Manchester Dbq
The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century led to the growth of Manchester into the industrial center of England. Although Manchester held an abundance of manufacturing power, the effects of this growth were not all positive and many issues faced the people living in urban environments. Healthy lifestyles the social and economic liberties of the people were being sacrificed for the sake of industrial growth and though some recognized and worked to fix these problems, others ignored these issues for personal gain.
Though this time was prosperous for certain individuals, the majority of lower classes faced a number of problems. In a comparison between maps of Manchester in 1750 and 1850 made in document 1, we see that the size of the city grew exponentially during the industrial revolution. Robert Southey, and English Romantic poet, commented on the condition of the city after visiting Manchester in 1807, “A place more destitute than Manchester is not easy to conceive. In size and population it is the second city in the kingdom. Imagine this multitude crowded together in narrow streets, the houses all built of brick and blackened with smoke” (Doc. 2). Southey continues by describing the monotonous work and “the everlasting din of machinery” being the control of the city. As an English Romantic poet, Robert Southey could have been slightly biased, but still fairly reliable, due to the fact that he wouldn’t have fabricated what he saw completely, but as a poet he could have exaggerated the details of the situation to reflect them more dramatically. In Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, public health reformer Edwin Chadwick concisely reports, “Diseases caused or aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail among the laboring classes” (Doc. 6). Here, the conditions of the city are directly described as
Though this time was prosperous for certain individuals, the majority of lower classes faced a number of problems. In a comparison between maps of Manchester in 1750 and 1850 made in document 1, we see that the size of the city grew exponentially during the industrial revolution. Robert Southey, and English Romantic poet, commented on the condition of the city after visiting Manchester in 1807, “A place more destitute than Manchester is not easy to conceive. In size and population it is the second city in the kingdom. Imagine this multitude crowded together in narrow streets, the houses all built of brick and blackened with smoke” (Doc. 2). Southey continues by describing the monotonous work and “the everlasting din of machinery” being the control of the city. As an English Romantic poet, Robert Southey could have been slightly biased, but still fairly reliable, due to the fact that he wouldn’t have fabricated what he saw completely, but as a poet he could have exaggerated the details of the situation to reflect them more dramatically. In Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, public health reformer Edwin Chadwick concisely reports, “Diseases caused or aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail among the laboring classes” (Doc. 6). Here, the conditions of the city are directly described as