Primary Sources of Industrialization

Industrialization has certainly changed the modern world. It has given us the middle class, political restructure, technology, and new economic principles: communism and capitalism. People of all ages contributed to Industrialization. This included children. During the Industrial Revolution there were no child labor laws or any labor laws in place to protect the workers. In Elizabeth Bentley's testimony of 1831, she states that she started working at a factory at just 6 years old. I remember being that young. I was in school playing on the playground riding my bike learning my shapes carefree. Imagine at such a young age to be working like a 45 year old adult today. It's amazing how legislature and culture has changed so much since then. Without laws protecting children from working, I think in greed people would subject others below them of the middle class to this treatment. Middle class was not easy to reach. It was quite difficult but soon the dream came, one could start at the bottom and later be on top in upper class. In the document of Only a Weaver, it perfectly describes how endless the struggle towards upper class really was. This weaver worked and worked everyday alongside many others with the same dream. They would get the same small wage with long hours with no end in sight. It was unfair. So to combat this capitliastic ideal, Karl Marx decided to come up with a new idea communism. In The Communist Mainfesto, it describes how the classes actually tore apart the industrialized countries. Communism brought everyone down on an equal playing field. Without industrialization there would be no such thing as communism or capitalism. All the primary documents provide a small window into the life of a regular person in the Industrial Revolution. There are good and bad things that came from the Industrial Revolution. We especially in America like to highlight the positive parts of history and the Industrial Revolution is no exception. Instead of constantly talking about how great it was that capitalism came about, we should start talking about the embarrassing parts like child labor, harsh treatment of workers, and pollution that came. This way we can learn not to make these mistakes again especially in our new technological revolution.

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution has impacted current technology, politics, economy and societal structure. It was a time of advances and new discoveries. Europe specifically was the first to find coal and the first to figure out uses for it. With coal they learned how to harvest energy for them. This led to the engine being developed. Soon after, they learned how to use oil natural gas and nuclear to get energy. New developments in industry lead to higher levels of efficiency. Having more efficient forms of transportation with the coal engine means one could more ship products in a smaller time frame. Besides energy, there were strides in agriculture. In Britain they were one of the first to do: “crop rotation, selective breeding, lighter plows higher-yielding seeds,” (Strayer 834). Because of this there was a higher output of food therefore keeping food prices low and allowed for less labor-intensive work (Strayer 834). Because of having less of a necessity for manual labor jobs in farming, this freed up people to pursue passion like politics and business. This came to a creation of a caste system based on income. Farmers were considered lower class business owners considered middle class then upper class was the aristocrats. The Industrial Revolution did not just occur in Europe. There were other Industrial Revolutions in the US, Russia, and Latin America. These Industrial Revolutions actually led to political revolutions too. The people who were oppressed were enlightened by the Industrial Revolution and started to question why they were under someone’s rule. The Industrial Revolution gave inspiration for overthrows of government by the people and led to establishments of socialism and democracy. Having the Industrial Revolution is an example of great strides in the human species with learning how to use the environment around them as well as learning more about themselves (Strayer 859).

Echoes of Revolution

The Atlantic Revolutions echoed in other countries. Countries like "Poland, Latin America, Philippines, China, Ottoman Empire and British-governed India," (Strayer 798) were inspired by the Haitian, French and American revolutions to revolt against their rulers. Beyond the revolutions inspiring other revolutions, other effects of Atlantic revolutions were the abolishing slavery, redefining nationalism, and the feminism movement. With these revolutions there were benefits and also negative consequences. The benefits of these revolutions included changing ideas of "oppression, exploitation, and privilege," (Strayer 810). The successful revolutions were able to reestablish these ideals and are still around to the present day. However to those who weren't successful in these revolutions there were some nasty consequences. Revolutions created tension within the country. Citizens fought against one another creating divisions leaving them vulnerable to outside countries overpowering them again. Wtih each revolution, it lead to a change in not only ideals but also the entire structure of the country. New ideas of what "freedom and independence" took on new meaning. Many of these freed countries from the country ruling them had to define what being truly free is. Like Document 16.2 "Rights and National Indpendence" they had to decide what each man's right is. This led to the question of which "man" gets these rights and what defines someone as eligible for freedom like Document 16.3 "Rights and Slavery." Only certain people were considered worthy to be free while others like slaves were not worthy to have these rights. Atlantic Revolutions changed ideals, society structure, and basic principles of freedom but it certainly did not fix everything in terms of equality, stability, and unity.

Matthew Fox Lecture

Matthew Fox is an accredited author and philanthropist. He has gone on numerous mission trips, started various universities, and redefined religion in an educational setting. Straight out of college he wanted to start his own university that focused on teaching spirituality which in his mentality is teaching to do good. He had students who would later become outstanding figures in Notre Dame de Namur like Marlene Denarto and the famous Dorothy Stang. Fox's students were a part of Sister Sacred Heart and Notre Dame which were joined by a shared priest. Sister Dorothy Stang, a foundress of Notre Dame later went on to do amazing things specifically the Amazon. Her goal was to protect the murder or in Fox's words, raping the Earth specifically the Amazon. Dorothy was latered murdered by the same people who murdered the Earth. One man who attended her memorial stated that she was not buried but planted into Mother Earth. Dorothy's courage and love for doing good for all life, human and not human, has engrained core values into the Notre Dame de Namur University which are: "community, diversity, excellence, goodness, integrity, justic, learning, and service," (Notre Dame de Namur University). She and the other foundresses displayed these qualities in their charity and philanthropy. They set an example for Notre Dame de Namur students and hopefully beyond that life is not just about living for oneself, it is about advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

Century of Revolutions

The late 1700s and 1800s were a time of revolutions. Many empires and dynasties collapsed under the people they once controlled rising against them. These revolutions redefined the world. However the revolutions that made the most impact on the world occurred in the Atlantic. They changed the raining countries mainly the reining countries in Europe: Britain France and Spain (Strayer 782). Revolutions challenged old ideals of authority, "liberty, equality, free trade, religious tolerance, republicanism, and human rationality," (Strayer 783). Old ideologies were that kings were by God given their power of authority. Revolutions challenged this. With seemingly weaker people rising up, they challenged kingship by saying there could be a new way to run themselves. They don't have to be from God, rather they could be chosen by the people. The idea of freedom was called into question as well. The countries that Britain France and Spain controlled soon saw that they weren't free at all. They were under another authority. Same goes with the idea of slavery. Those who were in control thought that slaves did not deserve to have liberty or freedom, they were thought as less than. Becdause of this ideology, slavery lasted throughout history. The Atlantic Revolutions mainly strived  for equality by challenging ideals (Strayer 784). The goal of many revolutions whether North American, French, Haitian, Spanish-American, were to be truly free.

Science in the Early Modern Era

Along with the advancement of religion, a new ideology arose, science. Religion was the default answer to life's questions. One big question was, why is there a massive plague (Black Death)? One who was religious in the early modern would say it's because the people have done something to displease God therefore, God is punishing with a plague (Strayer 750). However, there were a subset of people who were not satisfied with such an answer. They went searching elsewhere, into science. Religion could only answer the spiritual questions but for the rational mind, people went to science. Before modern day science came to be, if one was not religious, they would seek answers from philosophers. Philosophers were educated people however they did not have the answers to everything. This is when the Scientific Revolution came. The Scientific Revolution, like Christianity, started in Europe and spread to Asia and the Americas. The big difference between science and religion is scientists drew from other cultures and religions. Religion claims to be the sole answer to everything. The idea of science faced opposition because it was seen as going against God. It jeopardized Catholic religious authority because people began to question their answers, challenged them, and turned to science instead (Strayer 742). Skeptism of religion is what lead to this Scientific Revolution. It conincided with the Enlightenment movement. The Enlightenment is for oneself alone to question and find their own answers to their questions. This movement also gave rise to new thinkers who asked questions. Scientists and thinkers of the Enlightenment were similar in their thirsts for knowledge. However they differed because some Enlightenment thinkers still fell back to religion for answers whereas scientists didn't. Despite the differences, both movements were able to progress in peace. Without the Enlightenment or the Scientific Revolution, we would not have concrete answers to life's questions. For example, without science or the enlightenment, William Harvey would not have learned circulation of blood and heart function therefore we would not have modern medicine to understand abnormalities in the circulatory system (Strayer 743). Many thinkers have come from these movements. Despite the opposition they faced, we now have modern day science and we owe that to the brave individuals who dared to question the norm.

Early Modern Era Religion

The early modern era was a time of religious growth. The big religions at the time that arose were Christianity, Hindu, and Muslim. A reoccurring theme with these religions is fragmentation. With Christianity for example, Christianity took one form, Roman Catholic Christianity, however soon it branched off into another form, Protestantism. There are many differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism but the main one is Catholicism is geared towards regulations, rules, and hierarchy whereas Protestantism is based on religious text and has a more spiritual approach. This split is called the Protestant Reformation. It was founded by Luther who disagreed with the Catholic church authority and decided to create his own religion. Both Catholicism and Protestantism is still practiced in present day. Together they form Christianity. It was spread throughout Europe and Asia during the early modern era. Simultaneously in the Asian world, the religion of Islam was being spread. This religion focuses on adding their practices to current ones (Strayer 735). It makes it easier for one to convert to Islam. However, as time went on it became hierarchal like Catholicism (Strayer 735). There were Islamic authority similar to Catholic priests. Later, people in Asia began to question religion as a valid explanation for everything in life. They were curious about the world around them. This lead to development of Confucianism. It is more fact based and focused on questioning and precision (Strayer 738). It became a Segway into a new ideology, modern science. People during the modern era believed the god(s) controlled everything they can and can't see. Once people questioned, skepticism ensued and people broke off religion. Religion was key in conquests of other countries. It became justification for Europe to conquer other countries. The justification was that people needed to be converted to their religion whether Christianity or Islam .However, established religion was also what gave way to science. If people didn't question religion as the end all answer, there would be no science. Religion has played big roles in history. It is what caused wars, conquests, developments, the good and bad of history. There are disagreements of what is the right religion or even if religion is necessary. Everyone has their own belief and I believe we should keep it that way. Nobody should have the right to force their ideology onto someone but I believe we have the right to have freedom to express our own religion or ideology. Without religion, life today would be drastically different.