In 1776, the year the American Revolution began, Adam Smith had written Wealth of Nations, the first complete description of a new economic system called capitalism. The increasingly powerful capitalists pointed to the economic ideas of Adam Smith to support their vision of freedom. New legislation made worker attempts to form labor unions illegal under criminal conspiracy laws. In the English industrial cities, 25 percent of all children under age 5 died of disease and malnutrition.Īs the new industrial owners, called capitalists, gained more political power, the English Parliament repealed worker protection laws going back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Dirt, garbage, sewage, industrial wastes, foul air, and polluted water poisoned the environment. Entire families crowded into single-room apartments. Up to about the 1880s, worker living conditions were awful in English industrial cities such as Manchester. Children under 10 commonly worked in the factories and coal mines. The typical workday was 12 hours not counting meal times. A new class of business people-merchants, bankers, and industrialists-rose to power.ĭuring the early years of industrialization in England, workers had no say in what their wages or working conditions would be.
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