A History of the World: Chapter 23: Political and Industrial Revolutions

During the early 1600s, Puritans in England were persecuted for their beliefs. When a group is persecuted, its members are punished and made to suffer. People sometimes persecute others because of religious differences.

In time, most of the English colonies developed constitutions, or written plans of government.

These documents let the colonists elect assemblies and protected their rights.

Boycotting is refusing to buy specific products in protest.

The new United States Constitution set up a federal system, which divided powers between the national government and the states.

The U.S. Constitution was shaped by Enlightenment principles. One of these is popular sovereignty, or the idea that government receives its powers from the people.

The U.S. Constitution was shaped by Enlightenment principles. One of these is popular sovereignty, or the idea that government receives its powers from the people.

Another principle is limited government, or the idea that a government may use only those powers given to it by the people.

The French people were divided into three estates, or classes. This system determined a person's legal rights and social standing.

Everyone else in France belonged to the Third Estate. At the top of this group were members of the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie. Merchants, bankers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers were members of the bourgeoisie.

As the middle class learned more about Enlightenment ideas, they began to resent the privileges of the nobles and clergy. An Englishman traveling in France discovered how widespread the unrest had become...

The other group, known as Jacobins, favored more radical change.

There, he opposed the Directory and took part in a coup d'etat. This is when a group seeking power uses force to suddenly replace top government officials.

Adding to its overseas empire, Britain won colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Nationalism means the desire of people with the same history, language, and customs for self-rule.

Garibaldi was skilled in guerrilla warfare, a type of fighting in which soldiers make surprise attacks on the enemy.

Settlers set up farms, founded communities, and created states in the new lands.

Some Northerners believed in abolitionism, a movement to end slavery.

There, Toussaint L'Ouverture led enslaved Africans in a revolt that eventually threw off French rule in 1804.

While political change affected much of Europe and the Americas, a new economic system known as industrialism began in Britain. There, people began to use machines to do work that had been performed by animals or humans. Over the next 200 years, industrialism affected life so dramatically that historians call the changes it brought the Industrial Revolution.

In 1769, the Scottish mathematician James Watt designed a steam engine that could power the new machines.

A corporation raises money by selling shares, or partial ownership, in the company to investors. Creating a corporation allowed entrepreneurs to have the capital to build large factories with hundreds of workers.

Urbanization is the movement of people from the countryside to cities. A nation is urbanized when many of its people live in cities.

Liberalism is a political philosophy based on the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
Liberals in the 1800s believed that all people have individual rights. These include equality under the law and freedom of speech and the press. Liberals also believed that government power should be limited by written constitutions.

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill promoted an idea known as utilitarianism. As utilitarians, Bentham and Mill believed society should promote the greatest happiness for the most people. They supported ideas like full rights for women and improved health services. They also promoted better education.

Some supported an idea known as socialism. Socialists believed that the people should own and control all factories, land, capital, and raw materials. They believed that the government should manage these means of production for the people. In this way, wealth could be distributed equally among all citizens.

Owen believed that if people cooperated, they could create a better society.

Marx stated that eventually the working class, which he called the proletariat, would revolt and create a communist society.

The growth of labor unions was another response to the horrors of factory life. A labor union is an organization of workers who unite to improve working conditions.

Symbolist artists and writers believed that the outer world was a reflection of an individual's inner reality. They studied dreams and symbols and used them in their works.