Industrial revolution (governm essays

Industrial revolution (governm essays How far did popular unrest contribute to political reform? The pressure supplied by large numbers of people and many different lobby groups at the time of early industrialisation, did to a large extent, help forge a way for political reform, however it was not the only factor. In the metamorphosis period of industrialisation where British industry went from cottage to factory styles of production, the working classes suffered a huge fall in living and working conditions. Disease was out of control, sanitation was non-existent and child and women labour were the flavour of the day. These deplorable conditions awakened a social consciousness in the lower gentry that had such an intimidating effect on the aristocracy that change was imminent. Ideas such as Marxism, socialism, Chartism, liberalism, utilitarianism and humanitarianism were grafted into the bourgeoisie psyche. The period 1760-1830 saw an incresed concern for human unhappiness, and especially for that of the young. It was Peel who, stimulated by a Manchester physician, Thomas Perci val, pressed on Parliament the need for regulation of the factories. His Act of 1802, the Health and Morals of Apprenticeships Act, limited hours of work and prescribed minimum standards of hygiene and education. Also the emergence of a middle class, suppressed with little to no political power also contributed to political reform. Thus with prevailing melancholy over the working and middle classes political reform was recognised by the oligarchy as a way of appeasing social agitation and accordingly a way of maintaining power. The fear of a peoples revolution was foremost on the minds of the landed aristocracy in Britain during industrialisation. The French Revolution in 1789 saw people power topple the hierarchy due to calamitous living conditions and hunger. These events in France made the British aristocracy make sure that if change was going to happen, then it was going to be dictated...