Revolutions, industrial society, and the American War of Independence

In a Nutshell

As últimas décadas do século XVIII foram marcadas por grandes revoluções: a Revolução Agrária e a Revolução Industrial, que moldaram o panomara socioeconómico e político da Inglaterra.

Industrial society

The Industrial Revolution starts in a simple way: towards 1750, there was a great increase in population, which meant a greater demand for goods and food, and, above all, clothing. The times required quicker, more efficient production.

The most important inventions regarded machinery for cloth-making - these machines allowed one man or woman to produce what had once required many workers.

Besides machinery, the transport industry suffered a long-awaited reshape: thanks to James Watt's steam engine, goods became cheaper to transport and in a more efficient way.

New waterways were built and road conditions were improved. Fast road travel and cheap transport by canal made the economic success of the Industrial Revolution possible.

The Agrarian Revolution

There were also great changes in agriculture at this time. The Agrarian Revolution was connected to the Industrial Revolution because they both used the technological progress of the time.

The Agrarian Revolution took two principal forms: the widespread enclosure of "open fields" and common land to make larger, more efficient farms; improvements in the selective breeding of cattle to produce more meat and, in farming techniques, crop rotation and mechanisation.

Capitalism arises

During the 18th century, there was a shifting of population from the agricultural and commercial areas of the south to the north and the midlands, where new factories were built near coal fields which provided them with fuel.

Women and children were increasingly employed because they could be paid less and were easier to control. Industrial cities lacked elementary public services: the air and water were polluted and the houses were overcrowded.

At the beginning of the 19th century, however, the level of unemployment rose as a consequence of the new technologies. Spreading discontent meant that the first three decades of the century were a period of political stagnation and repression.

The American Revolution

In 1760, the American colonies were rich and populated by educated religious and political refugees and economic migrants.

When George III (1738-1820) came to the throne in 1760, Britain was in control of the seas and was enjoying a period of domestic stability and economic expansion.

The British Government wanted the American colonies to help pay for their defence and imposed new taxes. These taxes were the catalyst for the rebellion. One such tax was on the importation of tea.

At the Boston Tea Party in 1773, rebels, dressed as Native Americans, threw the hated tea from Britain into the Boston Harbor. The rebels maintained that the taxes were unjust as the colonies had no political power - "No taxation without representation!"

In England, Edmund Burke recognised the justice of the American cause and Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) stimulated the desire for a republic.

On 4th July 1776 in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). It was more than a statement that the colonies were a new nation since it claimed that all men had a natural right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

It also stated that governments can only claim the right to rule if they have the approval of those they govern - the consent of the governed.

Nonetheless, years later, in 1812, war broke out between Britain and the newly-formed United States of America, which culminated in an American victory and definitive separation from the Crown.