Napolean's Impact on Europe's Economy

Napoleon Bonaparte  intents were never in the name of evil, he simply wanted to gain power for France because he thought he could help the public of many countries. He promoted science, literature and other teachings but  became overwhelmed by how much power he achieved and eventually turned all of Europe into a war.


Napoleon while conquering many countries and cities, was only trying to help the world while bringing power to France, he promoted sciences, math, and literature. Many of the average people were mostly effected by Napoleon's reign at first. Napoleon was at first trying to give as much land and power to France as he could. This would not necessarily mean he would change the way of life for most citizens of each country he conquered.  After being sent to the island of Elba and escaping, he became slightly more violent and attacked more cities more viciously. He was harsher and was even confident enough to challenge Russia. But, unprepared for the Russian winter, many of his troops died and he was eventually banished to the Island of St. Helena where he would eventually die.

Image From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Napoleon_Crossing_Alps_copy_Mauzaisse_1807.jpeg

Socialism With Starbursts

In class we were all given an amount of starbursts, we did not all get the same amount, but everyone got between one and ten each.  then we were instructed to gamble our starbursts using rock paper scissors. Whoever won got to take one of the losers starbursts. This began to get violent, people were getting angry and some people started stealing and others were just frustrated that they didn't have any left. At the end Ms. Bailey came around and collected all the starbursts and distributed them evenly.

Adam Smith thought that instead of a government trying to figure out how to manage an economy, they would leave the economy alone for the people to deal with themselves, the only problem was the risk of unemployment rates spiking. Smith thought this would benefit the poor because stores would be battling for customers so they would have competitively low prices. Karl Marx thought that if he could have the government control the wealth of the economy, he could distribute the wealth evenly. The goal was to have a classless economy, where everyone worked the same amount and was paid the same amount and had the same amount of stuff. The problems with an economy like this were that there was no motivation for one person to work hard because they would all receive the same in the end.

I think that capitalism is the best form of economy because you are able to get out what you put into the economy.I think this is the best because people have the option to thrive which would encourage them to work hard and create a healthy economy.

Who Were the Luddites?

The Luddites were a group of people well known for staying away from technology. Today Luddite refers to someone who is not very good at using technology or struggles with it.  In reality that is not actually true, the Luddites were a group of people during the Industrial revolution who refrained from using large mechanical weaving machines in an effort to keep the cloth pure. They wanted the craft of weaving be purely an act of skill not just operating a machine.  The Luddites were opposed to using mechanical looms because they wanted to make high quality craftsmen ship and they were afraid the machines would put them out of business.  Some Luddites were even known to have destroyed weaving equipment with sledge hammers. Which sparked the legend that Luddites were known for it.



Dear Cousin Mo,
You may or may not know this but as a skilled weaver, I am actually becoming worried that all this new weaving technology may put me and others like me out of business.  The new machines are very efficient and have been sweeping the nation. People are now able to get more cloth in less time for less money than ever before. I have Heard about a group of people who have started to call themselves the Luddites these people are just like me! Worried by industrialization these skilled craftsmen are frightened that hey will go out of business and are protesting new weaving machines. Some have even been said to have destroyed weaving factories with sledge hammers.  While I am not as violent as some of the protesters have been, I still stand up for their cause which is why I have decided to call myself a Luddite and protest the new mills being made
Much Love,
Elanor

What Motivated Women to Work in the Mills?

So what motivated women to work in the Lowell mills anyway? The working conditions were sub par, the pay was mostly consumed by housing and food. But still many women worked at these factories.  These factories were a way for the girls and women to contribute to the income of the family and help them pay the bills.  In addition they brought a sense of freedom and independence to the women who otherwise had very few rights in these times if not related to a man somehow be that by blood or marriage.  Working in the mills was one of the few ways a woman could be on her own.  Knowing she was contributing to her family and this feeling of independence must have been very appealing to these women because they put up with a lot of other downsides for that. the food was mediocre, the hours were long, and the working conditions were poor but the women kept on working day after day.

"A New Age is Looming Over the Horizon"

Our first task curating a museum exhibit was to select what images were to go into the exhibit. We then wrote short descriptions for each image describing them and explaining what they were and how they related to the industrial revolution. We then decorated our exhibit and thought of a clever title.  After we read through our exhibit and made sure it was free of errors we selected a spot for it to be displayed in the "Museum."

Weaving Slavery
Since there was such a high demand for cotton, it was traded worldwide. This increased wealth immensely for slave owners and other higher up people in the business.

Transportation
The creation of the steam engine helped transport by introducing trains and boats that were powered mechanically.  This made it easier to travel over terrains such as water or land faster and easier.

Changes to Life Conditions
During the industrial revolution, even though many people worked in poor conditions many peoples incomes increased because of the new job openings in big cities in Britain and the U.S.  On the downside, the factories created a lot of smoke in these big cities.

Unlawful Conditions
In the factories during the industrial revolution, many machines had small hard to reach parts that could only be reached by small children. This meant children would be put in very dangerous places to work. I addition, 49 percent of children working in the factories started under the age of ten.