In Classessayindustrialrevolution Hasmikgalstyan

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Hasmik Galstyan
Ms. Coble
World Studies
5 February 2016
The Problems of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a time of the rapid development of industry through the
use of machinery in Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries, which had eventually
spread out to other parts of the world, such as China. It was a period during which predominantly
agrarian, rural societies in Europe became industrial and urban. Industrialization marked a shift
to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The Industrial Revolution
was primarily a time of problems for mainly the poor and middle class people because of the
negative environmental concerns, the declining living and working conditions of the people, and
the sudden move to urbanization.
The Industrial Revolution had mainly negative effects due to the environmental problems
that it had caused. In Impressions of Manchester, Alexis de Tocqueville writes, A sort of black
smoke covers the city From this filthy sewer, the wealth of England flows In this Hell upon
Earth, everything which causes horror and anger belongs to the industrial era. This was written
by an outsider, someone who was only visiting the city for the first time since the Industrial
Revolution began. This is their opinion on the matter, and what has become of the city, not of
someone who was actually living there. It talks about how bad pollution has gotten, as well as
what has happened to the sewers, which shows that all the factories have worsened the
environment. Also, on the Report on Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, it
says, Diseases caused or aggravated by the atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing
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animal and vegetable substances, by damp filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail
among the laboring classes. This is a report on the overall situation of the result of Great
Britains manufacturing and what it has less to the laboring population. This shows how because
of all the filth, diseases, and how crowded the cities have become, the place has no longer
become a suitable place to live, like it did at its beginning.
The Industrial Revolution caused many problems to rise up, another of which being the
poor living and working conditions that some of the people, mainly the poor and the middle
class, had. In an excerpt from Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell states, You went down one step
from the foul area into the cellar where a family of human beings lived. It was very dark inside.
The many of the windows were broken and stuffed with rags. The smell was so foul that it
almost knocked the two men down. The author of this book shows sympathy towards the
working class, and how their lives have worsened because of the Industrial Revolution. This
evidence shows how the families are living in this polluted city, and how awful the smell and
ruined the place was. In another document, called Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of
Society, it says, They (most workers) live suspended between an insufficiency of food and an
excess of strong drink; they are all wizened, sickly and emaciated, their bodies thin and frail,
their limbs feeble, their complexions pale, their eyes dead. It shows that because of the terrible
working conditions in the factories and other manufacturing businesses, the workers have
become nothing but bones and flesh on a corpse, appearing as if theyre almost dead. This would
make sense to be true since there are many factories and businesses who are trying to gain as
much money as they can from their goods, so of course they would work their workers to their
limit.
The Industrial Revolution caused some problems due to the sudden shift from rural to
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urban areas. In a previous document mentioned, Impressions of Manchester, Alexis de
Tocqueville says, The homes of the poor are scattered haphazard around the factories. Once
again, this was written by someone who didnt actually live in the city, and had seen it for the
first time since the Industrial Revolution started. It shows how because of the many factories
around the city, peoples homes are more close and clumped together because of home many
people have moved to the city. In a different document, titled The Conditions of the WorkingClass in England, author Friedrich Engels writes, The working man may be lucky enough to
find employment, if by his labor he can enrich some member of the middle classes. But his
wages are so low that they hardly keep body and soul together. The author was a radical
political thinker, and, to him, the Industrial Revolution only seemed to cause greater inequality
between the social classes. Because of how many people there are in the city, it is hard for most
people to find jobs, and if they do, they dont get paid well enough since there are already
hundred of others working that same job.
This is important to know because this shows that if we progress and improve our
technology too fast, it could lead to disaster and chaos for the cities that produce them and even
further out. The Right to Life is one of the human rights that everyone has from the moment
theyre born, but with this, their right to life has all but vanished, replaced with pollution and
factories all around.

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