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Nineteenth-Century Social and Political Movements
Introduction
The 19th century was essentially marked with the growth of different social and political movements that oversaw a turn of event and reform both in the United States and Europe. Ultimately, large amounts of change were experienced, such as the abolition of the slave trade with the establishment of political reforms such as abolitionism that marked a significant change in the political life of the given era. Additionally, the given rea also saw the rise of conservationists, liberalists and socialists. These given individuals led to the formation of the conservatives, liberals and socialist political perspectives that governed political ideas in that given period. This essay will focus on the beliefs of the conservatives, liberals and socialists and how their politics clash with each other in conclusion with the comparison on Britain and France handled the population change to reform.
What Conservatives, Liberals and Socialists Believed and How Their Politics Clashed With Each
As stated in the PowerPoint, the conservatives believed in a hierarchical society, preservation of the old order, privileges with the basis of birth and religion (Slide 5). Additionally, the conservatives essentially believed in the promotion of traditional social institutions that was in the context of both culture and civilization. Ultimately, the major elements of conservatism included tradition, hierarchy and authority that was established to culture and property rights. Their political aspiration was the preservation of a range of institutions such as organized religion, parliamentary government and given property rights. Nonetheless, the political affluent of the conservatives was to empower individuals in solving problems.
Conversely to conservatives, the liberals believed in the government’s duty to achieve and attain both equal opportunities for all individuals (PowerPoint Slide 6). Additionally, the liberals believed that it was the duty of the government to foster the alleviation of the social ills that were present towards that protection of civil liberties in conjunction with individual human rights. They also believed that the roles of the government were a guarantee that no given individual was to be in need.
Therefore, according to Chapter 7 (300), the liberal government had a significant aim of solving problems. Contrary to both conservative and the liberals, socialist believed in a classless society where that government was in control of all the means of productions and the distribution of goods. Ultimately, the Powerpoint states that two types of socialism included social democracy and communism (Slide 19). Each given set of socialist had their own beliefs with some being similar to each other while a few were different from each other. According to Chapter 7 (303), the socialist who advocated for social democracy believed in economic equality, private property ownership, the meeting of basic needs and gradual reforms. Conversely, to social democracy, those who advocated for communism, on the other hand, believed in economic equality just as in social democracy, no private property ownership, exact equal wealth and revolution (Chapter 8, 368). Therefore, from the aspect mentioned above, each set of political ideologies had their ideas and goals that were essentially different from each other.
How Britain and France Each Handled the Pressure from the Population to Change and Reform
In Britain and France, the population had a significant impact on the given countries in changing and reforming in the 19th century. The population had enacted a lot of pressure to the existing government towards making relevant changes and reforms. A point to note is that these given countries handled the pressure from the population in both similar and different ways. Riots characterized the push for change and reform in both countries form hungry crowds and rebellion from given groups of individuals (Chapter 7, 315). Ultimately, individuals spouted various revolutions with the quest to advocate for reforms in the two given countries. For instance, with regards to rebellions, rebellions in France occurred low countries such as Greece, Italy and the ottoman empire in Europe. Contrary to France’s angry demonstrations that were violent, in Britain, the quest for reforms was characterized with relatively peaceful but angry demonstrations and protests.
According to Chapter 7, page16 form the textbook, France handled the pressure from the crowds by essentially restraining the number of individuals that were allowed to vote. Additionally, France also responded to the pressure with increased taxes creating severe economic hardships in which were directed towards destabilizing the population. Nonetheless, even with the riots, the French government adopted a series of repressive measures that were even more severe in dismantling the crowds. Consequently, with the onset of the revolutions, the French government now decided to put in place a diplomatic affront in calming the situation. Conversely to France, according to Chapter 7 (321-324), Britain protests which were essentially peaceful were stopped by the government though banning public demonstrations with the subjection of individuals to arbitrary arrests. Additionally, the British also responded with significant reforms in which the population still was not satisfied until the major reform that involved the country’s anachronistic system of elections.
Conclusion
In conclusion, form the above discussions, the 19th century was essentially marked with a series of social and political movements that oversaw the turn of event characterized by relevant reforms in the governments. The three major political and social ideologies that characterized this rea included conservatism, liberalism ad socialisms who believed in different ideologies. For instance, the conservatives believed in a hierarchical society, preservation of the old order, privileges with the basis of birth and religion. Additionally, on the other hand, liberals believed in the government’s duty to achieve and attain both equal opportunities for all individuals. Consequently, the socialist who advocated for social democracy believed in economic equality, private property ownership, the meeting of basic needs and gradual reforms. Ultimately, with regards to the reforms that were brought about by the given ideologies Britain and France had to deal with the pressure from the population to reform that was characterized by violence and riots in France and peaceful demonstrations in Britain. Nonetheless, eth ways in which the two countries used to handle the pressures included the use of both peaceful methods for both countries.
Work Cited
PowerPoint. Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, Communism 1815-1914.
Chapter seven. Conservation, reform, and revolution, 1815-1852
Chapter 7. Political Systems and the Quest for Reform.
Chapter 8. From National Unification to Religious Revival