and Progress

Early Stages of Industrialization

The development of industry in Britain was a long and gradual process. Industrialization took place earlier and more rapidly in Britain than anywhere else because existing conditions were favorable in England. A system of internal waterways and canals and the absence of physical barriers to trade made the transport of goods less difficult than in other nations. Coalfields and thick forests, located conveniently close to large deposits of metal ores, provided fuel to power the furnaces that produced iron. Thriving commercial banks provided financing for investments in industrial plants and machinery.

Advances in agriculture also contributed to the industrialization process. Beginning in the mid-17th century, England underwent a process of agricultural improvement that enabled fewer farmers to feed more people while cultivating the same amount of land. Between 1750 and 1800, grain yields rose 50 percent; this increase sustained the steadily rising population, which in England grew from 5.5 million in 1750 to around 9 million in 1801, to over 16 million by 1851. Agricultural improvement not only produced more food at cheaper prices, it also allowed farms to produce more food with fewer workers. Workers who could no longer find work on farms migrated to the towns in search of employment. As a result, there was a dramatic shift in population during the 19th century from the agricultural southeast to the Midlands and the north, where industry was located.

The first phase of industrialization centered on the production of cotton clothing. At the beginning of the 18th century Britain still imported finished cotton cloth from India. Soon domestic manufacturing reversed this flow, and England became the world?s primary supplier of cotton cloth. Two developments made this possible: the availability of cheap raw cotton from Egypt and America, and the invention of new machines that enabled workers to spin more thread and weave more cloth.

One of these new machines was known as the spinning jenny. It used foot pedals to control the spinning of multiple threads. This device allowed a worker to spin 200 times as much thread in 1815 as could be spun 50 years earlier. Another mechanical device, the flying shuttle, quickly and automatically passed thread through a loom, the device on which cloth is woven. This flying shuttle enabled one person to operate a loom, whereas previously it had taken an entire team of workers.

The operation of machinery became more efficient and profitable with the addition of waterpower and later the perfection of the rotary steam engine by Scottish inventor James Watt. Cotton production soared. By 1815 Britain was exporting 100 times the amount of cotton it had exported half a century earlier. Cotton became its most important product.

With the introduction of machinery, factories became the site of organized production of textiles, replacing small-scale manufacture in the home. At first most factories were comparatively small, employing fewer than 100 workers. They were efficient and initially allowed families to remain together, husbands weaving, wives spinning, and children fetching and carrying. Ultimately, however, factories disrupted family life. Women and children easily operated the power-driven machines, and they worked the same 12-hour days as men. Since factory owners could pay women and children lower wages, men were driven out of the industry. The craft of handloom weaving disappeared amidst great hardship. An occupation that employed about 250,000 men in 1820 sustained fewer than 50,000 by 1850.

In some communities, displaced workers attacked factories and factory owners. In others, rioters known as Luddites attacked the machines themselves. Luddites attempted to defend their communities and their way of life, but they were unable to stop the development of new factories. Factory owners grew rich by producing cheap, durable cottons with the new machines.

Iron and Railroads 

Iron was the miracle product of industrialization. Engineers used it to build the machines that powered production and ultimately the rails and engines that powered distribution. Iron had long been refined in England in furnaces that used charcoal as fuel. This process, known as smelting, involved heating iron ore to high temperatures to remove most of the impurities. However, charcoal left some impurities in the iron, which made it difficult to cast the iron into bars. Abraham Darby, an English iron manufacturer, discovered that smelting with coke, a purified form of coal, made possible the production of a better product. Newly developed techniques allowed the iron to be heated and stirred in great vats until impurities had burned off. Factory workers then fed the cooling iron through rolling machines that formed it into bars. By 1850 English manufacturers were producing more than half of the world?s iron.

The most important use of this enormous output of iron was in building railroads. The railroads developed as a result of the technological advances made during the Industrial Revolution. The iron factories produced high-grade material suitable for constructing train engines and tracks. Skilled ironworkers provided machine parts of exact sizes. Inventors put Watt?s steam engine to use, first to pump water from mines, then to drive pistons up and down, and finally to generate the rotary motion that propelled the wheels of trains.

Systems of rails and carriages had long existed to move coal from the mines to the barges on which it was shipped. Humans or horses pulled these carriages. After 1800 inventors began experimenting with Watt?s steam engine as a means of powering carriages. In 1829 engineer and inventor George Stephenson created an engine that could pull three times its weight and outrun a horse. The following year the first important railway opened, carrying coal and bulk goods between Manchester and Liverpool. It soon carried more people than products. Passenger travel by rail was faster, cheaper, and more comfortable than travel by coach. The introduction of the railroad changed forever concepts of speed and distance that were centuries old. Hundreds of independent railway companies sprang up. They invested millions of pounds to employ hundreds of thousands of laborers to lay thousands of miles of iron track. All railroad lines ultimately connected to London, the commercial center of the nation.

The Impact of Industrialization

Industrialization transformed nearly every aspect of British life. Glasgow came to rival Edinburgh as a center of wealth in Scotland. Ireland, which had grown faster than Scotland throughout the 18th century, failed to industrialize and remained largely agricultural, with dire consequences. Famine devastated Ireland in 1845 after a fungus destroyed the potato crop, which had become a staple of the Irish diet.

In 1851, for the first time, manufacturing employed more workers than agriculture. The growth of industrial cities was staggering. While the population as a whole grew by 100 percent between 1801 and 1851, the population of towns such as Liverpool and Manchester grew by 1,000 percent. Town authorities found it impossible to regulate the explosion in the population. Landlords constructed ramshackle housing simply to provide shelter. In Liverpool thousands of people lived in basements without light or heat. Sanitary conditions were appalling; in one Manchester district there were 215 people for every toilet. London, which had about 1 million inhabitants by 1801, grew to more than 2.3 million by 1850, many of them living in poverty. More remarkably, 9 towns had populations of more than 100,000, and more than 50 had populations of more than 20,000. Urbanization, with its costs and benefits, came to Britain all at once.

At one level, industrialization consolidated Britain?s position as the greatest power in the world. By 1830 Britain produced half of Europe?s iron and cotton, three-quarters of its coal, and nearly all of its steam engines. The English supplied the technological expertise for engineering in other countries, and they planned the railway systems for nearly all of Europe. In 1851 the Great Exposition, a public exhibition that highlighted Britain?s industrial achievements, took place in London. Architects and iron manufacturers constructed the Crystal Palace of iron and glass to showcase Britain?s accomplishments.

Britain?s vast overseas empire was now as much a consumer of British manufactured goods as it was a supplier of Britain?s raw materials. Steam-powered ships made the world a smaller place in the same way that railroads had shrunk the British Isles. Bulk cargoes were now easily moved around the globe, and wealth poured into London and the commercial ports in western Britain. By rough estimates, the per capita wealth of England tripled from 1801 to 1851, a remarkable growth considering that the population doubled.

This increase in wealth, however, did not benefit everyone. If the standard of living rose for some, the quality of life declined for others. Agricultural labor was performed to seasonal rhythms by the light of the sun, but the clock governed factory production, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Factory work was dangerous, dirty, and unhealthful, but those who could get it were considered lucky compared to those who begged or starved in the streets.

In the first phase of industrialization, workers were unprotected by social legislation?even efforts to eliminate child labor met serious opposition. Few safety regulations existed. There was no relief for those who could not afford food until, in 1795, a group of local justices in Berkshire inaugurated what was known as the Speenhamland System, after the British parish in which it was pioneered. This system offered wage supplements pegged to the price of bread and the size of a worker?s family. Local governments in other regions instituted similar programs. This did little to help the unemployed, however, and had the unintended effect of lowering wages. Employers discovered that, with relief available to workers, they could offer less in wages. In years of poor harvests, low investment, or economic slump, there was great misery among the poor.

Workers attempted to organize to force better conditions, but without protection against dismissal, their efforts were sporadic Because the Tories continued to fear the radicalism that had developed in the wake of the French Revolution, protest movements met a forceful response. In 1819 Parliament passed the Six Acts in response to rioting. These acts curtailed civil liberties by limiting the freedom of the press, restricting public meetings, and increasing penalties for those who advocated action that might cause public disturbances. Other laws prohibited political rallies and the formation of labor organizations.

To protect the interests of landlords, Parliament passed the Corn Laws of 1815, which placed taxes on imported grain. The repeal of the income tax in 1817 benefited merchants and manufacturers. At the same time, however, Parliament shifted the major burden of taxes onto commercial and industrial businesses, whose owners were largely unrepresented in Parliament. The poor resented new taxes passed on consumption goods such as tea, beer, tobacco, and sugar, which were the few luxury items in their lives.

There was increasing sentiment for radical reform among leading intellectuals. The ideas of British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who in his philosophy of utilitarianism preached that the aim of government should be the greatest happiness for the greatest number, were particularly influential. Romanticism in poetry?led by William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Lord Byron?stressed natural freedom over the constrictions of the traditional world. There were only two real areas of progress in these years, however. The first was the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833. The second was in matters of religion. In 1828, under increasing pressure from dissenters (Protestants who were not members of the Church of England), Parliament repealed the Test Acts. These acts had barred dissenters from working in government jobs and the professions, and from attending universities. In the following year, after a long struggle in Ireland, Parliament removed the legal restrictions that had prevented Catholics from holding public office in the United Kingdom. The issue of Catholic emancipation was so divisive that it split the Tory Party.

With the Tory Party divided, the Whig government of Charles Grey, 2nd earl Grey, took office in 1830. Grey?s govWith the Tory Party divided, the Whig government of Charles Grey, 2nd earl Grey, took office in 1830. Grey?s government finally instituted parliamentary reforms that restructured the outdated electoral system. Prior to Grey?s reforms, only voters who owned sizable areas of land in a patchwork of districts created during medieval times could elect members to the House of Commons. This system denied the vote to merchants, manufacturers, and skilled laborers who did not own land. Regions that had been prosperous hundreds of years earlier were overrepresented in Parliament while many new urban centers had no representation at all. Some parliamentary seats were virtually owned by individuals. One town represented in Parliament had disappeared under the sea.

2.Agitation for Political Reform

The Reform Bill of 1832 was the first successful attempt to correct these inequities. Although the bill was a moderate compromise, it was defeated twice in the House of Lords; only when King William IV threatened to create a number of new Whig peers in the House of Lords was it allowed to pass. The act decreased the amount of land one had to own to qualify to vote, especially in towns. It redistributed nearly one-quarter of the seats in the House of Commons, mainly from the agricultural southwest to the industrial northwest, but this was still far too few seats to reflect the redistribution of population. More than 250,000 adult males were added to the electoral rolls, but still only 20 percent now had the vote in England; the figure was 12 percent in Scotland, and 5 percent in Ireland.

The Reform Act of 1832 was a bitter disappointment to many radicals who had hoped for fundamental change. Social discontent in embers to the House of Commons. This system denied the vote to merchants, manufacturers, and skilled laborers who did not own land. Regions that had been prosperous hundreds of years earlier were overrepresented in Parliament while many new urban centers had no representation at all. Some parliamentary seats were virtually owned by individuals. One town represented in Parliament had disappeared under the sea.

2.      Agitation for Political Reform

The Reform Bill of 1832 was the first successful attempt to correct these inequities. Although the bill was a moderate compromise, it was defeated twice in the House of Lords; only when King William IV threatened to create a number of new Whig peers in the House of Lords was it allowed to pass. The act decreased the amount of land one had to own to qualify to vote, especially in towns. It redistributed nearly one-quarter of the seats in the House of Commons, mainly from the agricultural southwest to the industrial northwest, but this was still far too few seats to reflect the redistribution of population. More than 250,000 adult males were added to the electoral rolls, but still only 20 percent now had the vote in England; the figure was 12 percent in Scotland, and 5 percent in Ireland.

The Reform Act of 1832 was a bitter disappointment to many radicals who had hoped for fundamental change. Social discontent in o had hoped for fundamental change. Social discontent in Britain came to mirror the country’s emerging class structure. The wealthy, who had been divided between landowners and capitalists, gradually merged into a single ruling class that dominated the government, the church, and the military. Birth and family connections combined to define its members, who attended elite public schools and universities. The middle classes, which had expanded greatly in the 18th century, now participated in the political process as a result of the Reform Act. Their values of tight-knit families, religious observance, and moral personal conduct were to characterize the coming Victorian eraThe working class became the outsider looking in. By far the biggest class, workers had few rights and little security. The ruling and middle classes looked upon the working class with suspicion and feared their numbers and their potential for violence. However, they also provided the leaders who agitated for reforms in working conditions, political rights, and economic justice that ultimately improved the lives of British workers.

Two important political parties emerged during the 1830s. The Whig faction in Parliament combined with a group of radicals to create the Liberal Party, which devoted its energy to government reform, free trade, and the extension of voting eligibility to a larger percentage of the population. The Conservative Party evolved as the successor to the Tory Party. The Conservatives were staunch supporters of the monarchy and championed the cause of imperialism.

In the mid-19th century two significant reform groups presented their programs to government: the Anti-Corn Law League and the Chartists. The Anti-Corn Law League championed free trade and advocated the removal of high taxes on imported grains. The Chartists hoped to expand political participation to members of the working class.

Agitation for repeal of the Corn Laws came from middle-class radicals who believed in free trade rather than protection. They argued that the Corn Laws only benefited rich landowners whose profits came at the cost of expensive bread for everyone else. The terrible potato famine in Ireland, which began in 1845 and killed nearly 1 million people, finally convinced Prime Minister Robert Peel & Chartism championed the cause of workers by demanding that they receive full political rights. In imitation of the Magna Carta, which had secured the rights of the nobility from the crown in 1215, the Chartists produced a People’s Charter. The charter advocated the extension of the vote to all adult males, the redistribution of parliamentary seats on the basis of population, and the use of the secret ballot. The Chartists presented their program to Parliament in 1839, 1842, and 1848. Each time Parliament decisively rejected it.

Eventually nearly all of the Chartist demands were met. The male electorate was doubled by the Reform Bill of 1867, which extended the vote to many men working in urban areas, and then tripled by the Reform Bill of 1884, which extended the vote to agricultural workingmen. Both bills furthered the redistribution of parliamentary seats, and the bill of 1884 virtually conceded that further reform must be made on the basis of population. The secret ballot was introduced in 1872. It was not until 1918 that all men and women received the vote. trade rather than protection. They argued that the Corn Laws only benefited rich landowners whose profits came at the cost of expensive bread for everyone else. The terrible potato famine in Ireland, which began in 1845 and killed nearly 1 million people, finally convinced Prime Minister Robert Peel to repeal the laws in 1846. The repeal split the Conservative Party, but it made Britain the world?s leading advocate of the principle of free trade.

Chartism championed the cause of workers by demanding that they receive full political rights. In imitation of the Magna Carta, which had secured the rights of the nobility from the crown in 1215, the Chartists produced a People?s Charter. The charter advocated the extension of the vote to all adult males, the redistribution of parliamentary seats on the basis of population, and the use of the secret ballot. The Chartists presAs the social consequences of industrialization became more apparent, so did the need for government oversight of working and living conditions in the mushrooming industrial cities. Many social reformers believed that government should restrict the influence of powerful individuals. Others believed in the philosophy of self-help. Self Help was also the title of a mid-century best-seller by social reformer Samuel Smiles. In this 1859 work, Smiles presented short, inspirational biographies of famous men and urged his readers to improve their own lives by following these examples.

The underlying belief of Victorian society was in progress?that things were better than ever before and could be made better still. This belief was the impetus for thousands of voluntary associations that worked to improve the lives of the poor both at home and abroad. It also underlay the charitable foundations created by wealthy benefactors and the public philanthropies of some of the greatest industrialists. Social experiments were conducted by individuals such as factory owner Robert Owen, who founded utopian communities in which wealth was held in common. Novelists such as Charles Dickens were ardent social reformers who brought the intolerable conditions of the workhouses and the factories to the attention of the public in their books. Dickens?s novels Oliver Twist (1837-1839) and Hard Times (1854) are examples of this kind of literature.er Twist (1837-1839) and Hard Times (1854) are examples ofChild Labor

The earliest and most persistent movement for social reform concerned child labor. Children formed an important component of the industrial labor force because employers could pay them lower wages. From a very young age they worked the same hours as their parents in the same difficult conditions. Parliament first limited the hours children could work in textile factories in 1833, following a public outcry over a parliamentary inquiry into working conditions for children. The law prevented children under nine years of age from working more than nine hours per day. In 1842 a law extended this protection to children working in mines.

Limitation of the hours that children worked fed naturally into the movement for child education. In the 1860s less than one in seven British children had any formal education, and literacy was declining. Elementary schools were operated by private individuals or religious societies and were financed by charitable donations, personal grants, or fees paid by students. The Education Act of 1870 mandated that local districts establish public schools supported by local taxes. An act of 1881 finally made education compulsory for children aged five to ten. in common. Novelists such as Charles Dickens were ardent social reformers who brought the intolerable conditions of the workhouses and the factories to the attention of the public in their books. Dickens?s novels Oliver Twist (1837-1839) and Hard Times (1854) are examples of this kind of literature.

Child Labor

In 1868 leaders of individual unions formed a Trades Union Congress to coordinate action among the unions, even though the formation of unions was illegal at the time. Up to that time, only highly skilled workers such as engineers had formed successful unions and bargained collectively. In 1871 the government formally recognized the existence of unions and their right to strike, although picketing remained illegal. In addition, the responsibility of unions for the acts of their members continued to threaten their financial existence. A strike by London dockworkers in 1889 secured an incontestable victory for the labor movement. Despite the use of nonunion workers and threats from the police and the government, dockworkers held firm until they won a minimum wage. Following the strike, the labor unions became a force in British politics. At the beginning of the 20th century, representatives from unions and other labor organizations formed the Labour Party to secure the election of politicians sympathetic to labor issues. During the 20th century Labour emerged as one of the two major political parties in Britain.

3.      Gladstone, Disraeli, and Victorian Politics

Victorian politics were characterized by the contest between two great party leaders, William Gladstone of the Liberal Party and Benjamin Disraeli of the Conservative Party. Gladstone came from a Liverpool merchant family, went to school at Eton and Oxford?two of England?s most prestigious schools?and moved effortlessly into government. Originally a Conservative, he broke with the main body of the party when he supported the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1859 he joined the Liberal Party, ultimately becoming its leader.

Disraeli?s background was quite different. His father was a Jewish intellectual who broke with his synagogue following an argument and baptized his children into the Church of England. The fact that Disraeli was a member of the Church of England made him eligible to serve in Parliament. Disraeli did not receive an elite education and supported himself first as a novelist. He, too, entered the Conservative Party, but he supported the Corn Laws and remained in the Conservative mainstream, twice serving as chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister in charge of finances. Disraeli introduced the Reform Bill of 1867, which gained the Conservatives the support of the urban middle classes when it extended the vote to them. He briefly became prime minister in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880. Disraeli identified the Conservatives with the monarchy, the church, the landed interests, and the strengthening of the -underline: none">2.      Gladstone, Disraeli, and Victorian Politics

Victorian politics were characterized by the contest between two great party leaders, William Gladstone of the Liberal Party and Benjamin Disraeli of the Conservative Party. Gladstone came from a Liverpool merchant family, went to school at Eton and Oxford?two of England?s most prestigious schools?and moved effortlessly into government. Originally a Conservative, he broke with the main body of the party when he supported the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1859 he joined the Liberal Party, ultimately becoming its leader.

Disraeli?s background was quite different. His father was a Jewish intellectual who broke with his synagogue following an argument and baptized his children into the Church of England. The fact that Disraeli was a member of the Church of England made him eligible to serve in Parliament. Disraeli did not receive an elite education and supported himself first as a novelist. He, too, entered the Conservative Party, but he supported the Corn Laws and remained in the Conservative mainstream, twice serving as chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister in charge of finances. Disraeli introduced the Reform Bill of 1867, which gained the Conservatives the support of the urban middle classes when it extended the vote to them. He briefly became prime minister in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880. Disraeli identified the Conservatives with the monarchy, the church, the landed interests, and the strengthening of the British Empire. Nevertheless, he supported important elements of social reform legislation.

Gladstone outlasted his rival and served as prime minister on four separate occasions (1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, and 1892-1894). He advocated free trade and was gradually con attempted further reforms, especially to protect impoverished tenants. However, he had little support even within his own party.

The first British Empire was the creation of explorers and traders and was based on an economic relationship between colonies and the mother country. The second British Empire was the creation of bureaucrats and generals and was based on a political relationship known as imperialism. Imperialism involved an effort to rule native peoples by importing British institutions and values, intervening in local affairs, and maintaining a strong military presence. The shift in goals and methods was gradual. The most important colonies of the first empire had developed in sparsely populated regions where native populations were brutally cast aside to establish British colonies. The second empire involved the domination of colonial peoples.

In 1886 demned the British government for failing to respond adequately to the crisis. They also condemned absentee English landlords who evicted their impoverished tenants when they could no longer afford to pay rent. Many of these landlords lived in England and had grown rich collecting rents. They rarely saw their Irish properties and remained unaware of the problems affecting their tenants. Many Irish grew to despise absentee landlords, especially after evictions left thousands of starving tenants homeless.

Gladstone was sympathetic to many Irish grievances. He passed acts that removed the Protestant Church of Ireland as the nation?s official church and that protected tenants from being evicted by landlords. In the 1880s Gladstone attempted further reforms, especially to protect impoverished tenants. However, he had little support even within his own party.

Irish leaders considered Gladstone?s actions inadequate and demanded nothing less than the creation of a free Irish state. In 1867 Irish nationalists formed a secret society, the Fenians, to overthrow British rule and establish an independent Ireland. Irish resistance, led by Irish nationalist politician The first British Empire was the creation of explorers and traders and was based on an economic relationship between colonies and the mother country. The second British Empire was the creation of bureaucrats and generals and was based on a political relationship known as imperialism. Imperialism involved an effort to rule native peoples by importing British institutions and values, intervening in local affairs, and maintaining a strong military presence. The shift in goals and methods was gradual. The most important colonies of the first empire had developed in sparsely populated regions where native populations were brutally cast aside to establish British colonies. The second empire involved the domination of colonial peoples.

British naval power enabled Britain to control a far-flung empire, especially after the development of steam-powered warships. Geographical emphasis shifted from the west to the east; the most important dominions were located in the South Pacific, South Asia, and Africa. India was the centerpiece of the British Empire. British rule in India began with the expulsion of the French from Bengal in 1757 and grew as the British used military conquest to gain direct control over areas of India. Wars in Afghanistan and the Punjab in the 1840s led to British annexation of the northern Muslim provinces. The British created a unified India out of hundreds of separate kingdoms and principalities. The conquest of the eastern territory of Burma (now Myanmar) began in the 1820s and ended following the second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852.

Successive governors-general attempted to bring to the Indian subcontinent what they regarded as Britain’s superior system of law and social relations. They governed through a vast civil service transplanted mainly from Britain. Although the British made significant inroads against the extremes of poverty and disease that existed in India, they generally viewed Indian society as less cultured than their own and treated the indigenous population with contempt. Inevitably a clash of cultures took place. In 1857 there was a mutiny by sepoys (Indian troops in the British military), who sought to protect their social and religious traditions. The sepoys seized garrisons and killed British officers and civilians. British relief forces repeated the process in reverse, and the Sepoy Rebellion left a legacy of mutual hostility.

British expansion into Africa was fueled by the race for colonies in which all of the European powers participated during the decades that followed the 1880s. British traders had long been present on the western coast of Africa, where they dominated the Atlantic slave trade. With the abolition of slavery after 1833, interest in Africa shifted to the east, where the British drove the French from Egypt. In 1882 the British gained control of the Suez Canal, a vital link between Britain’s eastern and western empires.

British explorers such as David Livingstone helped open the interior of Africa to Europeans, while entrepreneurs such as Cecil Rhodes exploited its vast mineral wealth. Rhodes acquired one of the great fortunes of the second empire by gaining control of African diamonds and gold. He dreamed of unifying the eastern side of the continent by establishing a railroad from Cape Town in the south to Cairo in the north, passing only through British controlled territory. Rhodes’s efforts helped trigger the Boer War (1899-1902), in which British troops fought Dutch colonists for possession of some of the richest gold and diamond mining areas of southern Africa. The Scramble for Africa created conflicts between the European powers, and Rhodes’s scheme faltered because of the powerful German presence in eastern Africa.

Seeking to expand the opportunity for trade along the Chinese coast, the British acquired the island of Hong Kong in southern China following the first Opium War (1839-1842) with China. The war broke out when Chinese officials in the port of Guangzhou seized the opium shipments that merchants were illegally importing into China. The British responded by sending a naval force and occupying Hong Kong in 1841.