Industrial Revolution Change Over Time

Amy's change over time essay

In the time period of 1700 C.E. and 1900 C.E. the Industrial Revolution brought about many reforms and changes for the better with many improvements for all people. The politics and government of the West were greatly restructured to give people more equality, freedom, and rights. Culture and society also was affected by the industrial revolution because the people had more rights and society wasn't as rigid and stiff as before the revolution. There were also economic changes that gave people more chances to do what they wanted with their life due to more economic opportunities. Throughout the industrial revolution what did not change was that the economy continuously uses or needs some form of trade and merchants because merchants spread ideas and when people wanted to work from home they had to depend on merchants to buy and sell their merchandise.
Government was restructured to give people in the middle class more representation, freedoms, equality, and rights. This restructuring began with the French revolution in 1789 because King Louis XIV of France caved in his ideas to give the people what they wanted, a more modern parliament that gave the middle class more representation and some subjects were allowed to vote. When the king was beheaded later on, radical and authoritarian powers arose which coded more laws and took away power from the church and aristocrats. In 1786-1790 Charles Cornwallis brought many political reforms to the colonies in India because some of the British who had power there had become corrupt and caused a great famine. In 1799-1815 more political change was brought about because Napoleon Bonaparte came to power and reduced parliamentary power greatly giving more power to the people of his kingdom and also expanding France. When Napoleon was brought out of power the Congress of Vienna met in 1815 and reduced France's influence. But then in 1832 the influence of France was seen in England because a reform bill was made that granted voting rights. In the 1830's and 1840's in Britain the British Chartist movement took place. The Chartists' were artisans and workers who wanted a democracy to give them more voting rights and political freedoms. In 1848 there was more political change with Karl Marx who created socialism. In 1867 Benjamin Disraeli gave the vote to the middle class in his part of Europe. By 1900 there were many feminist movements in politics in the West. Starting with the French Revolution politics and government changed because citizens felt they needed more of a say in what was happening and that they needed more rights, France was just the country to start the ball rolling and get the rest of the West to restructure their government between 1700 and 1900 C.E.
Culture and society took many reforms during the industrial revolution because it became more flexible in this time when more rights were given to the people and the population began to grow with people living longer. 1800-1850 C.E. brought about new forms of art that showed more feeling and realism, a form called romanticism. The many political reforms brought also culture and society changes. Population began to grow and people were living longer because technology improved agriculture which in turn gave people more nutritious foods. Also, the population was improved because of better hygiene and the discovery of germs by Louis Pasteur in the 1880's. In the 1870's education also began to spread more. By 1900 people were discovering more emphasis on leisure time and having family values. There were less class distinctions and more interaction between people. Also during this time culture and society had changes because of many 'thinkers' such as Darwin in 1859, Karl Marx in 1848, Albert Einstein in 1900, and Sigmund Freud. A thinker form France, Charles Montesquieu, had such an impact on culture and society that his ideas influenced America, a completely different part of the world. The church had less power and people were given more freedoms so society wasn't as rigid as it had been previously.
The economy also changed and reformed during the industrial revolution with more people choosing what they wanted to do and more factories although trade was still important. Many people were able to work from home, men and women, but they were dependent on merchants. In 1770 James Watt's invention of the steam engine helped travel and economy. In 1848 Karl Marx's new idea of socialism also changed economy. By 1900 technology had greatly improved and this helped economy because it made work more efficient in factories and in manufacturing. A part of economy that did not change and has always been continuous is trade and merchants playing a role in the economy.
The industrial revolution between 1700 and 1900 brought about many changes and reforms in the West, but something that didn't change as a part of the economy is trade and merchants. As people were granted more freedoms and rights through government and their daily lives in culture and society changed they still needed merchants to buy their products. At the beginning of the industrial revolution when people increasingly wanted to work from their homes they became dependent on urban merchants to buy their products. When technology in factories improved in the middle and end of the industrial revolution merchants were still needed to buy the merchandise from the factory owners and bring products form country to country for the government. Another important aspect that kept the merchants around was because they were still able to spread ideas such as radicals, liberals and socialism.