Reforms for Labor Conditions

It's about time we, as the government of the people, and you, as the people, finally step up once again into action to support our struggle for financial success for all, which would be the better economy for Great Britain. For a long time the government as a whole supported trade and business for the people, and you the people have enhanced our economy with your competitive nature within this changing society. We have created roads and canals for transportation of goods and raw materials, we have developed our navy to dominate overseas and bring in more valuables, and we have supported private business. But we have not fully supported the people, and how are we forgetting the driving force of this revolution? The working people, struggling to survive, working for our benefit, have not benefited from this so called improvement to our society. Work is to be expected from us to improve, but we cannot have women and children bent down under machines, working like slaves, treated like slaves, can we? Important men of society, remember this is not just a step up to competition for profit- this is an enlightened society. Years of history has clouded our minds, but if you look up at your ancesters and look down at the weak and the poor:

"I have seen my master, Luke Taylor, with a horse whip standing outside the mill when the children have come too late.........he lashed them all the way to the mill." John Fairbrother, an overlooker, interviewed in 1819.

"Sarah Golding was poorly and so she stopped her machine. James Birch, the overlooker, knocked her to the floor. She got up as well as she could. He knocked her down again. Then she was carried to her house.......she was found dead in her bed. There was another girl called Mary......she knocked her food can to the floor. The master, Mr. Newton, kicked her and caused her to wear away till she died. There was another, Caroline Thompson, who was beaten till she went out of her mind. The overlookers used to cut off the hair of any girl caught talking to a lad. This head shaving was a dreadful punishment. We were more afraid of it than any other punishment for girls are proud of their hair." An interview in 1849 with an unknown woman who worked in a cotton factory as a child. 

What we are, are brutal savages with technology to fascilitate this competition. We help these people, then we will help society. We help the workers, then we will get more quality products. We help improve the lives, and our only path would be forward. Shorter work hours mean lower wages but more employment for more people. The less fatigue the people have, the high the quality, and so selling price. The fact that more people get employed would mean more can buy, and so the quality raise will also come with a justified price. It should be expected of all decent human beings to not torture any employees, as they are not slaves. When everyone's standards of life improve, so will yours.

To what extent were the revolutions in America and France successful democratic revolutions?

When it comes down to popular belief and a brief glance at these two revolutions, an average person may call the American Revolution more successful than the French Revolution, and therefore more democratic. It is true that these revolutions were started for democratic values, but they underwent a different process and had drastically different results. It's not just that they had different democratic values- they were not and never aimed for a democracy at the end. The American and French Revolution went intended for some democratic values and implemented some of them in either the process or the end of each revolution, but were hardly a democracy, due to the fact that they both failed to achieve equal representation and rights for all citizens, and were only even considered similar at first due to how they opposed the monarchy. It's important to state what exactly a democracy is, then to analyze each revolution from the process to results. With that being said, the two revolutions at the very most only utilized democratic ideas, but not democracy itself.

One of the biggest differences between the goals of the two revolutions and monarchies is the citizen participation within the government. Democratic ideals are supposed to give all citizens equal representation within the government. All citizens would be equal under laws and consequences, and all citizens would have the same amount of rights. In representative democracy, free elections will also be available to all citizens to choose their representation within the government. (Manning, Democracy) No matter if it's parliamentary monarchy in Britain or absolute monarchy in France, these factors were limited to privileges for religious people, nobles, or royal families. However, even the democratic ideas failed to address the inequalities during the time periods of the two revolutions, such as racial tensions and male dominance in society. With these factors in mind, only the process and results can judge how democratic the two revolutions are. Granted, it takes time to improve a political system closer to an idealistic level (which we still have trouble doing), the democratic values aren't held very high in different areas of each revolution. Just to give a perspective, the US is and has always been a "republic", meaning that it doesn't even need to implement all democratic ideals.

The American Revolution was fought between the British colonies in America and Great Britain itself. The famous reason for war was the fact that the colonies had no representation within the Parliament, and so endured with whatever law that was imposed on them. A little before the revolution, the British started milking any profit it can obtain out of the colonies by taxing a high variety of exports to the colonies. The tensions increased after several provoking actions from the two sides, and shots were finally fired. But why was the war fought? The leaders of the revolution held their ideas thinkers such as John Locke, and literally stated what he stated. "Freedom and liberty for all. Proper representation for the citizens within the government, and even creating a new government if necessary." While these quotes weren't exact, they existed within the "Declaration of Independence". These documents at the beginning of war stated how the government failed to represent the people, and so how the people deserved independence. While it holds some democratic values, it has however, never specified what "people", and in failing to do so imbeds old values within these ideals. These "old values" include gender inequality, racial inequality, and the failure of representation of the general people- even most white men.

The process of the American Revolution didn't include surprising or impressive innovations to politics. It was merely a war for independence, and the creating of the government didn't begin until after the colonies' victory. The United States Constitution was ratified in 1778 to form the republic, and the government strived to hold several democratic values for some people. It was however, obviously not a democracy, and nor was that ever stated within the Constitution. The democratic values came mainly from the Bill of Rights, which within the First Amendment included the "Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, and Assembly." In terms of democracy, this gave the people their part within the government, but it stops around there. The people didn't have equal participation rights within the government. First of all, unlike democracy, it's obviously a representative elected by the people to represent the people. Even then, only white males meeting age and property requirements could vote, leading to only 10-16 of the population voting. (Rowen, US Voting Rights) Since slaves are considered property, they don't get basic human rights and aren't protected by the government ether. Considering the fact that the US relied in slavery for its economy, democratic values were suppressed. On the long term, abolitionist groups were founded as early as 1775, the year the revolution started. These events also sparked the eventual push for gender equality, as women were seen absolutely necessary for education, and so the idea of a republic. Some of the earliest changes within the government ties with "Freedom of Religion"; the state will be separated from religion. The Anglican Church of Britain was obviously shut down after the revolution. (Societal Impacts, U.S. History) The revolution wasn't democratic, as the outline for the government wasn't made until after the war. The result wasn't very democratic either, as the people didn't have equal participation within the government, didn't have equal rights, and the government didn't fully represent the population either. No republic would ever make all citizens equal like democracy.

The French Revolution took place during the reign of Louis the XVI, after its involvement in the American Revolution and the Seven Years War. These wars increased the amount of debt, and Louis the XVI's poor decisions didn't deal with these problems or even acknowledge them. The centralized monarchy and nobles lavishly spent on luxuries. France at the time kept to old traditions, such as separation of the population into three estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church while the second estate consisted of the nobles. The third estate included everyone else, representing 97% of France's population. (Ramírez, Susan E., Peter N. Stearns, Samuel S. Wineburg, and Steven A. Goldberg, 196-197) Since it's an absolute monarchy, the king is able to do whatever he wants, and that absolutely did not include granting rights and freedoms to the people. In order to pay the debts, the king needed to tax the people. The nobles resisted, and so the target went to the third estate. It doesn't take much to sympathize with the third estate with most of them living in terrible, unfair conditions, already paying high taxes to the first two estates and the monarchy, heavy labor, starvation due to a recent drought, and having little power over their lives. Needless to say, some people looked at the American Revolution, realized they can make a change, and decided to take action. The first act with democratic values includes a request on reform on voting procedures on the meeting of the three estates. The third estate wanted more representation within this assembly since they made up the majority of the population. With disapproval from the king, the third estate created the "National Assembly", and declared that the true government of France. The "Declaration of the Right of Man and of the Citizen" has very similar democratic content to the Declaration of Independence. They both sought for freedom and equal rights in all, resistance to government if they don't support the citizens, and equal representation with citizens within the government. While these are very democratic goals, common knowledge of the French Revolution was enough to prove that many of these values didn't keep up.

France turned into a republic after the end of the monarchy, and the first two estates lost all their privileges. Things took a drastic turn due to the high influence of the radical representatives. Famous events such as the "Reign of Terror" proved how the freedom of speech, opinion, press, and to oppose the government were suppressed. The representation of the people within the republic was low. The members of the National Convention weren't there due to an election available to all people, and any opposition to the dominant radicals were destroyed and slaughtered. (Robespierre, Use of Terror) This effectively shut down most of the rights promised by the "Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen", other than the equality given to nearly everyone. While one had much protected rights, everyone had the same amount. There were no more privileges to some people, although there were still gender inequalities. Olympe de Gauges, an advocate of women's rights, was also sent to the guillotine. The French Revolution also dechristianized the nation. While it removed the freedom of religion for Christianity, it opened up the freedom of religion for others due to the fact that the Catholic Church will no longer ever have a tight control on France again. (Dunn, Secularizing the Sacred) After the revolution when Napoleon took control, he made sure to reduce the power of the Catholic Church, making way for religious freedom on the long term. While the dictator himself held many democratic ideas to gain popularity, those weren't present in the revolution itself. (Hosack, Concordat/French Revolution) People simply wanted peace and stability, and looked away from the direction the revolution took. The democratic ideals were tossed out in favor of extreme actions of paranoid by members of the National Convention, and the use of terror lost the revolution its popularity. There was a rebellion (Bogle, Vendée Catholics) that was fought to preserve Catholic Christianity, proving how separated the people were on this revolution, despite the "representatives" who are really just members deemed appropriate for the National Convention. The revolution was not democratic, and didn't give positive results until Napoleon implemented some democratic ideals.

The American and French Revolution aimed for certain democratic ideals presented by thinkers, which included improved equality and rights for the people, and how the government should protect them. The American Revolution ended up with a successful, surviving republic, but was hindered by many of the old traditions, including gender inequality, racial inequality, and the lack of representation from the population to vote. The government however strived to emphasize on some basic rights, as presented by the Bill of Rights. Much like the American Revolution, the French Revolution started out to eliminate inequalities amongst citizens, including equal rights for all, a government's duty to protect those rights, and the government's duty to serve the people. However, most of these rights listed in the "Declaration of Right of Man and the Citizen" were forgotten, as soon the revolution became a slaughter-fest. The freedom of speech, opinion, and press were all denied while one specific religion was also banned. There were constant internal conflicts and rebellions to this revolution. The result was a popular appeal from a dictatorship, which goes to show how successful this "democratic" crusade turned out. At the end, the American Revolution and the French Revolution weren't very democratic in terms of process and result, although they did set some foundation on the democratic enlightenment ideals on the long run.

Bibliography:

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Industrial Revolution Timeline

http://timeglider.com/timeline/8d88eb3cbb13ff57