As the nation’s economic condition worsened, the First and Second Estates continued to live lavishly, oblivious to the hardships of the world, while the Third Estate received the brunt of it all. King Louis XVI was incompetent, and he did nothing to alleviate their difficulties. Wars, the king’s court life, and Marie Antoinette’s deficit spending all contributed to the increasing debt of the nation; furthermore, half of the royal budget went to interest, so both the commoners and king’s budget exceeded what they could afford. To make matters worse, peasants had fees and services owed back all the way from feudal times. So as the Third Estate fell into destitution and royal spending increased, the price of goods rose.
In a poorhouse in Suffolk County, England, the regulations state that when each poor individual came to the poorhouse for the first time, they should be whipped on their bare skin. They also required more stubborn people to wear heavy shackles, have more difficult work, and be given less food. These regulations were all created for the purpose of controlling the poor. Even worse than the terrible treatment of these people is the fact that they came to the poorhouse seeking refuge and safety. Instead, they were humiliated and abused.
The poorhouse regulations say “Every strong rogue, at his or her first entrance into the house, shall have 12 stripes with the whip on the bare skin and every young rogue or idle loiterer shall have 6 stripes in the same manner. All unruly and stubborn persons shall be corrected oftener and given heavier shackles, a thinner diet, and harder labor until they are brought to reasonable obedience and submission to the master of the poorhouse” (doc. 7). The poorhouse had these certain rules and regulations to keep the poor in check and to keep them from acting up. They would beat them and starve them until they stopped acting up. This shows how the people would control the poor at this time.
France in the late 1700’s was a place of poverty, hunger,
“You are surrounded ….. With an infinite number of comforts and conveniences which had no existence two or three centuries ago …. Are not only used by a few, but are within the reach of almost all men” (Document 9). During this time period in the early 1830s people had the conveniences of better, safer homes, cheaper merchandise, and a countless number of other domestic utensils. Although these might not have an immense effect on the economy, they did in-fact better living conditions and the qualities of life.
If you were in poverty in the south it was very hard to get out of. Along with that they had no factories which contributed to people not being able to get out of poverty. Later on the south relied on the north and europe for many things such as borrowing money, farm tools and furniture. “ One southerner described the situation as a burial show to how the south depended on the north for so many goods in the 1850’s.” Most Southerners believed that if cotton remained king that their future for themselves and for their economy was
I earn $1.50 a day... our children, of course, are often very sickly... had to go without a meal...” He understood the hole himself and all other indigent persons were in and why they were in it. He recognized that the United States government and industrial powers were responsible for his never ending cycle of penury, and in his concluding statement he claimed that “They are doing everything of that kind to crush down the poor people - the poor operatives there.” Which henceforth manifested the maltreatment of the destitute individuals and the lack of justice. The poor were not the only individuals who were mistreated in American society, which was also entirely and unfortunately unexpected by incoming settlers.
During the 1800s, the country of England faced many social issues among their people. Dickens’ used the experiences of peasants during the French Revolution to open England’s eyes to the issues in its country. During the build up to the French Revolutions, many apparent problems riddled the streets and homes of the peasants, like hunger. After a frenzy in the street, a woman returns to her “pot of hot ashes, at which she had been trying to soften the pain in her own starved fingers and toes” (pg 32). Dickens’ emphasizes the starvation of the people mulling around to exemplify the harsh conditions forced upon peasants.
In 16th century England poverty consumed the cities due to the Enclosure Movement. People became desperate for land as thousands of acres of were fenced in to raise sheep which resulted in agricultural workers being kicked off of their land, and England becoming severely overpopulated and filled with poverty. William Harrison, a clergyman, and Richard Hakluyt, a writer, each had different ideas as to how they could solve the problem. Harrison believed that the church should offer charity to the poor who were deemed worthy, while Hakluyt believed that they should send the poor to the Americas to colonize, where there were jobs, fresh resources, and an opportunity to move in on Spain’s territory.
The Glass Castle The modern world views poverty as being a symbol of being uneducated or lazy. When you see someone who has little to no money you think of them as being stupid with their money, those are just some of the natural characteristics we put on people. “Which is the bigger cause of poverty today: that people are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty, or that circumstances beyond their control cause them to be poor? Respondents were roughly equally divided between people not doing enough, (48 percent) and circumstances (45 percent)”. (1)
The common people of colonial America created the majority of the Continental Army and other aggressor branches. The poor were inspired by the hope to rise in rank and acquire substantial income which led them to flock the enlist. It was colonial laymen who suffered through unbearable cold, sickness, and malnutrition in addition to attending in a vicious battle and witnessing amass of slaughtered dead bodies. Occurring simultaneously were conflicts between the poor who were not at war and those who continued to prosper and had a lot of wealth. One would expect that because the poor were drilled to the impact of the Revolution social changes would tend toward the democratic virtues.
Chapter 6- Economy and Society of the High Middle Ages 6.1- Europe’s population grew rapidly in the high middle ages which caused agricultural production to increase due to the spread of new technologies and newly cultivated lands. 6.2- Technological innovations for agriculture produced the economic prosperities prior to the nineteenth century, because the economy was reliant on agriculture, although much of the technology wasn’t widespread until after 1050. 6.2.1- In the eleventh-century water and wind power were being exploited, by the end of the century water mills fell into disrepair and windmills became more popular, it took two centuries for them to appear in Western Europe.
In The Glass Castle, Jeannette overcame the obstacles with her parents, poverty, and getting bullied. First, Jeannette moved to the city because she needed to take matters into her own hands. Jeannette could not handle "[moving] around like [a] [nomad]" (Walls, 19) any longer, so she bought a one way ticket to New York City. Jeannette was relieved that she had a chance to start new and get away from the instability of her past. Not only did Jeannette want to get away from her parents, but her siblings did too.
In the Elizabethan age, social class structure was paramount. The class ranking dictated how the people of each level could dress, the diet and food available, and career standing. Social hierarchy classes consisted of a monarch, nobility, gentry, merchants, yeomanry, and laborer. The monarch was the highest and most superior class ranking, it was based off of bloodline only and the oldest monarch would take the throne and become the most powerful(“Elizabethan Era.”).
Throughout humanity, humans have been isolated to social classes and divided due to wealth, and status. Europe during 1450 to 1700 was issuing a major problem because poverty was common throughout Europe. This was a major problem as poverty was one of the factors of the high death rates because of starvation. As a result, many different European countries including the Spanish, France, Great Britain, and Netherlands, spoke up to the occasion in different attitudes and responses. Many individuals whether they are rulers, doctors, artists, council members had a different view to the poor as some will have a negative connotation portraying the unfortunate as idleness, while others will show sympathy and positivity in their ideas.
