1)Agriculture and the Land

a)End of 17th century, Eur agrarian, 80% drew livelihood from agriculture

b)Output was weak, when crops failed ppl forced to eat famine foods- grass, bark, nuts. Famine years made ppl susceptible to illness, population decline

c)Europeans produced barely enough food in good years and agonized thru years of famine

d)The Open-Field System

i)System that divided land to be cultivated by peasants of a village into several large fields, which were in turn cut up into narrow strips, individual or peasant family held scattered strips, farmed each field as a community

ii)Exhaustion of soil a problem due to nitrogen depletion- fallow every other year, later three-year rotation introduced w/ crop rotation

iii)Common lands set aside for herd and natural pasture

iv)The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet- women picking up remains of grain

v)State and landlord levied heavy taxes and high rents, stripped peasants of earnings

(1)Easter Europe peasants bound to landlord, worked some days without pay

(2)West Eur. peasants generally free from serfdom, owned land and could pass it on to children—poverty still great for most ppl

e)The Agricultural Revolution

i)One way of progress was to overthrow those who owned land but did not work it, but conditions to do so were not right

ii)Technological progress could allow Eur to produce and eat more

(1)Agricultural revolution- eliminating the fallow, thereby increasing the land under cultivation by 50%

(2)Involved alternating grain with nitrogen storing crops that rejuvenated soil and gave more produce—peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, clovers, grasses

(3)Sophisticated patterns of crop rotation developed to suit different soils

iii)More food allowed for more animal feed, more meat better diets, more fertilizer from animals w/ manure

iv)Advocates for new crop rotations argued for the need to enclose and consolidate their scattered holdings into compact, fenced-in fields in order to farm more effectively, also enclose individual shares of the common--- strong opposition from peasants and landlords + nobles

f)The Leadership of the Low Countries and England

i)Holland and Low countries very advanced, England and French jealous

ii)Strong middle-class society employed enclosed fields, continuous rotation, heavy manuring, and wide variety of crops

iii)Low Countries some of the most densely populated areas of Eur, in order to feed themselves were forced to seek maximum yields for lands

iv)Growth of towns and cities stimulated new markets for produce

v)England learned from Dutch

(1)Cornelius Vermuyden, Dutch engineer, led drainage projects in Eland—converted swamps and forests into thousands of acres of farmland

(2)Viscount Charles Townsend (1674-1738)- pioneers of English agricultural improvement, led to increased harvests and incomes

(3)By 1740 agricultural improvement became craze among aristocracy

(4)Jethro Tull (1674-1741)- tried to develop better methods thru empirical research- drilling seeds, using horses, selective breeding of livestock

(5)Increased crops provided food for rapidly growing urban population

g)The Cost of Enclosure

i)Aristocracy benefited directly from higher yields that could support higher rents, initiative and enterprise of big English landowners compared to continental landowners

ii)Laws passed by Parliament to survey land led to heavy expenses, smaller landowners had to sell out to pay dues, landless cottagers lost access to common pasture dealing families a blow b/c couldn’t raise livestock

iii)By 1700 clear pattern of landownership and production

(1)Few large landowners at one end, large mass of landless cottagers who labored mainly for wages on the other

(2)In between were two groups: small independent farmers who owed their own land and prosperous tenant farmers who sold output on cash market

(3)Small independent farmers decreasing, profit-minded market-oriented tenant farmers increased- key to mastering new farming methods such as drainage, fenced fields, improving soil with fertilizers

iv)By eliminating common rights and reducing access of poor to land, marked rise of market-oriented estate agriculture and emergence of a landless rural proletariat

(1)By 1815 tiny minority of wealthy English landowners held most of land, rented thru agents to middle-size farmers, who relied on landless laborers for their workforce proletarianization- transformation of large number of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners

2)The Beginning of the Population Explosion

a)Limitations on Population Growth

i)Cyclical pattern of population, after 1350 Black Death caused decrease in population and a labor shortage- in East led to reinstitution of serfdom

ii)After 1500 population growth outstripped growth of agriculture, food prices rose more rapidly than wages, deteriorating living standards

iii)Modest population increase, but abnormal years and tragic periods led to sharp declines in population checked the growth of population until after 1700

(1)Famine, disease, war (fighting, spread of disease, disruption of local farming)

b)The New Patterns of the 18th Century

i)Growth of population, dramatic after about 1750

(1) Some increase in birth rate, but mostly decline in mortality

ii)Bubonic plague disappeared, no big medical advances but improvements in water supply + sewage led to somewhat better public health, reduced disease

iii)Humans became better at safeguarding food supply and protecting against famine

(1)Better roads + canals allowed emergency foods to be brought in, more gentleman-like warfare less destructive

iv)Renewed population growth continued imbalance between the # of ppl and the economic opportunities available to them

v)Agriculture could not provide enough work for rapidly growing labor force, poor had to look for new ways to make a living

3)The Growth of the Cottage Industry

a)Poor in countryside needed wages to supplement agricultural earnings, capitalists from cities employed them at lower wages than urban workers

b)Growth of cottage industry- industry no longer controlled by urban groups, rural industrial development with wage workers and hand tools that preceded the emergence of large-scale factory industry

c)The Putting-Out System

i)A merchant loaned raw materials to several cottage workers, who processed the raw materials in their own homes and returned the finished product to the merchant. Merchant then paid the outworker by the piece and sold the product

ii)Grew b/c underemployed labor offered low wages, no regulation or guild standards

iii)England- first rural manufacturing, by 1700 industry more rural than urban

iv)France- under Louis XIV Colbert revived urban guilds as a means to control city, came to believe best way to help poor in countryside was to promote cottage manufacturing—later 18th century expansion of rural industry in regions of continental Europe

d)The Textile Industry

i)The making of linen, woolen, and cotton was typical of cottage workers

ii)Everybody in the family worked, encouraged workers to marry early and have large families

iii)Conflict between workers and employers over weights of materials and quality of the cloth

iv)For merchant: rural labor was cheap, scattered, poorly organized, workers tended to work in spurts—shortcomings for employers who sought new ways to produce more efficiently and squeeze more work out of workers

4)Building the Atlantic Economy

a)Mercantilism and the Colonial Wars

i)Mercantilism- system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state- practiced by Colbert under Louis XIV, favorable balance of trade in order to bring in and keep gold

ii)English mercantilists believed govt regulations could and should serve the private interests of individuals and groups as well as the state

iii)France and continental powers put needs of state first, seldom saw union of public and private interests for a common good

iv)Navigation Acts under Cromwell (1651)- goods imported from Europe into England be carried on British ships with British crews or from country where product was made- virtual monopoly on trade with British colonies

(1)Navigation Acts targeted Dutch dominance, as well as 3 Anglo-Dutch Wars—New Amsterdam seized, renamed New York, Netherlands falling behind England in shipping, trade, colonies

v)France now England’s biggest rival- rich in resources, larger pop, allies w/ Spain—1701-1763 series of wars to claim maritime power

(1)War of the Spanish Succession- Louis XIV forced to accept Peace of Utrecht 1713- Spain and France cede land to GB, asiento  (W. African slave trade) goes to England,

(2)War of Austrian Succession- Frederick Great of Prussia seized Silesia from Austria’s Mara Theresa- no territorial change

(3)Seven Years’ War- Maria Theresa sought to win back Silesia, reassert Habsburg control over Germany

(a)Fighting in N.A. btwn French in Canada and English in 13 colonies. marquis de Montcalm fought well, but English William Pitt diverted money and men from Eur. war and conquered Canada

(b)Treaty of Paris (1763)- France lost land in N.A., ceded India

b)Land and Labor in British America

i)N.A. land provided outlet for surplus population, limited poverty in England

ii)Cheap land and demand for labor led to growth of slavery

(1)Followed lead from Caribbean sugar plantations, Virginia tobacco production increased tenfold due to slave labor

(2)New England and Middle colonies slavery uncommon, shipped foodstuffs and grain to plantations and therefore profited

iii)Almost free land led to rapid population increase, agricultural production led to high standards of living, relative economic equality by Eur. standards-> America benefited greatly from mercantile system created by Navigation Acts

c)The Growth of Foreign Trade

i)American colonies provided new market for English manufactured goods while demand in Europe only grew slowly, sales to India and Ireland as well

ii)Mercantilist system formed in 17th century to attack Dutch and win power and profit achieved success in 18th century- exports huge success

d)The Atlantic Slave Trade

i)Atlantic slave trade most extensive in the world

ii)Forced migration of Africans key element in Atlantic system and western Eur economic expansion thru 18th century—huge demand for labor in America

iii)B4 1700 Eur states waged wars thru monopolist trading companies to gain control of African slave exports, after 1700 England undisputed leader of slave trade—Africans gained little profit and products in return for slaves

iv)Raiding parties into interior kidnapped men and women

v)Shiploads of African slaves never landed in NW Eur b/c cheap labor abounded there (only as personal slaves), unions btwn blacks and whites not uncommon

(1)After 1775 campaign to abolish slavery developed in England, first peaceful mass political movement based on mobilization of public opinion, 1807 Parliament abolished British slave trade

e)Revival in Colonial Latin America

i)Charles II died 1700, last Habsburg Louis XIV’s grandson Philip V brought new men and fresh ideas from France

ii)Rallied Spanish behind Bourbon dynasty in War of Spanish Succession

iii)Revitalized Madrid survived British attacks, gained Louisiana from France, silver mining increased

iv)Creoles (ppl of Span blood born in America) became wealthy, controlled land, debt peonage (rancher/planter keep Indians in debt bondage, form of serfdom)

v)Mestizos (offspring of Spanish men and Indians), diverse Brazil and S.A.

f)Adam Smith and Economic Liberalism

i)English merchants complained about injustice of exclusive trading rights to combines such as the East India Company, called for free trade

ii)Adam Smith (1723-1790) Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)- critical of mercantilism, stifling govt regulations and unfair privileges for monopolies

(1)Free completion best protect consumers from price gouging and gave all citizens fair and equal right

(2)System of natural liberty, govt should only provide defense, maintain law and order, sponsor certain public works

(3)Applauded rise in wages for British workers

(4)Pursuit of self-interest in competitive market created certain harmony

(5)Invisible hand increase wealth of both rich and poor

(6)Economic liberalism and unregulated capitalism