Reforming the industrial World

Philosophers Adam Smith  Laissez-faire Economics  French economic philosophers  Believed that government should not interfere with business and the economy would prosper.  Smith believed economic liberty guaranteed economic progress.

Smith’s Arguments 3 Natural Laws of Economics  1. The law of self interest  People work for their own good  2. The law of competition  Competition forces people to make a better product  3. The law of supply and demand  Enough goods would be produced at the lowest possible price to meet demand in a market economy

Smith’s Ideas  Supported by British economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo  Formation of laissez-faire capitalism  What is Capitalism?  An economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and money is invested in business ventures to make a profit

Malthus Argument Thomas malthus  Wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population  Population has a tendency to increase more quickly than the available food supply.  Without wars, disease and epidemics most people would be poor

Ricardo Argument David ricardo  Pinciples of Political Economy & Taxation  Poor will continue to be poor  Believed in a market system  Wages would be lower as population increases

Rise of Socialism  Jeremy Bentham took Smith’s ideas and modified it  Utilitarianism  Govt. should promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people.  Govt. was only good if they promoted this goal

John Stuart Mill  Led Utilitarianism movement in 1800’s  Workers should not live deprived lives  Favored –  Cooperative system of agriculture  Women’s rights  Reform in education and prison system

Rise of Socialism  To offset the problems of industrialization with a new system (Socialism)  Government should plan the economy rather than focus on the free market system  Government controls  Factories  Railroads  Industry  Mines

Karl Marx ( )  German journalist introduced Marxism  Wrote the The Communist Manifesto  Argued that human have been divided into warring classes  Bourgeoisie  Proletariat  Enriched the wealthy & impoverished the poor

Marx on the Future  Capitalism would destroy itself  Proletariat would revolt  Seize control of factories from capitalist  Produce only what society needs  Economic equality for all people

Future Continued  The workers would share the profits  After a period of cooperative living and education, the government would go away as a classless society developed  Last phase was called Communism

The Communist Manifesto  Produced few very little results  Uprisings began to occur in Europe  After the turn of the century did the pamphlet create major results  Inspired Lenin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro

Labor Unions  Unions spoke for all workers  Collective Bargaining  Union members could strike if demands were not met  Led by skilled workers  Unions struggled to form due to govt.

Great Britain Unions  Britain saw unions as a threat to social order and stability  Combination Act 1799 outlawed people to join unions  People ignored Act  British Parliament revoked the act in 1824  Goals to raise wages and improve working conditions

United States  Unions were around since the early 1800’s  AFL (American Federation of Labor) is formed 1886  Successful strikes produced gains in members wages and shorter hours

New Types of Reform Laws  Parliament begins to investigate child labor and working conditions  Parliament passed the Factory Act 1833  Parliament passed the Mines Act 1842  Parliament passed the Ten Hours Act 1847  In the U.S. organization of the National Child Labor Committee  1919 U.S. Supreme Court objected to federal child labor law (state rights)  Individual States could regulate working hours

Abolition of Slavery England William Wilberforce led the fight for abolition United States Slavery ended at the end of the Civil War Puerto Rico ended 1873 Cuba ended in 1886 Brazil in 1888

Women’s Rights Britain  Women served as inspectors were other women worked United States  Educated women ran settlement houses  Jane Addams  Wanted their own rights

Other Reforms  Public Education led by Horace Mann in the United States Educate children to be good citizens and knowledgeable  Prison Reform in 1831  American prisons were seen as brutal conditions  New goal to provide prisoners with skills and traits to be useful in society when released