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The Enclosure movement
The Enclosure movement in England represented a change in the government’s actions and involvement in people’s lives. The government started to take over public lands that had been used by individual farmers and repurposing the land. While there were economic benefits from the centralization of the land and more efficient use of it under the government, many poor farmers were forced to move away as their way of living was ruined, leading to urbanization and poor standards of living. -
The illegitimacy explosion
The illegitimacy explosion was as change in society where there were more illegitimate births and sex before marriage. This was caused by many factors such as more social mobility allowing younger people to move out of their homes giving them fewer restrictions. Mothers out of wedlock weren't respected, so society wouldn't force the man to marry them, so men had more encouragement to do this. There was also newer views of love with passion and feelings becoming more important. -
The seven years war
The Seven Years war also known as the French and Indian war was a continuation of the conflicts between Britain and France as well as the goal of imperialism for both. The war was fought over conflict between France and Britain after George Washington was sent to tell the French to stay out of Pittsburgh. This ultimately escalated into a battle and eventually Britain declared war. Britain ultimately defeated the French and their Native American allies in 1763. -
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial revolution marked a change in the way Europe was run with a much greater focus on manufactured goods in the economy. There was also new pollution of the environment. Britain led the industrial revolution in Europe with their steam engines. This lead to rapid urbanization as the demand for labor in factories lead to more people moving in and that in turn also lead to more factories because of the greater access to labor, creating a cycle. -
The Sugar Act Britain published the Sugar act which reflected the continuation of Britain
trying to take more power over the colonists to promote their own economy as seen in the navigation acts in the past century. This act lowered the tax on molasses but it created new measures to prevent smuggling which the colonists had been used to. This act lead to further conflict with Britain and the colonies and eventually escalated into the American Revolution. The act itself because of how unpopular it was was repealed in 1766. -
Start of Romanticism
The romantic movement started in this time and marked a period of change in society in response to the enlightenment. This time period was characterized by a greater focus on individualism, idealism, inspiration, intuition, innocence and nature. There were 6 main poets of this time including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Blake. There were also many other works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. -
Wealth of Nations published
The publishing of the wealth of nations marked a change in the views of the economic systems in Europe. Adam Smith’s idea lead to the start of free-market ideas where he argued that humans cared about themselves; however, in trying to fulfil their own needs and desires, the society as a whole would eventually benefit from it. Because of this idea, Adam Smith argued for less government intervention and instead free trade as well as access to domestic and foreign markets. -
Peak of the Transatlantic slave trade. The Transatlantic slave trade reached its peak during this time. The Transatlantic slave trade was part of the triangle trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas
where Europeans would sell manufactured goods to Africa, Africans would sell slaves to the Americas, and the Americas would sell raw materials to Europe. This was beneficial for all three continents because Americas needed labor but had raw materials. Europe needed raw materials and a market, but had the manpower to run factories. Africa needed manufactured goods and warring tribes often sold their slaves of other tribes in exchange for manufactured goods. -
The French Revolution. (there's a character limit so I'm starting here)The French Revolution marked a change in society
as the the social structure change and the people fought to get rid of the current form of government in France. There were many causes such as a lack of respect for the monarch after the idea of divine right started to fade. The poor were incredibly poor and the gap between the wealthy was too high leading to anger and unrest. The bourgeoisie also were wealthy, but they didn’t have political power, and all of these factors contributed to the social upheaval. -
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman were published in this time and marked a change in society on the views and expectations of women.
Previously, society was categorized by Fordcy’s sermons that demanded women to be weak and feeble. As time continued, this idea was largely outdated and new ideas of women came out such as this one, which claimed that women were not intellectually inferior to men and instead have only lacked the same education of men. This encouraged women to strengthen themselves and to get educated to reach their potential.