1
The Origins of the French Revolution This site houses an analysis of the causes of the French Revolution
http://www.pagesz.net/~stevek/intellect/lecture11a.html
Questions for further exploration:
What role did the Enlightenment, French Royal Absolutism, and the American Revolution play in the sparking the Revolution of 1789 in France? What other factors may have stimulated political change?
2
Maximilien Robespierre This site explores the philosophies of Robespierre.
http://members.aol.com/agentmess/frenchrev/robespierre.html
Questions for further exploration:
Why did Robespierre, who was opposed to the death penalty before the French Revolution, endorse violent means to achieve its ends? What aspects of the philosophies of Montesquieu and Rousseau offer insight into Robespierre's extremism?
3
Edmund Burke on Revolution This site offers excerpts from Edmund Burke's critique of the radicalism of the French revolution.
http://www.baylor.edu/~BIC/WCIII/Essays/reflections.html
Questions for further exploration:
Why does Burke believe that too much revolution is a bad thing? Why does he believe that people are better off obeying established authority? Who has the most to gain, and the most to lose, from a conservative approach to political change? Why does Burke believe that everyone benefits from maintaining the political arrangements of the past?
4
The Peterloo Masacre, 1819 This site offers a report on the repression of a political meeting in Manchester, England at a time when those in power regarded mere meetings of the public to discuss reforms as acts of violent revolutionaries.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1819peterloo.html
Questions for further exploration:
What "revolutionary" demands were being discussed at the time of the "massacre?" How did the soldiers who came to disburse the crowd address them? How did the leaders of the demonstration respond to their arrest by the authorities? How, as Monty Python might ask, was the Peterloo Massacre evidence of the oppression of the masses by the instruments of the state?
5
James Watt These sites provide a very useful discussion on how James Watt's steam engine worked.
http://homepages.westminster.org.uk/hooke/issue10/watt.htm http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/trobinso/physicspages/Web/P6Phys/JWatt/Watt.html and http://www.humanities.ccny.cuny.edu/history/industrialrev/watteng.htm (photograph)
Questions for further exploration:
What improvements in steam engine design did James Watt Make? What other projects did he devote his time to as an inventor? Why were stream engines so great an improvement on other forms of power-supply? In what industries were Watt's steam engines initially most useful?
6
The Luddites This site offers a virtual interview with Edward (Ned) Ludd, whose name is synonymous with resistance to technological change.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue286/ned.htm
Questions for exploration:
Why is it correct to say that Ned Ludd was not opposed to technology? What was he opposed to? What is his critique of civilization today?
7
Child Labor in the Nineteenth Century: Francis Trollope's Michael Armstrong, Factory Boy (1840) This site explores the practice of child labor in the 19th century.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.main.htm
Questions for further exploration:
Scroll down to "tactics and issues" and open the link to Michael Armstrong, Factory Boy. Also open the link within to the life of Francis Trollope. How did Francis Trollope come to write a book about child labor? How was her use of an illustrator and her decision to publish the in serial form important to the cause of reform? What were the arguments employed by defenders of child labor to attack Michael Armstrong, Factory Boy. Why did people criticize the means by which she published the story? If a similar book critical of poor conditions of workers in coal mines today were published, what similar arguments might be employed to discredit it? What new arguments might be advanced?
8
Chadwick's Report This site offers a report on the conditions of workers living in Victorian London.
http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/history/chadwick2.html
Questions for further exploration:
Chadwick is writing to convince Members of Parliament and wealthy taxpayers that improvements in the living conditions of workers in London will be of benefit to them. What arguments does he use to do so? He is also attempting to blind them with science: using scientific data to demonstrate the need for reform beyond any reasonable doubt . (Thus, to do nothing would be unreasonable for people who consider themselves enlightened, as the wealthy of England wish to be regarded.) Delve into the evidence provided by the links at the end of the summary report section, and shed further light on one issue raised by Chadwick in his summary report.
9
The Gospel of Wealth Andrew Carnegie obtained much of his wealth by monopolistic practices, driving down the wages of his workers and outright bribery. He was not merely a robber baron, but a Prince of Thieves. Toward the end of his life, however, he gave vent to a liberal side of his character and devoted his wealth towards promotion of education and other charitable work.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1889carnegie.html
Questions for further exploration:
Mahatma Gandhi would later declare that "private wealth was a public trust." Would Andrew Carnegie agree with this view? Why does Carnegie believe that bequeathing wealth to children does them no favors? How is this view consistent with his own ideas about how wealth is and should be created? Why does he favor progressive taxes (the more you have, the higher the rate of taxation)?
10
Robert Owen This site offers a full treatment of the life and work of British and American factory reformer, Robert Owen.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRowen.htm
Questions for further exploration:
Why did Robert Owen believe in effecting improvements in the living and working conditions of factory workers? What reforms did he effect in his own factories? How did he try to spread these ideas in Britain and America?
