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Elizabeth Gasell
British writer whose novels such as Mary Barton and North and South show a sympathy for the working class. Cranford deals with the life of a peaceful English village. -
Robert Bakewell
Livestock breeder who increased his mutton output by allowing only his best sheep to breed. other farmers began to follow bakewell's lead. Between 1700 and 1786 the average weight for lambs climbed from 18 to 50 pounds. These improvements in farming that began in the early 1700's made up an agricultural revolution. -
Spinning Jenny
James Hargreaves invented a spinning wheel which he named after his daughter. This invention allowed one spinner to work eight different threads at one time -
Adam Smith
Wrote the book Wealth of Nations. Argued that if individuals freely followed their own self-interest, the world would be an orderly and progressive place. Sellers made money producing things people wanted to buy. Buyers spent money for what they wanted most. Smith thought that in such a market, social harmony would result without any government direction -
Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham introduced the philosophy of Utilitarianism in the late 1700's. He argued that people should judge ideas, institutions and actions on the basis of therir usefulness. He also argued that the government whoule try to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In general the individual should be free to pursue their oen advantage without interference from the state. -
Cotton Gin
American inventor Eli Whitney invented a machine to speed up the process of removing seeds from raw cotton. His cotton gin multiplied the amount of cotton that could be cleaned. Production of cotton skyrocketed from 1.5 million pounds (1790) to 85 million pounds (1810). -
Small Pox Vaccination
In May 1796, Edward Jenner found a young dairymaid, Sarah Nelms, who had fresh cowpox lesions on her hands and arms . On May 14, 1796, using matter from Nelms' lesions, he inoculated an 8-year-old boy, James Phipps. The boy developed mild fever and discomfort in the axillae. Nine days after the procedure he felt cold and had lost his appetite, but on the next day he was much better. In July 1796, Jenner inoculated the boy again and Jenner concluded that protection was complete. -
Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy announces the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide, although dentists do not begin using the gas as an anesthetic for almost 45 years. Davy was a pioneer in acid-based studies and also invented a mining lamp which reduces mining explosions. -
Railroad Locomotive
Richard Trevithik invented this machine by winning a bet of several thousands of dollars. He did this by hauling ten tons of iron over nearly ten miles of track in his steam-driven locomotive. Other British engineers soon improved his invention -
Steam Boat
Robert Fulton ordered a steam engine from Boulton and Watt and after it proved to be successful, the Clermont ferried people up and down the Hudson River. Water transportation improved in England with the creation of canals. -
Francis Cabot Lowell
Francis Cabot Lowell and four other investors revolutionized the textile indusrty. They mechanized every stage in the manufacturing of cloth. Their weaving factory earned the partners enough money to fund a larger operation in another Massachusetts town. When Lowell died the partners named the town after him. Lowell Massachusetts became a booming town by the late 1820's. -
Stethoscope Invented
French doctor Rene Laennec invents the stethoscope after watching children tapping messages to each other on a wooden plank with a pin. The first stethoscopes were made out of wood. -
Blood Transfusion
British obstertrician James Blundell performs the first successful transfusion of human blood. -
Alexis de Tocqueville
French writer who contrasted the brutal conditions in American prisons to the "extended liberty" of American society. Reformers took on the challenge of prison reform, emphasizing the goal of restoring prisoners to useful lives. -
Anethestic
American Dr. Horace Wells is credited for using nitrous oxide as an anastetic in dentirstry. In 1842, Crawford W. Long used ether as a general anesthetic dueing surgery but did not publish his results in a medical journal. -
Women Right's Movement
Women who had rallied for the abolition of slavery began to wonder why their own rights were being denied on the basis of gender. Women activists around the world joined to found the International Council for Women. -
Communism
A form of complete socialism in which the means of production (all land, mines, factories, railroads, and businesses) would be owned by the people. Private property in effect cease to exist. All goods and services would be shared equally. Believed that economic forces alone dominated society. -
Marxism
Radical type of socialism. Argued that human societies have always been divided into warring classes. While the wealthy contolled the means of producing goods, the poor performed backbreaking labor under terrible conditions and this resulted in conflict. According to this philosophy the industrial revolution enriched the wealthy and impoverished the poor. Predicted that the workers would overthrow the owners. "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains". -
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
Blackwell is the first woman to receive a medical degree. She earned it from Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York -
Horace Mann
Horace Mann, one of the most prominent reformers warned "If we do not prepare children to become good citizens... if we do not enrich their minds with knowledge, then our republic must go down to destruction". Today our government has established systems of public schooling. It is also a socialogical fact that with knowledge comes change. I think this is one point the US distinctly focuses on because attending school is enforced by law and highly encouraged. -
Abolition of Slavery
The same impulse toward reform, along with the ideals of the French Revolution, also helped to end slavery. William Wilberforce was a member of Parliament who led for the fight to end the slave trade in the British West Indies in 1807. Britain finally abolished slavery in 1833. The enslavement of African Americans finally ended in the United States when the Union won the Civil War in 1865. -
Joseph Lister
LIster publishes Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, one of the most important developments in medicine. Lister was convinced of the need for cleanliness in the operating room, a revolutionary idea at the time. He develops antiseptic surgical methods, using carbolic acid to clean wounds and surgical instruments. The immediate success of his methods leads to general adoption. In one hospital that adopts his methods, deaths from infection decrease from nearly 60% to just 4%. Read mor -
Telegraph
New England painter F.B. Morse first sent electrical signals over the telegraph -
Jane Addams
Addams and her friend Ellen Starr set up Hull House in a working class district in Chicago. Eventually the facility included a nursery, gym, kitchen, and a boarding house for working women. Hull House not only served the immigrant populaton of the neighorhood, it also trained social workers. -
Socialism
Charles Fourier and Saint-Simon wanted to offset the effects of the industrialization with this new economic system. In socialism the factors of production are owned by the public and operate for the welfare of all. This philosophy grew out of an optimistic view of human nature, a belief in progress and a concern for social justice. Argued that the government should actively plan the economy rather than depending on free-market capitalism to do it.
