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With the turn of the century the Atlantic world experienced a change in traditional forms of trade and economic growth, this was manly due to industrialization in Europe and the U.S. Within chapter 13 of The Atlantic World, industrial growth is achievable through a boom in population. I thought it was interesting that Egerton explains the growth in population as a result of infant mortality rates declining in Great Britain at around 1740. The decline being a possible affect of improved midwifery was fascinating to think about. Whatever the reason, Great Britian’s population growth would lead to an expanding working class which allowed for urban areas to be filled with new workers. I found it eye opening that the term “capitalism” had been used since European medieval terms yet it wasn’t until the time of the English Civil war around the mid 17th century that westerners thought of capital in a broader sense of surplus commodity. By 1793, the meaning a been slightly altered to describe a system more closely related to modern day capitalism, in which a small number of individuals can own and control the means of productions.
Textiles had helped launch industry and through its continued growth came a huge demand for cotton. Britain would buy from the Bahamas, and from the Southern United States including Georgia and South Carolina. Unfortunately this would help sustain a non-capitalist slave based society in the U.S. for years to come. For early nineteenth century U.S. citizens who owned slaves, they would develope into a wealthy elite group. This reminded me of Alberto Vicira’s article, “Sugar Islands,” as slave labor helped increase the economy and wealth of the Portuguese colonist. At the same slaves experienced brutal working conditions as they were commodified to further benefit the economic growth. Similar developments would happen in U.S. plantations as the development of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and the increase in demand would lead to the further commodifying of slaves and harsher treatment. As industry continued to grow it would increase the economy and further modernize society, while at the same time benefit those individuals who controlled the corporations behind the industrial growth. I agree with my colleague Viktoriya Shalunova, in that the increase of slave labor brought along a backlash on the morality of slavery, leaving slave owners on the defensive…slave owners would used the bible to justify slavery, while at the same time abolitionists would use the bible to condemn it. The ideas of the civil war were developing along with the growth of the Industrialization Revolution.