Oliver!

If a society becomes wealthier but some people become poorer, is that progress?

The Industrial Revolution increased production, expanded cities, and helped transform the economy. But industrialization also created serious problems involving poverty, working conditions, inequality, pollution, and urban life.

The 1968 musical film Oliver! provides a useful lens for examining the social consequences of industrial-era Britain. Based on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, the film depicts poverty, child vulnerability, social class, and life in nineteenth-century London. Use its scenes as historical evidence while distinguishing dramatic storytelling from the broader historical record.

Clip investigation A: The workhouse and “Food, Glorious Food”

1) What does the scene suggest about poverty, hunger, and how society treats poor children?
2) Why might a society with growing wealth still have hungry people?
3) Is this scene evidence about factory conditions, or about poverty and the treatment of the poor more broadly?


Clip investigation B: Oliver meets the Artful Dodger and Fagin's group

4) What choices are available to children living in poverty?
5) How does the film portray the relationship between poverty, survival, and crime?
6) What might a historian need to learn before concluding that industrialization caused crime?


Clip investigation C: “Consider Yourself” and London street life

7) What advantages might a growing city offer—jobs, markets, trade, and entertainment?
8) What problems might arise when a city's population grows faster than its housing and sanitation systems?
9) Does a lively city necessarily mean that everyone living there has a good life?

Dayton, Ohio

 

What makes a city successful?

Why was Dayton, Ohio such an innovative and important city of the Industrial Revolution?  

What can Dayton teach us about how cities stay competitive in today's global economy?

Dayton, Ohio, transformed from a small river trading post into one of America's most inventive and productive industrial powerhouses before facing a major manufacturing decline in the late 20th century. Dayton had more patents per capita than any other U.S. city, and one in six of the nation’s corporate executives had spent part of their career at the legendary National Cash Register Co. Beginning in the mid-1800s, Dayton rose as a hub of manufacturing and entrepreneurship. Companies such as NCR, the Barney & Smith Car Company, McCall’s Publishing, DELCO, the Wright Company, and the Huffy Corporation set the city apart as a center of innovation and forward-thinking.

Mill Times

Wool must first be spun into yarn before it can be woven into cloth. For centuries this was done by hand in the home. After being cleaned and prepared, the individual fibers were carefully drawn and twisted into a continuous thin strand and wound around a spindle. The spun yarn was then transferred to looms, on which it was woven into fabric.

The mechanization of spinning and weaving, which resulted in the creation of the textile industry, was part of an unprecedented period of technological innovation known as the Industrial Revolution. It began in England in the middle of the eighteenth century and continued well into the nineteenth century in Europe and the United States.

A new kind of building was designed to house great numbers of these new machines so they could all be run from a central power source. Long, narrow, multi-story structures, some using water wheels, others using steam engines, were built in both England and Scotland. They were called either manufactories or mills.

You are helping build the town of Wicksbridge. 

Beginning in 1810, you will watch a small farming community become an industrial town.

Your job is to listen carefully, draw quickly, and notice how one change creates another.

Have You Any Wool?

Thomas Kelly, my great-grandfather (x5), was a sheep herder and 'proprietor of land.' 

He raised these rare Manx Loaghtan sheep, which can have as many as 6 horns!

The first industry to be transformed in Great Britain was textile production. Before industrialization, every step of cloth making had to be done by hand. The raw fiber, like wool and cotton, had to be cleaned and untangled. The fibers had to be twisted into thread. Then the threads had to be woven into cloth. Each step was laborious and time-consuming. Skilled artisans used simple tools and equipment to make cloth at home.

READ CHAPTER 16 SECTION 1:  GREAT BRITAIN LEADS THE WAY

1. List the factors that allowed Britain to become the first nation to industrialize.
2. Write a one-sentence summary of how the textile industry in Great Britain changed throughout the 1700s.
3. Describe the resources and transportation system in Great Britain.

Working In a Coal Mine

THE YEAR IS 1710.

You own a coal mine.

Your mine is becoming more profitable—but there is a problem:

Water keeps flooding the mine.

How could you get the water out?

Possible answers:

Buckets
Pumps
People
Horses
Digging drainage tunnels
Some kind of machine

In this picture my dad is 2 years old, sitting on my grandfather's lap. His grandfather Lawrence is kneeling next to them, and his great-grandfather (my great-great-grandfather) William sits behind. William left the Isle of Man to come to America in 1890. William's father, John Robert (my great-great-grandfather) was a miner and worked in this lead/silver mine in a town called Laxey. The mine became famous for this giant wheel used to pump water from the deep shafts. 

It's the largest operating water wheel in the world.

Who was James Watt and how did his steam engine improve on Newcomen's design?

The American Cincinnatus

What makes a revolution successful: winning power or knowing when to give it up?

"You have often heard him compared to Cincinnatus," the French traveller Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville wrote after visiting George Washington at Mount Vernon in 1788. "The comparison is doubtless just. The celebrated General is nothing more at present than a good farmer, constantly occupied in the care of his farm and the improvement of cultivation."

Can you imagine Julius Caesar willingly turning back power? History is littered with examples of military men who seized power and were reluctant to give it up. Yet two remarkable individuals, separated by 2,000 years, both made the decision to give up near-absolute authority in favor of life as a citizen. George Washington, America’s first president, and Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, an early Roman statesman, lived dramatically different lives, but both understood the nature and importance of civic virtue. Washington’s decision to not seek a third term as president set a lasting precedent for the peaceful transition of power that endures today.

1) Who was Cincinnatus? 

2) Why was George Washington called the Cincinnatus of the West?

3) What precedent did George Washington set and why is it still so important today?

4) What do you think Washington would say about this statue that makes him look like Zeus?

5) How did the city of Cincinnati get its name? 

Napoleon

What is a coup d'etat?

Napoleon Bonaparte was an "enlightened despot"—an absolute ruler who used the rational, progressive ideas of the Enlightenment to shape his laws and government, even while holding supreme authoritarian power. Historians often debate whether his actions truly served freedom or just efficient control. He promoted both liberty through legal reform and tyranny through authoritarian rule.

Was Napoleon an Enlightenment leader—or did he betray the ideals of the Enlightenment?