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An Introduction to the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Age of Empire

Spring 2003

Portrait of the Period

� The dominating feeling among the masses was hopefulness.

� One reason for this upsurge of enthusiasm was:

Scientific Advances

� The European public could not but be amazed by the fact that chemists found a way to remove phosphorus from iron ore.

� In Medicine where Lister reduced the danger of blood poisoning by antiseptic surgery.

� Linoleum was discovered in 1860.

� Celluloid in 1863.

� Cement in 1850.

� And vulcanized rubber in 1869.

Charles Darwin�s Work

� Darwin (1809-82) emphasized the survival of the fittest in his Origins of Species.

� **One writer claimed that Origins was �one of the great intellectual events of the century, influencing every department of investigation.�**

� The key element here was natural selection and the survival of the fittest.

� How could this be used outside of biology?

The Optimism of the New Age

� A new wave of materialism swept the developed world.

� Production increased.

� As did trade.

� And the steady acceleration of finance capitalism.

� What accounted for this?

� At what price?

Introductory Observations

� The Industrial Revolution and Agricultural Revolution are interdependent.

� Industry needs the raw materials that agriculture will generate.

� As well as the cheap labor that improvements can afford over time.

� Agriculture depends on industry to provide the equipment that makes agriculture profitable.

Innovations from Industry

� The steel plow

� The reaper

� All made agricultural more efficient.

� Especially on the American Great Plains.

� The mechanical cream separator did wonders for the diary industry.

� Railroads and steam ships quickened the pace of getting goods to market.

� Later, refrigeration cars made it possible to bring fresh beef to a hungry public.

Agriculture

� Europe experienced increases in yields due to the use of fertilizers.

� Especially by the importation of guano from Chile.

� But later in the 1850s the discovery of phosphates deposits.

� Within ten years, yields in England were increased by 20 percent.

� In France, yields were up 10 percent.

Foreign Competition

� All the changes in agriculture came at a time when new grains were arriving in Europe from Australia and USA and Canada.

� What did this allow the British to do?

� Was it possible for the British to increase industrial output by using the surplus farm labor in the new mill towns?

� Did cheap food fuel help the British government adopt free trade?

International Trade and Farming

� No longer was farming a regional or national enterprise.

� Now it was international.

� Take the U.S. for instance:

The Marriage of Science and Agriculture

� Chemical researchers worked in developing artificial fertilizers.

� In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) worked in the area of fermentation.

� This was especially important for the diary industry.

� And even more important for the wine industry.

� But there were some areas that were still behind the times.

Germany Leads the Way

� In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, Britain led the way in the Ag Revolution.

� Especially with the enclosure movement and labor saving devices and improved farm implements.

� But in the early nineteenth century, German scientists managed to extract sugar from Sugar Beets.

� This was done at such a level that it was now commercially feasible.

� Why was this important?

� Now Europe was no longer dependent on foreign sugar.

Work of Justus von Liebig (1803-73)

� He published a few works on agricultural applications.

� Why is this important?

� Because he was a leading German chemist.

� He stressed that plant growth depended on three elements:

Innovation came at a Price

� With the new competition from Beet Sugar the Caribbean Sugar Islands underwent a serious economic decline.

� Farming was no longer the principal occupation of England.

� Manufacturers pressed for free trade, especially in grain, ie, grain imports, in order to keep wages (and prices) down.

� What they did was to press for repeal of the �Corn Laws� or the tariffs on imported grain.

� They established the Anti-Corn Law League to repeal those tariffs.

Repealing the Corn Laws

� The Anti-Corn Law League argued that the Corn Laws artificially kept food prices high.

� And limited the free exchange of finished products for farm products.

� Free trade finally came in 1846 with the repeal of the Corn Laws.

� What drove Parliament to do this?

� How about the black rot that attacked Irish potato crop two years running.

Introduction to the Crisis

� The blight attacked the principal source of the sustenance.

� The potato, King Spud.

� Irish families grew at alarming rates.

� Land was subdivided.

� Then the blight struck.

� Irish tenants were driven off the land.

� The British government was incapable of solving the problem.

The British Response to the Crisis

� Westminister was unable to handle the crisis.

� No welfare organizations existed to handle such an eventuality.

� The Red Cross didn�t exist yet.

� The only remedy was charity and the workhouse.

� But this was an unimaginable crisis in the center of Europe.

� Tens of thousands died.

� Ten of thousands immigrated to the U.S. or Canada.

Political Consequences of the Famine

� The Irish never forgave the British.

� The immigrants joined Anti-British resistance groups.

� One was the Fenian Brotherhood.

� Funds were raised in New York to help in the liberation of Ireland.

� And they still continue to this day.

� More will be covered later in the course.

Irish Immigration and the Poor Laws

� The British under the Poor Law of 1838 and the Amending Act of 1843 provided immigration of the Irish.

� Where did the funds come from?

� Those monies came from Poor Law Unions or local taxpayers.

� But to use that provision, potential immigrants had to be inmates of poorhouses.

� Revisions of the law in 1847 further aided those who sought to immigrate.

Problems with Public Funding of Immigration

� Even as the disaster was unfolding in 1848 only small sums was used for immigration.

� The following year in 1849, Parliament authorized the Exchequer to loan money to �guardians� i.e., the Poor Law Unions to foster further immigration.

� The Poor Law did help people immigrate with a high point coming in 1852.

Poor Assisted to Immigrate from Ireland under the Poor Law Amendments of 1849

� Aug. 1849-March 1851

� March 1852

� March 1853

� March 1854

� March 1855

� March 1856

� March 1857

� 2,592

� 4,386

� 3,825

� 2,691

� 3,794

� 830

� 802

Irish Immigration to the United States

� The first Irish immigrants came in 1809 and picked up after the War of 1812.

� The main flow came in the 1820s � amounting to 44% of the total between 1830-40.

� As a result of the Famine, the Irish total rose to 49% between 1841-50.

� Much of this was aided and abetted by the English and Irish landlords.

� As a means of reducing the Irish Population.

The Irish in America

� Give us your tired and huddle masses apply to the Irish?

� Most were Catholics.

� How were they treated?

� They became victims of nativists who feared the Pope.

� Those were called the Know Nothings for obvious reasons.

� Who attacked Catholics and Catholic Churches at will.

� What jobs did the Irish take?

� Any job that would take them.

Business at Mid-Century

� The first World�s Fair opened in London on May 1, 1851 at the Crystal Palace.

� It showcased all the new innovations of the age.

� The Crystal Palace was unique � stretching for more than a 1/3 of mile in Hyde Park.

� For the visitors in attendance what did it signify?

� Britain was the workshop of the world.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution on People and Nations

� Stimulated Trade.

� Lowered the barriers of distance by improvements in transportation and communications.

� Heightened international tensions by increasing nationalism.

� Inspiring colonialism and militarism in order to gain markets to support industrial growth.

� Raised the standards of living for many.

� Yet at the same time created unemployment and economic misery for many more.

� Led to the rise of unions and other social movements that threatened the prevailing economic structure.

Differing Views on What Should be Done

� Classical economists advocated Laissez-faire.

� Stressing that the government should stay out of the affairs of business.

� The only way a workers lot can be improved is by getting rich.

� The liberals on the other hand government intervention in the market place may be justified.

The Preparation for the Industrial Revolution

� Increasing application of power-driven machinery in the production process.

� The more efficient production of coal, iron, and steel.

� The construction of railroads and other means of transportation.

� The expansion of banking and credit facilities.

Advances in Coal Production

� Coal, like Cotton, led the way in solving technical problems.

� Steam engines pumped water from mines.

� Ventilated mineshafts.

� Provided safety lamps.

� As a result coal production in Britain continued to grow from 1815 through 1856.

� As a result coal was now used not only in factories but in homes too.

Coal and Steel

� With the advent of the Blast Furnace in 1828 and Coke production led to increases in iron production.

� The blast furnace made it possible to develop iron strong enough to be used in bridges and factories.

� Yet even the best grade of iron could not match steel.

� Henry Bessemer developed a converter that removed the impurities by shooting jets of air into the molten metal.

� William Siemens, a German living in England, then introduced the open hearth process to process even scrap metal.

� Bessemer and Siemens then allowed for the massive tenfold increase in Steel production between 1865-1880.

Transportation Innovations

� Railroads consumed considerable amounts of steel.

� About 300 tons for each mile of track.

� Hundreds of miles of canals were built in England and the U.S.A.

� Roads were improved by the John McAdam by the use of crushed stone.

� George Stephenson then put the steam engine on wheels.

� The first RR Engine � Liverpool to Manchester � going twelve miles in 53 minutes in 1830.

RR Development in Britain

� 1838 � 500 miles

� 1850 � 6,600 miles

� 1871 � 15,500 miles

Steam Power at Sea

� **Robert Fulton�s steam boat, Clermont, lead the way in 1807.**

� Soon this spread to Europe and North America.

� At first it was not effective.

� Then Samuel Cunard introduced the first regular transatlantic streamer service in1840.

� This was pretty difficult since coal took up at least half the space.

� This hasten the shift of people and products through out the world.

Communications

� Great Britain introduced the penny post in 1840.

� Utilizing electricity made the telegraph possible in 1844 when the first message was sent from Baltimore to Washington.

� With the telegraph came the first undersea cable connecting England and the continent in 1851.

� Followed by the first transatlantic cable in 1866.

� Followed by Alexander Graham Bell�s telephone in 1876.

Banking and Capital

� All the new innovations required money.

� Often a steady supply of cash.

� At first the money came, especially in Liverpool, from the slave trade.

� Other industries did the same for other cities in England.

� Benjamin Disraeli realized that bankers were so important that he listed the Barings in London and the Rothschilds as major players.

An Introduction to the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Age of Empire

Spring 2003

Portrait of the Period

� The dominating feeling among the masses was hopefulness.

� One reason for this upsurge of enthusiasm was:

� The European public could not but be amazed by the fact that chemists found a way to remove phosphorus from iron ore.

� In Medicine where Lister reduced the danger of blood poisoning by antiseptic surgery.

� Linoleum was discovered in 1860.

� Celluloid in 1863.

� Cement in 1850.

� And vulcanized rubber in 1869.

Charles Darwin�s Work

� Darwin (1809-82) emphasized the survival of the fittest in his Origins of Species.

� One writer claimed that Origins was �one of the great intellectual events of the century, influencing every department of investigation.�

� The key element here was natural selection and the survival of the fittest.

� How could this be used outside of biology?

The Optimism of the New Age

� A new wave of materialism swept the developed world.

� Production increased.

� As did trade.

� And the steady acceleration of finance capitalism.

� What accounted for this?

� At what price?

Introductory Observations

� The Industrial Revolution and Agricultural Revolution are interdependent.

� Industry needs the raw materials that agriculture will generate.

� As well as the cheap labor that improvements can afford over time.

� Agriculture depends on industry to provide the equipment that makes agriculture profitable.

Innovations from Industry

� The steel plow

� The reaper

� All made agricultural more efficient.

� Especially on the American Great Plains.

� The mechanical cream separator did wonders for the diary industry.

� Railroads and steam ships quickened the pace of getting goods to market.

� Later, refrigeration cars made it possible to bring fresh beef to a hungry public.

Agriculture

� Europe experienced increases in yields due to the use of fertilizers.

� Especially by the importation of guano from Chile.

� But later in the 1850s the discovery of phosphates deposits.

� Within ten years, yields in England were increased by 20 percent.

� In France, yields were up 10 percent.

Foreign Competition

� All the changes in agriculture came at a time when new grains were arriving in Europe from Australia and USA and Canada.

� What did this allow the British to do?

� Was it possible for the British to increase industrial output by using the surplus farm labor in the new mill towns?

� Did cheap food fuel help the British government adopt free trade?

International Trade and Farming

� No longer was farming a regional or national enterprise.

� Now it was international.

� Take the U.S. for instance:

The Marriage of Science and Agriculture

� Chemical researchers worked in developing artificial fertilizers.

� In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) worked in the area of fermentation.

� This was especially important for the diary industry.

� And even more important for the wine industry.

� But there were some areas that were still behind the times.

Germany Leads the Way

� In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, Britain led the way in the Ag Revolution.

� Especially with the enclosure movement and labor saving devices and improved farm implements.

� But in the early nineteenth century, German scientists managed to extract sugar from Sugar Beets.

� This was done at such a level that it was now commercially feasible.

� Why was this important?

� Now Europe was no longer dependent on foreign sugar.

Work of Justus von Liebig (1803-73)

� He published a few works on agricultural applications.

� Why is this important?

� Because he was a leading German chemist.

� He stressed that plant growth depended on three elements:

Innovation came at a Price

� With the new competition from Beet Sugar the Caribbean Sugar Islands underwent a serious economic decline.

� Farming was no longer the principal occupation of England.

� Manufacturers pressed for free trade, especially in grain, ie, grain imports, in order to keep wages (and prices) down.

� What they did was to press for repeal of the �Corn Laws� or the tariffs on imported grain.

� They established the Anti-Corn Law League to repeal those tariffs.

Repealing the Corn Laws

� The Anti-Corn Law League argued that the Corn Laws artificially kept food prices high.

� And limited the free exchange of finished products for farm products.

� Free trade finally came in 1846 with the repeal of the Corn Laws.

� **One writer claimed that Origins was �one of the great intellectual events of the century, influencing every department of investigation.�**