Identify the issues raised by the growth of Manchester and analyze the various reactions to those issues over the course of the nineteenth century. Thesis: Industrialization rapidly changed the city of Manchester during the nineteenth century. The city experienced both positive and negative effects as a result of being industrialized. The factories caused many health issues for Manchester as a whole such as polluting rivers and filling the air with smog. These reasons and the factories working conditions were enough to harm both the laborers and the gentry alike (Documents one, two, six, seven, eight and eleven).
Although industrialization brought negative effects to Manchester, the city also benefitted from it. By modernizing the city, increasing population, and increasing trade profits Manchester greatly benefitted from being industrialized (Documents one, three, nine and ten). Both the positive and negative aspects of industrialized Manchester brought different reactions from different social classes. The laborers and the poor wanted reforms while politicians and gentry saw no reason to change anything (Documents three, four, and five).
Body 1: The Industrial Revolution made Manchester the biggest industrial town the world had seen in the nineteenth century. Being industrial at all was hazardous to the population’s health. Document one shows two maps that compare Manchester in 1750 and in 1850. In 1750 Manchester was a small town that was hardly industrial. In 1850 Manchester had become a major industrial center and had many factories. These factories created smog which made the air deadly to breathe and polluted rivers and the man-made canals and made them unfit for drinking water or washing clothes.
Document two is an article written by Robert Southey, after he visited Manchester in 1807. Robert comments on how dirty and unclean the city is and claims that “a place more destitute than Manchester is not easy to conceive”. Although some of Robert’s comments might have a little truth behind them, his article cannot be trusted because he is a Romantic Period poet and poets during that time were known to constantly exaggerate. Document six is an article by Edwin Chadwick that comments on the health conditions of Manchester’s laborers. Edwin speaks on the unsanitary living conditions including moldy environments and rotten food.
These conditions would have contributed to bringing disease to the laborers and killing them. Document seven is written by Flora Tristan, a French socialist and a women’s rights advocate. Her document further proves the horrid conditions in which laborers had to work in. She describes what the workers went through and the different medical conditions that killed workers such as black lung in the coal mines and white lung in the textile mills. Each condition affected most workers and killed many of them even after they stopped working. Document eight is a chart that compares the average age of death in rural cities and industrial cities.
This document shows how dangerous it was to live in an industrial city. A laborer in the rural city of Rutland lives just as long as a gentry member in Manchester. Document eleven is a picture showing a few factories within Manchester. The picture displays how factories contributed to the pollution of the city. The factories dump their waste into the rivers and canals making the water unsafe and fill the sir with smog making the air unhealthy to breathe. These conditions alone caused the life expectancy of people in many industrial areas to lower.
An additional document to help show the negative effects of industrialization within Manchester would be a document that gives the account of a worker in a coal mine or textile mill. Body 2: While the Industrial Revolution certainly had numerous negative effects on Manchester, there were a few positive outcomes as well. Document one shows a map of Manchester from 1750 and compares it to a map of the city in 1850. This document shows how industrialization helped to expand a city. When the city expanded more jobs became available from the new factories. The population grew as a response to the increase of jobs and more space in the city.
Document three is written as a response by Thomas Macauley to Robert Southey’s document two. As a Parliament member, Thomas’s response explains that industrialization is necessary to increase national wealth and to improve England as a country. To counter Southey’s argument about the poor state of the peasants, Thomas responds by saying that peasants have always lived like peasants. As a parliament member, the purpose of the document is to prove that as long as the state benefits from industrialization, the lives of peasants are worth it. Document nine is a preface that describes Manchester’s industrial power.
Manchester at the time was one of the most powerful industrial cities in England and was extremely important to England’s industrial operations. This document also shows how broad England’s industrial power over foreign countries was. Document ten is an article that was written in 1868 by William Abram. This document shows how over time, the working and living conditions within Manchester improved as a response to peasant protests. An additional document to help show the positive effects in industrialization would be an article showing how the technology developed from the time period, improved the lives of industrial cities.
Body 3: Industrialization brought many reactions from various social classes. The laborers protested for reforms to better their own conditions. Politicians saw no reason to change the ways of industrialization because profits were being made. Document three gives a politicians point of view to the ways of industrialization. Thomas sees no reason to change ways unless the current ways are no longer profitable or benefitting England. Not once during the document does he mention the welfare of the workers, and that is a source of tension between politicians and workers.
Document four gives the laborers concerns with industrialization. As mechanization increased, agriculture became scarce and this impacted the food source for the workers. This document shows the anger that workers had against the government as well as the government’s lack of concern for the workers’ welfare. Frances Kemble, the author of document four, is a poet and dramatist which makes this document an unreliable account in some ways. Document five is written by a French visitor, Alexis de Tocqueville about the state of Manchester.
In appearance the city is dirty and dreary yet the city is a profitable investment. This document can show that even though industrialization looks wrong to foreigners, the money from industrialization is enough to allow the foreigners to accept it. An additional document to show different reactions within social classes would be a document that shows how a middle class person feels about industrialization. Conclusion: When the Industrial Revolution affected Manchester in the nineteenth century, the effects on the city were both positive and negative with a mixture of reactions.
The Industrial Revolution modernized Manchester and brought a population growth as well as vast profits to the city. However the population growth served as a pathway for unsanitary conditions and the factories caused more health issues for both residents and workers. The different social classes had different reactions to the revolution. Peasants wanted more changes to improve their situations while politicians and the gentry were focused on the profits regardless of how the peasants felt.
