18

th

Century Social and Economic Change

The Dawn of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.

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.

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).

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.

Impact of Profit Inflation

  Inflation due to rising population and increased demand.

“Profit inflation” stimulated economic growth.

 By the end of the 18 th 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.

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

The European Linen Industry

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.)

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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 17 th and 18 th centuries

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

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.

England



Viscount Charles Townsend

1738): improved soil by crop rotation (turnips) (1674  Bog and marshes drained extensively, manured heavily, regular crop rotation w/o fallowing 

Jethro Tull

more efficient than scattering seeds by hand (1674-1741): seed drill; 

Robert Bakewell

(1720-1795) selective breeding of ordinary livestock (animal husbandry): created larger animals.

Atlantic Economy in the 17

th

and 18

th

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 (1 st in 1651, Cromwell)

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.

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

Orleans commerce.

for New “

Bubble Act”:

forbade joint-stock companies, except those chartered by gov’t

3 Anglo-Dutch wars

(1652-74)

 hurt Dutch shipping and commerce  Netherlands’ “golden age”: during 1 st half of 17 th century, now in decline

Colonial Wars: Britain v. France



War of Spanish Succession

Anne’s War) (1701-1713) (Queen 

Treaty of Utrecht

(1713):  Britain received

asiento

from Spain (slave trade)  Britain allowed to send 1 ship of merchandise annually into Panama  Britain received control of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and

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

George’s War) (1740-1748) (King  Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748): restored status quo prior to war

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

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.

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 19 th century.

Spanish Colonies

 Spain’s Latin American colonies: helped revitalize Spanish empire in 18 th 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

Portuguese Colonies

 Portuguese Brazil: about 50% of population African by early 19 th c.

 more successful in blending races than in Spanish colonies or United States  Slavery remained in place until the end of the 19 th century.