1818thth Century Timelines Century TimelinesEpisode Eight: Century of the Episode Eight: Century of the

Furnace (1700-1800)Furnace (1700-1800)

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18th Century World Context

The eighteenth century was the "century of the furnace" in a dual sense: the furnace of proto-industrial technology glowed brightly in China, India, and the West, and the furnace of political revolution set off sparks as well.

New ways of thinking strengthened and disrupted Europe, while the American Revolution strained ties across the Atlantic between Europe and the colonies. India textile exports thrived, with thousands of workers mass-producing cotton, tea, and silk.

However, by the middle of the century, the British East India company began its conquest of India-Britain was beginning to claim these riches. China, also confident about its economic prosperity, colonized new territories to the north and west.

Science and the Agricultural Revolution

By the eighteenth century, Sir Isaac Newton's treatise on the theory of gravity (published in England in 1687) had firmly established the scientific method of investigation. Newton altered the way Europeans thought about their world.

Europeans developed a passion for theorizing, measuring, quantifying, and categorizing evidence about their physical world through observation. This scientific spirit also manifested itself in agriculture. American plants like potatoes and maize were transplanted to Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Besides keeping peasants from starving, new crops stimulated new farming methods. English and Dutch farmers systematically collected seeds from productive plants, experimented with fertilizer, developed new farming tools, and kept extensive records of results. Mentions of agricultural experiments appeared in the correspondence of "farmers" as diverse as George Washington and Catherine the Great.

Population and Migrations

The immediate consequence of these agricultural improvements was more food for more people. Populations expanded. In the New World, African slave trade increased while the rate of American Indian deaths from infectious diseases began to stabilize. In Europe, nations fought global wars for control of the seas.

England's loss of the 13 American colonies would be balanced by its victories in the Napoleonic wars during the following century. European immigrants moved to frontier lands in Canada, the United States, the Russian steppes, and Australia

Transportation and Capitalism

Farming surpluses generated a need for roads and canals to transport increasing amounts of goods to market. Peasants returned from local and regional markets with money and with orders for more goods. Merchants provided women with wool to spin and weave at home.

Profits from these cottage industries created new wealth. As villages grew to towns and then cities, the story of urban migrations began. A prosperous new class emerged. In 1776, Adam Smith published the Wealth of Nations, the classic study of capitalism and its principles.

A New National Identity

1776 was also the year the Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. The belief that mankind could establish a rational political order developed out of the ideas of the Enlightenment.

The revolutionary notion that governments are established to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens originated in the writings of Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire. These radical ideas became the cornerstone of revolutions in North America, France, Haiti, and Latin America.

The strength of the nation state was grounded in a contractual agreement between the government and its people. Citizens no longer identified themselves by town or region-they had a national identity.

Power of Steam

And 1776 was the year James Watt began selling steam engines. Entrepreneurs now had a portable, inexpensive source of power for manufacturing and transport. This development was to have global consequences over the last two centuries of the millennium.

Important Dates and Developments from the 18th Century

1722 – Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier

1769 – Industrial Revolution Begins

1776 – U.S. Declaration of Independence

1787 - U.S. Constitution

1789 – French Revolution Begins

1791 – U.S. Bill of Rights

1796 – Smallpox Vaccine Develops

Eighteenth Century

Richard Arkwright 1732 – 1792

His 1769 invention of a water-powered spinning frame meant that all-cotton cloth could for the first time be made in England.  

But because his creation had to be housed in a large room with a water supply at the ready, Richard Arkwright inadvertently became the founder of the modern factory system, a system in which specialized workers, using specialized machinery, work together in one place -- very quickly.

John Harrison 1693 – 1776

John Harrison invented the marine chronometer, a device that allowed seamen to calculate longitude. In the 1760s the chronometer's reliability was established, and in 1775 Capt. James Cook used one to chart the South Sea Islands, a feat achieved with the aid, he wrote, of "our never failing guide, the Watch."

Thomas Jefferson 1743 – 1826

A lawyer by trade, a pioneer of American architecture, a president who encourage westward expansion, a slave owner who opposed slavery, Thomas Jefferson embodied many of the aspirations -- and some of the contradictions -- of a newborn nation.

It was a self-evident truth, wrote the 33-year-old Virginian, "that all Men are created equal." Natural law, the right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness," became the New World blueprint. It remains an alluring goal for democracies around the world.

Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804

His entire life was spent in Königsberg, East Prussia. But Immanuel Kant made up for his lack of adventure by traveling far in his mind. In Critique of Pure Reason he examined the nature and limits of human knowledge. He established the direction of modern philosophy.

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier 1743 – 1794

The founder of modern chemistry, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier demonstrated that combustion results when a burning substance combines with oxygen, and stated the law of the conservation of matter: The weight of the products of combustion equals the weight of the original materials.

The French chemist clarified the distinction between elements and compounds and was instrumental in devising the modern system of chemical nomenclature. He also had a career as a tax collector, for which he was guillotined during the French Revolution.

Carolus Linnaeus 1707 – 1778

He developed the modern botanical classification system. The Swedish physician, writing in Latin as Linnaeus, devised a system of naming the genus and species of plants -- and, later, animals. His nomenclature was adopted by naturalists worldwide in his time and is evident everywhere in ours.

18th Century Video Segments

Lapland – Attempts to Measure the Shape of the EarthPortugal – Lisbon built as a symbol of the EnlightenmentU.S./France – RevolutionsIndia – Beginning of the British EmpireChina – Opens Up Trade

Concepts from the European Enlightenment

The main components of Enlightenment thought are as follows:

The universe is fundamentally rational, that is, it can be understood through the use of reason alone;Truth can be arrived at through empirical observation, the use of reason, and systematic doubt;

Human experience is the foundation of human understanding of truth; authority is not to be preferred over experience;

All human life, both social and individual, can be understood in the same way the natural world can be understood; once understood, human life, both social and individual, can be manipulated or engineered in the same way the natural world can be manipulated or engineered;

Human history is largely a history of progress;Human beings can be improved through education and the development of their rational facilities;Religious doctrines have no place in the understanding of the physical and human worlds;

1818thth Century Legacies Century LegaciesThe scientific revolution led to more investigation, new discoveries, and new technologies. The scientific revolution led to more investigation, new discoveries, and new technologies. Europeans had developed a system that generated further inventions. This system was a precursor Europeans had developed a system that generated further inventions. This system was a precursor to research and development programs employed by modern governments and multinational to research and development programs employed by modern governments and multinational corporations in the twentieth century. corporations in the twentieth century.

Changes in agriculture had the immediate effect of improving peasants' lives. Population numbers Changes in agriculture had the immediate effect of improving peasants' lives. Population numbers expanded world-wide. expanded world-wide.

European settlers to new lands established enclaves that maintained strong links with European European settlers to new lands established enclaves that maintained strong links with European nations into the twentieth century. nations into the twentieth century.

Based on the ideals of the Enlightenment, revolutions in the U.S., France, Haiti, and Latin America Based on the ideals of the Enlightenment, revolutions in the U.S., France, Haiti, and Latin America transformed societies into modern nation-states and subjects into citizens. transformed societies into modern nation-states and subjects into citizens.

Citizens developed a national identity: they served in their nation's army, and supported the state Citizens developed a national identity: they served in their nation's army, and supported the state through a national system of tax collection. through a national system of tax collection.

This era marked the beginning of the industrial revolution, which would radically change people's This era marked the beginning of the industrial revolution, which would radically change people's lives. lives.