Week Six

The Industrial Revolution took place in Europe specifically in Britain. The Industrial Revolution was considered the "age of man: and drew from the Scientific Revolution and accompanied the French Revolution in their efforts to transform Europe as well. Life for people during the Industrial Revolution changed drastically, in ways that life had not been changed since the Agriculture Revolution. One of the reasons why it affected the way of life was because the growth of population and the need for energy, local and regional ecological limits had to be pushed and more quantities. I believe that because they were advancing so quickly, they did not think thoroughly of where they putting the excessive waste from the industrial machinery. The reading states that Romantic poets, William Blake and William Wordsworth wrote poems that were against the “dark satanic mills” of industrial England and wanted to return to the “green and pleasant” way of life. I found it very interesting that in the earlier years of industrialization we were aware that we are polluting the earth and even then, people were against the pollution and excessive waste of machinery waste.

I felt like the reading that tried to argue why Europe and Britain were the first to industrialize was extremely vague because I felt like other parts of the world were doing the same, yet they were not as recognized. Islam had generated major advances that was way before the Industrial Revolution but the credit to them seems overlooked, same goes with India who in a way “over industrialized” themselves.  China was and still is the current leader in technological innovation. History is repeating itself. The explanation of “Why Britain?” mentioned that the British had established libraries that had information and publications of recent scientific advances, keeping track to know what else they could invent. Scientist and entrepreneurs worked together.  The British aristocrats encouraged the world of business and welcomed the works of those all different faiths. They just wanted innovative inventions to contribute to their industrial revolution.  

We had discussed in our last class discussion about the Feminist movement and during the industrial revolution, women expected to be their husbands “emotional haven” because they were out in a heartless cutthroat capitalist world. Women were the moral centers of family, educators of “respectability”, and to manage the consumption of the household, which explains why women are expected to like to shop. Back then, women were given the task to shop for the household and at this time, it was a new concept provided by industrial revolution. Status was determined by those who were able employ servants to help the lady of the house take care of the family, one could be middle class with one servant. The new wealth of the industrialization revolution aspired families to become middle class. The amount of women working in the labor force declined but was only temporally because women were back in the labor force working as teachers, clericals, and nurses. Many middle class women in the 19^th century were educated and were very much a part of the labor force. 

Week Five

The Echoes of Atlantic Revolution were influenced by the Enlightentment because the Enlightenment because it was a time that people were thinking for self, it was the age of man and how people thought for themself instead of letting the church dictate what they beleive. It was about seeking truth and seeking evidence through science not because the bible said so. The feminist movement, nationalism, and the abolotion of slavery were echoes of  Atlantic Revolution that were each trying to seek justice for a specific cause.

The Feminist movement was women challenging male dominance, they wanted to the same rights and treatment that men were given. Women were tired of being treated like second class citizens or not even human by men. 

Abolotionist were fighting to abolish slavery for the obvious reasons because it was bad and so many countries were depending on the labor of slaves to sustain their economies. That was not going to continue to work well, especially when countries like Haiti had revolted against their oppressors and became the first slaves to claim their indepence.

Week Four

From the readings this week, I was most intrested by the "Voices of the Slave Trade". The passages themselves were each different and offered different perspective on the slave trade. I thought it was very effective to write letters to the different people who wrote the passages. I chose the second passge because I was a feeling that most would have assumed that one in his position would have being involved in the slave trade. I did not expect him to feel bad or even feel for the slaves he was purchasing, but the language Thomas Phillips used to describe his journey of buying slaves really angered me because he spoke of trading humans as one today would talk about trading stocks. I wrote : A man like yourslef is clearly a money motivated and well educated on how business trades are conducted. Your efforts and profits would be commendable, if you were not selling humans for the benefit of your personal and financial gain. in your passgae you describe your experience as if it was a pleasent journey through the market looking for slaves and barding prices for the finest African you could fine in exchange for goods. Did the horror on the slaves faces not make you feel bad or think that you were doing something wrong? I hope that on your journey back to England you were able to talk to he slaves and get their perspective.

Week Three

Early Modern commerce in people 
"Between 1500 and 1866, this trade in human beings took an estimated 12.5 million people from African societies, shipped them across the Atlantic in the infamous Middle Passage, and deposited some 10.7 million of them in the Americas, where they lived out their often brief lives as slaves" was a passage from the reading that not only made me sad, but hurt me to read. Knowning that my ancestors had to endure such hardships because of their skin color and their different ways of being civilzed, they were taken from their land to become slaves. The defintion of a slave is someone who has no contract or is unwillingly being controlled by another person agianst their will. The Atlantic Slave trade was the most recent large-scale of human trafficking of owning and exchanging human beings. No matter how much I learn about slavery, I am still shocked by the justifications or stories about slavery. Slavery was practiced before the Atlantic Slave trade, in some African countries they sold their own people to different coutries, and slavery was being practiced in other parts of the country as well. The Atlantic Slave Trade bought so many slaves to the new world because of the need and want for sugar. They knew that the labor work was  difficult, dangerous, and nobdoy would want to do it so they relied on slavery to be their source of labor for sugar plantations. This is similar to how American companies product their products in other countries for cheap labor to save money and not paying the proper legal wages.

Week Two

Reading the handout "Sweet Mexus: Sugar and the Orgins of the Modern World" was an eye opening experience to know that something as simple as sugar was once upon a time in history a major factor in the mistreatment and was the justification for having slaves. Slavery and sugar were two of the main investments that people around the world wanted to part take. The reading states that at one point sugar was unknown to Europe and later with exploration of other countries, they were hooked and wanted more. Money was to be made, so mass production of sugar cane continued the high supply and demand for sugar. It was once a luxary and become a necessity, which explains the rapid demand for sugar and how sugar plantations evolved. It was an intresting reading and it explained how the time period of slavery had evolved.

YAY - I'm done