Layla Quinones
SSH104.7761
Januaray 22, 2008
Professor T. Coogan
Source Homework 6
Document 1 (page 128)
1. Apart from its natural resources, what other assets for industrial development did England
possess?
According to Edward Baines, England, unlike any other countries in Europe, had many
circumstances in their favor that allowed for rapid industrialization. First, he states that the canals
that were build for private use, can serve a great importance in transporting goods from one place
to another in an orderly and timely fashion. Second, he mentions that the newly introduced
railways and locomotives would allow for even faster transporting of goods from one location to
another. This rapid transport allowed the country to obtain good easier as well as sell an
abundance of goods that would account for wealth in the nation. Third, Baines points out that the
geography of England has aided in their rapid industrial development. He states that the position
of the country allowed for protection against foreign forces, perfect climate for their natural
resources, and the population of the country, with their patriotic focus of preserving liberty and
peace through work, allowed for many goods to be manufactured increasing the county’s
capitalist market. This in essence, gave great wealth to England that allowed them to further their
industrial development. Lastly, he emphasizes that England’s defense against foreign rule and
the revolutions that swept the continent during that time, allowed England to develop with no
competitors leaving nations to turn to them for merchandise.
2. What were the factory system’s advantages over the domestic system of production?
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The factory system’s advantage over the domestic system was the increased rate of
production that the factory system allowed. Also, due to the division of labor system in factories,
men were able to increase their skill in a particular field; merchandise was cost and time
effective; and new machines were constantly invented to increase production in factories. This
ultimately led to new inventions and discoveries that would better the lives of people around the
world.
3. How, according to Adam Smith, did the division of labor lead to increased productivity?
According to Adam Smith, the division of labor increased the productivity of
merchandise because there were selected individuals that were experts in their field working in
factories. The skilled and trained workers would be able to complete their selected task in a
smaller amount of time than unskilled workers. Also, workers in one factory was more timeefficient that workers working in separate locations because the time of transport between one
skill to another was at a minimum if any. This therefore allowed for goods to be manufactured at
an increased rate with very few mistakes. ]
Document 2 (page 128)
1. What did Adam Smith say were the results of a laissez-faire policy?
According to Adam Smith, the results of a laissez-faire policy would benefit the overall
nation more than a policy that would regulate the economy. He asserted that, if an individual is
lead by his own means and desire to establish a business, he would be more likely to succeed in
rendering revenue for the society as a whole. He asserted that if people were allowed to privately
own their on businesses in benefit to themselves, the mere desire that they would benefit
themselves would make him more likely to succeed and therefore, contribute to the nation’s
economy as well as his own. He also emphasizes that in this way, countries will be able to keep
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civil peace amongst workers who are living for themselves and working for themselves.
Ultimately, an individual would be contributing greatly to the nation’s economy without even
intending to.
2. What, according to Smith, were the duties of the sovereign under the system of natural liberty?
Do you think there are other duties that should be added?
Smith asserts that, under s system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three jobs: to
protect the society from violence and foreign invasion; to protect every member of society from
injustice and oppression and to maintain certain public institutions that would benefit everyone.
I do believe however, that a sovereign should also be obligated to protect the natural rights of
people with no regard to gender, race, or wealth; and to guarantee good health and life for all
people.
3. What are the “fixed laws” of human nature according to Thomas Malthus? For Malthus, how
did the power of population growth compare with that of the means to increase food?
According to Malthus, the “fixed laws” of human nature are that people need food to
survive and, that the passion between male and female will remain as it is forever. He asserted
that due to these “fixed laws,” population growth will forever increase and the earth’s ability to
supply the necessities of life would not be able to keep up. He also states that population growth
increases in a geometric ratio while substance increases at an arithmetical ratio and therefore,
would not keep up with the first.
4. What distinction did Malthus draw between preventative and positive checks to population
growth?
Malthus declared that the preventative check on population would be an individual’s
ability to understand the divisions of food between a family and how it would affect him in terms
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of economic status and health. The positive check that Malthus suggested was all the natural
phenomena that occur in the world and result in the death of people. In this category he includes
disease, war, famine, plaque epidemics, poverty, etc. The preventative check would have the
ability to prevent population growth and the positive check would reduce a population that
already exists.
5. Why is Malthus considered to have been pessimist?
Malthus was considered a pessimist because he had no faith in humanity to survive on its
own. He also had no faith in nature to sustain population growth amongst humans. Basically,
instead of think for the best, he thought for the worst and declared humanity doomed if people
did not change their ways.
6. Do any of Malthus’s arguments apply or our world today?
I believe that Malthus’s argument about poverty and population applies to the society we
live in today. I believe that his opinion that, considering that an individual is not in an
impoverished state on his own, that a person can bring poverty to himself by having too many
children to feed. This however only pertains to the circumstance that an individual is not
impoverished on his own, marries a woman with no children, or has no family to attend to.
However, his idea that poverty is brought upon by the individual is not accurate in other
circumstances therefore, not accurate for the masses.
Document 3 (page 137)
1. According to the testimony given the Sadler commission, how young were the children
employed in the factories? How many hours and what times of day did they work?
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According to the testimony given to the Sadler commission, children were employed as
young as eight years old. These children were subjected to work fourteen hours a day, and
sixteen hours a day if trade was high.
2. What do you think were the reasons for the employment of children from the employers’ point
of view? From the parent’s point of view?
I think that during this time the reasons for employing children in factories, for the
employer, were to keep up with rapid industrialization and the demands of goods. Also because
they felt that children were easier to control, and teach the mechanics than adults. In addition,
these children were employed at a small wage, making it advantageous for the employers to hire
them instead of adults as well. As for the children’s parents must have been impoverished, the
population growth must have forced them to employ their children at a factory so that they would
be able to earn enough money to survive. In addition, the only place that these children were able
to obtain jobs was in these harsh factories.
3. What measure were employed at factories to keep the children alert at their tasks?
Factory employers would beat and torment children in order to guarantee that they
worked as effective as possible. If children were to come in late, they would beat them so that
they would never come late again; if children were to slow down their production due to fatigue,
they also would be beaten so that they would wake up and continue working productively. I can
only speculate however for the female workers, that they were frightened of the male factory
employers due to rape and sexual exploitation, and their fear allowed them to work hard and
effectively. The beating of children would often be brutal and carried out with a whip, cord, or
stick. These beatings would be severe and bloody, according to the testimony.
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4. According to James Phillips Kay, what harmful effects did industrialization have on factory
workers and their families?
According to James Phillips Kay, due to industrialization, factory workers were employed for
unreasonable hours a day and reduced the quality of life for him and his family. He asserts that
industrialization brought upon reduced values, morals, health, happiness, intelligence, hygiene
etc. This was due to the amount of hours that individuals were forced to work in order to support
their families. Also due to the increased demand for workers in factories, many industrial cities
were over crowded, unsanitary and unhealthy. This lifestyle allowed for few if any pleasures that
affected the relationship within families and people in the community. He stresses that, with no
time for pleasure, worker’s moral and ethics diminished as well as their children’s and their
family’s.
Document 4 (page 139)
1. Judging by the Berlin factory rules, what were the differences between preindustrial and
industrial work routines?
According to the factory rules, preindustrial work routines would allow for some room
for mistakes. For example, during industrial times, no worker is allowed to be late or absent
without deduction of pay, however, I can speculate that preindustrial work allowed for these
exceptions sometimes. Also, preindustrial work routines were not as strict as the industrial work
routine and allowed for exceptions for leaving before the work day, varied hours, days off,
increased hours for meals, smoking, speaking, etc. However, according to these rules I can also
speculate that during preindustrial times, workers were less obedient to the rules of their
workplace therefore, the industrial work routine had to incorporate harsh punishments for
breaking the rules.
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2. How might these rules have affected the lives of families?
These rules would defiantly affect the life style of the workers as well as their families in
a negative way. People, who work under harsh conditions for many hours in an unhealthy
environment, grow angry as a result of fatigue and have minimal amount of time to dedicate to
their families. This consequently affects the way that children are raised, the overall health of
the family and their quality of life. Also, due to strict rules and consequences, the life style of
workers may also pass on to their families so that the family would also live under strict and
cruel rules in the house as well as strict consequences.
Document 5 (page 142)
1. What, according to Samuel Smiles, were the key values that should guide the individual?
According to Smiles, the key values that should guide the individual are self-help,
growth, selflessness, generosity, knowledge, forethought, prudence, frugality, and labor. He
asserted these key values so that individuals can live to their fullest potential and achieve the
most they can therefore, leading to the most successful person.
2. How did Smiles define success in life?
Smiles defined success as working hard, giving back to the people, keeping
knowledgeable, powerful, and independence. He defined a successful person as one who works
hard for what they earn and have knowledge about the world so as to use to their advantage.
Ultimately, a successful person becomes so though hard work.
3. What, in his opinion, were the enemies of individual and national achievement?
The enemies of individual and national achievement, according to Smiles, are laziness,
boredom,
wastefulness,
thoughtlessness,
vanity,
vice,
intemperance,
and
overall
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unproductiveness. It is people who exemplify these characteristics that Smile says bring down
society and increases poverty, unhappiness and failure.
4. Do smiles’ writings offer good advice to the poor in the United States today? Explain why or
why not?
I do believe that Smile’s advice is good for the poor in the United States today because,
although many impoverished people work very hard without waist, they still remain in their
status due to the job that they have or, the amount of money they MUST spend for survival.
Nowadays, it is very hard for someone to get by with one job and, although there is room for
upward mobility, many people cannot better themselves because of the circumstances they are in
terms of economical and familial situations. In essence, hard work does not necessarily allow
you to better yourself however, it does allow you to survive.
Document 1 (page 149)
1. According to Wordsworth, how could the human being achieve goodness?
According to Wordsworth, a human can achieve goodness through nature and himself. In
his poem he points out that knowledge from books only leads you away form nature and into a
classroom. For Wordsworth, goodness is achieved in understanding yourself through the natural
things around you and the natural emotions that you feel. For him, to understand yourself and
your being is to understand the universe.
2. In “Tables Turned,” what connection did Wordsworth see between nature and the human
mind?
Wordsworth connects the human mind in nature in the way that they are all natural and
are connected to one another. He believes that through nature and our natural being, our minds
would become wise in understanding ourselves, our planet and our existence. The connection
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between the human mind and nature is that they go hand in hand and the mind is able to grow
only through natural observations of ourselves and our surroundings.
3. Why did William Blake attack reason?
William Blake attached reason because, to him, it was the destruction of the human spirit.
He considered the human spirit to be manifesting out of inspiration, imagination, emotion, and
self awareness. He declares that reason, as well as all Enlightenment ideas, are the “Science of
Despair” (151). He also states that the phiosophes who question lose the sight of what is really
important meanwhile, they can never deduce any concrete answers for their speculations. In
addition he also declares the idea to question, to write and to philosophize is one with intentions
to “gratify ravenous Envy” or, to get recognition.
4. The Romantic Movement was a reaction against the dominant ideas of the Enlightenment.
Discuss this statement.
The Romantic Movement in essence, was a revival of the human spirit, emotion,
imagination, spontaneity, uniqueness and human individuality. Consequently, these ideas went
against the Enlightenment ideals of reason, mechanics, universal laws, etc. because it
emphasized that the true meaning of life is not to contemplate but is to appreciate the pure
essence of being human. Romantics did not believe that the universe functioned on a universal
level were everything is accounted for, they believed in “grey areas” so to speak. They believed
that it was through human emotion, feeling and the connection humanity had with nature, people
can generate wisdom and virtue. Ultimately, Romantics felt that the overall theme and ideas of
the Enlightenment accounted for the distortion of the human spirit and imagination in essence,
what makes us human.
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5. How does Beethoven’s view of music express the romantic temperament?
Beethoven’s view of music expresses Romantic characteristics because he focused on his
talent rather than the mechanical view of music, to write and compose. He composed his music
not to fulfill any kind of public opinion but to emphasis and express him emotions. Even in the
process in which his music was composed was romantic: in a fit of talent and emotions. He
emphasized the key feature that his music was supposed to invoke intense emotion in the
listener. He wanted his music’s appreciation to be induced by invoked emotions and inspiration.
These, in fact, were the feature of Romanticism and it allowed Beethoven to turn the page for
music during his time and led music into the Romantic era.