Jason Ewing                                                                                The Works of Adam Smith                          Case Study                     

9/30/13

Bibliography 

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations (Excerpts). Modified from the Modern History Internet Sourcebook. 1776. Fordham University. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/adamsmith-summary.asp (accessed September 30, 2013).

In the writing The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith who writes about the basis of the free market system. He was considered the "Father of Capitalism" since he created the system of Capitalism.  Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He was educated from a young age and when he got older he attended the University of Glasgow and Oxford University.  While attending Oxford University Smith became interested in the study of society. After Smith met Charles Townshed he acquired a job of being a tutor in France. While in France Smith met Rousseau and Voltaire the famous enlightenment thinkers and gained an interest in moral philosophy and political economy through them.  Smith had the motivation to write the Wealth of Nations since he thought that his setup of capitalism was a successful and self driven system.  In the Wealth of Nations he goes over many of his theories such as the "laissez faire", and the division of labor.  In the "laissez faire" it discouraged the interference of the government in the economic system since it would affect the self regulating free market.  Smith goes over the division of labor; he mentions that in a situation where more people are working together is more productive than one person doing the work on their own. Smith uses the example of of people making pins. He says that when people are working together that they could make 12 pounds of pins a day with four hundred thousand pins in each pound.  If there was only one man working alone Smith mentions that only one pin could be made a day. When the demand goes up the factories will be able to supply this demand using the division of labor idea.  Smith's The Wealth of Nations helped shaped our economy to how we know it today.






  

*note:  The second line and third line of the citation should be indented. The paragraph should be indented inline with the indented part of the citation.*

The Luddites were skilled weavers, mechanics, or other artisans that were protesting factories. They protested because of the factories not paying proper wages, the conditions of factories, and the misuse of technology.  In the Mock primary source letter, Lord Byron talks about how the Luddites has a good reason to protest. For example during some years they didn't even make enough money for the cost of adequate food. 

Dear Cousin, 

I am no longer as selectively needed as the skilled weaver I am. Every since industrialization has started to take over i have been forced to work in the terrible factories. There is a group of people called the Luddites that protest the factories by attacking machines and factories. I am for what they are doing. They are people who have different skills, some are weavers, mechanics, or artisans. The Luddites are playful protesters, some of them cross dress when they protest.  On a different note, I have been seriously impacted by industrialization  I have to leave the nice comfort of my home to work in a disgusting factory. I just man the machines, unlike like at my home where you have to be skilled in what I did. I had no choice other than go to the factory in work since my job at my house was useless because of the factories. I just can't stand working in this factory.  Since these factories are so bad I am for what the Luddites are doing. They have a good thought behind what they are doing. It is they question technology and if it is really necessary or not. I have recently bee thinking about joining the Luddites because I strongly agree with what they are doing. I thought to myself, would I want to just stand around and watch what they are doing or should I get into the action and not let this technology ruin my enjoyment of weaving and my health. I look forward to hear back from you.

                                                              Sincerely,

                                                                  Jason Ewing

The image above is my groups poster.

The analysis process of my group wasn't good at first because we were all going to do separate sources, but then we realized that we would get much better result if we all collaborated together on one source at a time. Our analysis process was an essential part of curating because if my group didn't really analyze the sources we wouldn't get the same detailed results.  Our exhibit displayed the horrid conditions during the industrialization period. The map of industry in the 19th century showed how rapid the industrialization was taking place. The maps shows where factories produced raw materials. In the source "View of Manchester" it shows the visitors to the exhibit how much the factories polluted the air and water. The water was even noted as brown and murky. The source that has earnings and cost of living will show the visitor how poorly the factories paid the workers. In three different sections of years the factory workers were being paid less than the cost of living. In the source that talks about the different views of English industrialization, people who experienced it first hand explained how terrible the factories are the be around and in. In the "Filth of Thanes" a person who was on a steamboat did an experiment by dropping things in the water and said they were indistinguishable after a few inches since the water is so polluted. The last source on the poster was of Dudley street. This source shows how bad the living conditions were. The fact that the workers had to put their shoes outside their house because there wasn't a room to put dirty items would be shocking to the visitor to the exhibit. My group came up with the title by thinking about the two major things, the conditions and the prosperity of the people, that stood out from the sources we analyzed. We incorporated these into a title.

In this exhibit I saw children working heavy machinery. I learned that in 1818 fifty percent of the workers in the factories were ten years old or less.

In this exhibit I saw in the chart that the textile mills in Lowell were rapidly growing. I learned that because of the demand for raw cotton in Britain cause a huge increase of U.S. slaves to pick and process cotton.

In this exhibit I saw the difference between the spinning wheel and the spinning jenny. I learned that the families depended on the fathers wage because the no longer need for the household spinning wheel.

In this exhibit I saw that the steam engine design was simple but people still found it amazing. I learned that between 1760 and 1800 canals in England and Wales were connected for goods to be transported.

Jason Ewing                                                                       Condition of the Working-Class in England

September 16, 2013                                                                                                         Case Study

Bibliography

From Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (London: Swan

            Sonnenschein & Co., 1892), pp. 45, 48-53.

In the writing The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844, author Friedrich Engels used his personal observations and research to write the book.  Engels took notes on what he saw, such as child labor, poor working environments, and overworked laborers. Since Engels was actually working at the factory the source must be credible. Engels opinion on the event is what the majority of the people thought but on the other hand there wasn’t that much the factories could do about the pollution. At that time in history there wasn’t a good way to manage the pollution. He had the same perspective as all the other workers. He produced this book to show how bad the conditions really were while he was working there.  Manchester, England was the hub of industrialization.  People had terrible houses to live in, bad air, and a dangerous work environment. Engels claims that the condition of Manchester and all the factories was almost uninhabitable.  Engels says “it’s far from black enough to convey” how truly bad the conditions were for the people living there.

Citizens Have Helpful Opinions 

Syria is in despair!  The unstable government isn't treating citizens the way they should be treated.  Assad the current president most likely was not fairly elected.  At the meeting I attended the participants know what was going on and don’t like it! The participants thought that the children’s education is extremely important. The children are the next generation of Syria; if they are not educated Syria will have a hard time surviving as a country.

The group of participants had a majority opinion of supporting foreign intervention. The people with this opinion wanted help since the conflict isn't getting anywhere.  They also want a foreign intervention because without it the chemical attack would have been blamed on the rebels.  Some people did not want a foreign country to intervene. They think that a foreign intervention could cause a chain reaction making Syria a bigger battle ground.

This town meeting went very well.  The talk about foreign intervention was booming with productivity; which I believe is because each town member wants for what they want to happen with a possibility of compromise.  At times the discussion wasn't very productive with silences at times.  It was when the town meeting was talking about joining in arms. I think this topic wasn't as popular.

Of the opinions discussed I agreed with what the majority of the people thought. I agree with a foreign intervention. I think the most viable way of a foreign intervention is doing it peacefully like a few town members said. I think this is most viable because it is helping to stop the violence without angering Russia and China as it would intervening the Syrian civil war with violence.  The least viable option is to join in arms if you have no fighting experience. A few town people said this was a bad idea because the majority of people joining have no experience fighting. Those people would just be another person to be killed.