Historic aspects of Romantic age

The American Revolution

When George III came to the throne Great Britain was enjoying a long period of internal
peace.
The American colonies, which were rich and well-populated, began to demand for
liberty. However, mother country imposed strict control by appointing a governor.
Furthermore Great Britain claimed her right to impose taxes to them, because of the
expenses of the troops in order to defend them.
The American colonies didnt accept this financial policy and they stated that since they
had no representatives in the British parliament no taxes could be imposed on them.
In fact their principle was No taxation without representation. As a result in 1775 the
war of American Independence begun. Afterwards the American colonies met in
Philadelphia and George Washington, the first president of United States in 1789, was
the military commander.
On July 4 1776 the Declaration of Independence, drawn up by Thomas Jefferson, was
approved. It said that all men are born equal, with the same rights, such as the right to
life, the freedom and the pursuit to happiness.
Many European supported the American cause, for example Benjamin Franklin, but
also nations like France and Spain.
The British army was defeated by American and French forces at Yorktown and with the
Treaty of Versailles Great Britain accepted the American Independence.

The French Revolution

After the loss of American colonies, Britain with her new Prime Minister William Pitt
the Younger, obtained the control of new colonies: India, controlled by a Governor
general chosen by the king, Canada, divided into two provinces, one French-speaking
and Catholic, the other English-speaking and Protestant, Australia discovered by the
Captain James Cook.
The outbreak of French Revolution was a great shock for Britain, as a matter of fact she
condemned the Revolution for its violence. As a consequence Britain became the leader
of the European coalitions against France and Napoleon.
Although the coalitions were regularly defeated by the French armies, Britain was able
to keep resistance with its navy and the command of Horatio Nelson. After several
victories, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo by Duke of Wellington. In 1815 the
Congress of Vienna was opened in order to re-establish the monarchies of Europe.
After French Revolution British aristocracy suspected any social reforms, so public
meetings of workers were made illegal in order to prevent disorder. This, however, didnt
stop the workers, in fact in 1811-12 the Luddite Riots, named after their leader Ned
Ludd broke out in order to destroy machinery.
As a result the government called the army and many people were killed. This episode
became known as Peterloo Massacre, an ironic reference to the battle of Waterloo.
When George IV, the son of George III, a post war crisis had set in.

The Industrial Revolution

The 17th century was the age of monopolies and protectionism. On the contrary the 18 th
century the new ideas of individual freedom put the basis of the philosophy of economic
liberalism, presented by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations.
The economic liberalism meant free trade and uncontrolled economic activity, in other
words laissez-faire (let do).
The Industrial Revolution took place in England from about 1760 to about 1840. After
that the economy began to be based in industry and machine manufacture.
This revolution started because of technical innovation, favoured by the application of
science to industry:
1. The use of new material and new energy sources
2. The inventions of new machines
3. Developments in transportation and communication
4. Factory system (division of labour and specialization of workers)

The consequences of the Industrial Revolution

The use of new machines, both in agriculture and industry caused the increase of the
unemployment. Consequently many people had to leave their native place looking for a
work in the industrial city. Due to increase in production capitalists called in the factory
a lot of worker but in terrible conditions of hygiene and safety. In addition, they had to
work up to sixteen hours a day and lived in over-crowded slums which didnt have the
most elementary sanitation.
Women and children also worked but they were paid even less than men. In particular
children were used for work in mines to crawl through very small tunnels.
The first opposition to the industrialism and capitalism began to appear with Socialism
which proposed the abolition of class differences and redistribution of wealth. In fact in
1824 in Britain the first Trade Unions were founded in order to defend rights of
workers. The first socialist reformer was Robert Owen, who improved the condition of
his Scottish workers.
As regards children they began to be considered as real human beings with own rights
not just as an undeveloped adult. This new ideas of child was reflected in the Romantic
poetry.
At that time women were subject to discrimination and had to work at home, nor women
of higher classes had more liberty because of the rigide code of sexual and social
behaviour.
However, at the end of the 18th century women began to claim the emancipation. An
innovator in this field was Mary Wollstonecraft with A Vindication of the Rights of
Women.
After the death of George IV and the accession to the throne of William IV a Reform
Bill was approved, which eliminated 150 so-called rotten boroughs, old electoral

districts that were now depopulated maintained their right to a representative in

Parliament. The right to vote was also extended to much of the male middle class but the
other half of the middle class and also women had no right to vote.
Other important reforms were
1. Factory Acts
2. The abolition of slavery in the British colonies
3. The new system of national education