Industrial Revolution Dbq

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From the years 1780-1832, Manchester, England was a leading textile manufacturing city soon after its first industrialized cotton mill was built in 1780. The city’s population boomed during the years of the industrialization increasing from 18,000 to over 300,000; predominantly made up of the working class and immigrants. In addition, Queen Victoria granted Manchester a royal charter after her pleasant visit during 1851, acknowledging the city’s great progress and giving it special privileges because of its success. Although many positive effects came from the textile manufacturing and growing population, the repercussion of its health issues, low morale, along with its working and living conditions overshadow its accomplishments. The industrialization of Manchester was successful for the modernization of man, yet its growth also raised many concerns in society. The health issues were one of the major problems raised from the growth of Manchester, since the spread of disease throughout the city was extremely common as presented in Document 6, “The annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation is greater than the loss from death in modern wars”. This shows how the rapid growth of Manchester created unsafe areas that easily allowed illness’s to be spread. Also, the physical conditions in the factories caused many problems for the workers’ health. A French women’s rights advocate, Flora Tristan, said that in the factories, “They (the workers) are all wizened, sickly and emaciated, their bodies thin and frail, their limbs feeble, their complexions pale, their eyes dead… O God! Can progress be bought only at the cost of men’s lives?” (Document 7). This indicates that the rapid growth and advancements of Manchester were a direct cause of the physical issues that arose inside the factories and areas of developments. However, this observation could be exaggerated
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