Industrial Revolution Origins and US Independence War
Key Factors of the Industrial Revolution
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Internal Factors:
- Technology was one of the essential elements in the Industrial Revolution. Scientific concepts and inventions were known previously. The novelty was that they could be turned into innovations, i.e. to be applied to production processes. This innovation was possible thanks to a combination of technical craftsmen, producers, and engineers. In short, rather than scientific research, the practical application of knowledge was sought.
- Capital is needed to invest in new productive activities, but capital is invariably linked to other factors such as entrepreneurship, the development of agriculture and commerce, or the beginning of the banking system.
- What is clear is that without a dynamic entrepreneur, there would be no Industrial Revolution in England. These conditions were met: firstly because of the careful education of the population, and secondly because being a merchant was not socially or financially negative.
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External Factors:
- An agricultural revolution occurred. During the 17th century and part of the 18th, many cultivated lands passed into the hands of the British bourgeoisie. There were a number of technical innovations in the structure of agricultural production, such as spreading the Norfolk system, which is the replacement of fallow by the alternation of cereal crops with legumes, or the close partnership between agriculture and livestock, through housing and fodder production. The increased yields by crop rotation or use of fertilizers resulted in an increase in production and therefore a capital increase, which was later reinvested in the industry.
- Trade in England became a very important activity. Another essential feature of the Industrial Revolution is the shift towards market production rather than for subsistence. This happened in England in two areas:
- A domestic market, based on a growing population and high purchasing power, without internal customs, and a modern communications network that included canals, toll roads, and, since 1830, the railroad.
- A foreign market, constantly expanding, based on great naval power, constant support of the government’s diplomatic policy, and the monopoly of overseas colonies.
- A demographic revolution occurred. There was high population growth due to several causes:
- The improvement of sanitary conditions.
- The decline of war.
- The fall of epidemic diseases.
- A decline in infant mortality.
The American War of Independence
The War of Independence of the United States was a conflict between the thirteen original British colonies in North America against the Kingdom of Great Britain. It occurred between 1775 and 1783, ending with the British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown and the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
During the war, France helped the American revolutionaries with ground troops commanded by Rochambeau and the Marquis de Lafayette, and fleets under the command of admirals de Guichen, de Grasse, and d’Estaing. Spain initially helped in secret through Bernardo de Gálvez and then openly from the Battle of Saratoga onward, using weapons, supplies, and opening a front on the southern side.
The British colonies that became independent from Britain built the first liberal and democratic political system, spawning a new nation, the United States of America, incorporating the new revolutionary ideas advocating equality and freedom. The colonial society was formed from waves of immigrant settlers, and it did not have the characteristics of the rigid class system in Europe.
In the southern colonies (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) a system of slavery had been organized (with about 500,000 black slaves) who exploited snuff plantations, cotton, and sugar. Thus, the population consisted of large and small landowners and slaves.
Background to the War of Independence
The background to the War of Independence of the United States dates back to the Franco-British confrontation in North America and the consequences of the Seven Years’ War.
The Seven Years’ War ended in 1763. On February 10th, the Treaty of Paris ended the French colonial empire in North America and consolidated England as the hegemonic power. In opposition, there was only Spain, which controlled New Orleans, the largest city with approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Concerning France, the territorial loss was not perceived as catastrophic. It retained fishing rights in Newfoundland, and the French Catholic population would receive respectful treatment. On the other side, in the Caribbean, losses could be compensated for as the main French Caribbean colony, Port-au-Prince (in present-day Haiti), produced half the sugar consumed worldwide, and its trade with Africa and the Caribbean was in full swing.
Regarding the American colonists, the war radically changed the picture. Quebec’s Francophone Catholics, traditional enemies of the American colonists of the Thirteen Colonies, were treated with respect by the British authorities. This treatment was confirmed in 1774 when Canada was provided with a special status within the American colonies, extending its borders to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The population also retained its own civil rights, and the Catholic Church was recognized. All these movements were poorly accepted by the population of the Thirteen Colonies.
The immediate cause of this conflict was the unfair treatment meted out to British settlers, since they brought riches to the metropolis and paid taxes but did not have the means to decide on those taxes, so they felt marginalized and unrepresented.
The US Constitution of 1787
The Declaration of Virginia, drafted by Jefferson, contains the basic principles of political liberalism brought by Englishmen in the 17th century. The Declaration sets out the principles of national sovereignty, equality among all people, and accountable governments, while detailing a series of individual liberties, such as private property, freedom of the press, etc.
That was how the amendments known as the Bill of Rights came to be, including freedom of speech or the press, the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.