18 th Century Social and Economic Change

1. 18th Century Social and Economic Change The Dawn of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.

2. Economic and demographic changes • 1700, 80% of western Europeans were farmers; higher % in eastern Europe • Most people lived in poverty. • Significant population growth until 1650; slows down until 1750 when it starts to dramatically rise again.

3. Population Explosion after 1750 • Limits to population growth before 1700: - famine, disease, war • Reasons for population growth: • disappearance of plague • improved sanitation, • improved transportation for food distribution (canal and road building in western Europe), • increased food supply (esp. potato).

4. Falling Death Rates • With the exception of England, birth rates did not significantly rise, but death rates fell. • A better nourished population (due to better weather, better agricultural practices, and better transport) led to people living longer.

5. Impact of Profit Inflation • Inflation due to rising population and increased demand. • “Profit inflation” stimulated economic growth. • By the end of the 18th century, prices outperform wages, leading to hardship for the poor, particularly in France. • Wealth moved more and more from the poor to the wealthy due to high rents and low wages • Regressive tax structure that put the burden on the poor in France and much of the continent caused hardship and led to financial crises.

6. Protoindustrialization • Cottage Industries: first and foremost a family enterprise (also called “putting-out” system) - Occurred during Agricultural Revolution • Putting-out system: city manufacturers took advantage of cheaper labor in the countryside • increased rural population eager to supplement agricultural income. • began to challenge urban craft industry

7. The European Linen Industry

8. Economic Innovation • Changes in Structure and Performance: • Performance – measured by output; generally identified through per capita productivity. • Structure – characteristics that support performance (laws, tax policies, technology, population, etc.)

9. Adam Smith • Smith criticized both guild and mercantile-based economic systems as restraining. • Promoted liaise-faire (i.e. classical liberalism) ideology in The Wealth of Nations (1776). • Free market economy based on division of labor and the fewest government restrictions as possible

10. Why Britain? • Large supplies of coal and iron. • Navigable waterways and access to the sea. Expansion of roads (macadam in Britain, corvee in France). • Merchants had surplus capital from commercial revolution for investment. • Gov’t policies favorable to merchants (property rights, taxes, banking system) • Cultural innovation (dissenters) and free market ideas. • High standard of living; growing population driving demand.

11. Cotton • Demand for cheap cotton goods at home and abroad made textiles the first to industrialize. • Cotton was cheap (slave labor) and durable. • “Putting-out” system could not keep up with demand (lack of organization, distance between workers); this required new system

12. Factory System • The organization of labor in one location allowed for increased production. • The location of factories near rivers and/or seaports allowed for the transportation of goods to be easier and provided power supplies. • Location in urban areas provided cheap labor supply. • Introduction of machines increased per capita production.

13. Inventions • 1733, John Kay: flying shuttle • 1764, James Hargreaves: spinning jenny • 1769, Richard Arkwright: water frame, which improved thread spinning. • 1780s, Edmund Cartwright: steam engine to power looms; factory production of textiles. • 1793, Eli Whitney, cotton gin

14. The Steam Engine • 1700 – Thomas Savery invents steam pump. • 1712 – Thomas Newcomen built steam engine to pump water from mines. • 1769 – James Watt creates more efficient steam engine. • By 1800, steam power was being used to power looms in factories across Britain.

15. Before the Agricultural Revolution • open-field system: greatest accomplishment of Medieval agriculture • village agriculture; 1/3 to ½ of fields lay fallow. • Common land: used by village for livestock – fields shared by peasants. • serfs in eastern Europe were worst off; many sold with lands (like slavery)

16. The Agricultural Revolution • Agricultural Revolution: major milestone in human civilization • impact of the scientific revolution’s experimental method was great • Application of scientific ideas - crop rotation most important feature.

17. Enclosure Movement • end to common lands and open-field system • agriculturalists (land owners) consolidated lands and closed them off • game laws in England prohibited peasants from hunting game • caused considerable friction in the countryside in 17th and 18th centuries

18. Impact of Enclosure • traditional view of enclosure (Marx): poor people driven off the land • recent scholarship: negative impact of enclosure may have been exaggerated • As much as 50% of lands enclosed already by 1750 (much by mutual consent) • 1700: ratio of landless farmer to landowner = 2:1; not much greater in 1800

19. Low Countries • Netherlands and Belgium (Austrian Netherlands) took the lead in agricultural innovations • Increased population meant more food had to be produced • Cornelius Vermuyden: important in drainage of swamp lands into useful farm land. • Huge impact on southern England.

20. England • Viscount Charles Townsend (1674-1738): improved soil by crop rotation (turnips) • Bog and marshes drained extensively, manured heavily, regular crop rotation w/o fallowing • Jethro Tull (1674-1741): seed drill; more efficient than scattering seeds by hand • Robert Bakewell (1720-1795) selective breeding of ordinary livestock (animal husbandry): created larger animals.

22. Atlantic Economy in the 17th and 18th Centuries • Characteristics • World trade became fundamental • Spain and Portugal revitalized their empires and began drawing more wealth from renewed development. • Netherlands, Great Britain, and France benefited most; Great Britain the leading maritime power. • Britain’s commercial leadership based on mercantilism • Navigation Laws: aimed to reduce Dutch trade in Atlantic region (1st in 1651, Cromwell)

23. Atlantic Slave Trade • Basis of the Triangular Trade System. • Nearly 10 million transported. • Millions more died in the ordeal. • In the 1780s, European participation died off, but it was not outlawed by Britain until 1807.

24. South Sea Bubble • South Sea Bubble: responsible for exploiting the asiento other commercial privileges won from Spain after Treaty of Utrecht (1713) • Took over large portion of public debt by receiving gov’t bonds in return for shares of its stock. • Stock values soared but the “bubble” burst in 1720 • England recovered better than France who had created a Mississippi Bubble for New Orleans commerce. • “Bubble Act”: forbade joint-stock companies, except those chartered by gov’t

25. 3 Anglo-Dutch wars (1652-74) • hurt Dutch shipping and commerce • Netherlands’ “golden age”: during 1st half of 17th century, now in decline

26. Colonial Wars: Britain v. France • War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War) (1701-1713) • Treaty of Utrecht (1713): • Britain received asiento (slave trade) from Spain • Britain allowed to send 1 ship of merchandise annually into Panama • Britain received control of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and

27. Colonial Wars: Britain v. France • War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739): started over Spanish anger over British abuse of asiento. • Expanded into War of Austrian Succession the following year • War of Austrian Succession (King George’s War) (1740-1748) • Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748): restored status quo prior to war

28. Colonial Wars: Britain v. France • Seven Years War (French and Indian War, The Great War for Empire) (1754-1763) Continental War primary between Prussia and Austria. • Global war in North America, Caribbean and India. • William Pitt the Elder: successfully led war effort from Parliament for UK; British naval superiority won the day. Flag of Maryland Militia under G. Washington, defeated at Ft. Duquesne

29. Colonial Wars: Britain v. France • Robert Clive defeats French backers in India at the Battle of Plassey (June 1557) • General Wolfe defeated Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham (Battle of Quebec) in Sept. 1759. • Treaty of Paris (1763): • Britain gained all French territory in North America (Canada and the US Midwest) • Spain gained New Orleans and Louisiana. • Removed French from significant position in India.

30. British in India • Took advantage of the teetering Mughal Empire. • The British East India Company grew in power; ruled Bengal. • India Act of 1784 placed India under control of British gov’t • The British Raj transformed India into the “Jewel of the British Crown” in the 19th century.

31. Spanish Colonies • Spain’s Latin American colonies: helped revitalize Spanish empire in 18th c. • gold and silver mining recovered • significant trade with mother country • Creoles elite came to rival top Spanish authorities (about 10% of population) • Mestizos increased to about 20% of population • black slavery in Cuba and Puerto Rico

32. Portuguese Colonies • Portuguese Brazil: about 50% of population African by early 19th c. • more successful in blending races than in Spanish colonies or United States • Slavery remained in place until the end of the 19th century.