Anish Navada

Time Started : 7:00 pm Time of Last Edit: 7: 51 pm

The Manchester DBQ

2/9/15
Mrs. Goodman

From the late 1700s to the middle of the 19th century, the way of life in Manchester and
all over England changed drastically as a result of the Industrial Revolution. These major
changes caused many controversial issues to rise during the time. Romantics, artists, and activists
debated against liberals and business officials about the overall effect of the Industrial
Revolution through the issues of sanitation, social life, and economic growth. The different
views of people regarding these issues are shown in documents 1-7.
One of the main issues of the time was about the effect the Industrial Revolution had on
the public health and sanitation. The Industrial Revolution caused an increase of factories which
used coal and steam to power machines. As there were little regulations during this time period,
factories often dumped their waste into rivers and the public. Document 7 shows a depiction of
River Irwell from The Graphic. Since this was a magazine dealing with the issues of the time,
the depiction highlights the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution on sanitation. It shows
the smoke polluting the air and the waste being dumped into the sea, polluting both the air people
breathed and the water they drank. Document 1 is a letter from Robert Southey about the state of
England (specifically, Manchester). He writes that Manchester has hotbeds of infection, and
that it is very easy to get sick with the lack of sanitation. His views are slightly biased however,
as he is an outside visitor, which would make him stress the negatives. For example, Arthur
Young was very critical on his views of France when he was visiting (before the French
Revolution). Both people stress the negatives of the place they visited and ignored any positives.
Edwin Chadwick also reports the bad conditions of health in Document 5, saying that the loss of
life from filth is more than the loss of life from war. His article stresses the negatives because he

is a public health reformer trying to make change. This is similar to how the third estate of the
French people stressed all the negatives to get change to occur during the French Revolution.
The journalist, William Alexander Abram write about the positive changes that had been made to
public health in his letters (Document 6). His letters, written 50 years after Southeys critical
writing, explain the benefits that the House of Labor in Factories Act brought to the conditions of
workers. However the issue of sanitation and health stayed for a long time.
Another issue of the Industrial Revolution was the social impact that it had on the people.
Frances Anne Kemble (Document 3) describes the social atmosphere of Manchester by
comparing it with the social atmosphere of Liverpool. She notes how she was greeted with
groans and hisses, and that all the people looked like they were in great distress. However this
description is not a completely accurate description of the social life, because she was greeted by
the poorer class of the society, giving her a skewed view. Additionally, she was comparing it to
the rich class of Liverpool, which had great success during the Industrial Revolution, increasing
the bias. Alexis de Tocqueville also writes about the poor state of social life during the time in
Document 4, during his journey to England. He writes that he sees nobody enjoying his/her life,
and everybody is brutish and savage. Again, this document may be biased because it is a
visitor from an outside the country who may have harsher views because of his nationalistic
pride. However there was no doubt that the social atmosphere of Manchester was a big issue
during the time.
The last issue that was frequently talked about during the time was the economic stature
of the people. During the Industrial Revolution a large portion of society worked in terrible
conditions in factories for not that much money. Dense populations made living areas very bad
for many people. However Thomas Macaulay notes the improvement of the economy during the

time (Document 2). He explains that people are better fed, lodged, and taken care of because of
the increase in national wealth. He may have a biased view however, as he is a liberal and he
likes the growth that is occurring as a result of the Industrial Revolution. This is similar to how
politicians today will complement things that they do not want to change (such as laws in place).
The Industrial Revolution brought many changes into England, both good and bad. These
changes caused many issues, and different sides of the issue rose. Another time period with a
similar situation was the Scientific Revolution where many people debated about the positives
and negatives of following science over church doctrine. These issues that the Industrial
Revolution gave birth to fueled many discussions to come.