The Great Exhibition of 1851, also known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition, was organized by Queen Victoria’s husband and was the first of many World’s Fairs that garnered international acclaim and featured key innovations. Nearly a third of Britain’s population, and 6 million people in total, attended the exhibition in the Crystal Palace, a massive building featuring clear glass supported by iron rods. Several countries participated in the exhibition that featured a total of 100,000 objects. For instance, the United States displayed a bald eagle clutching the American flag. Britain’s contributions featured steam engines, spinning machines, and the hydraulic press, among other industrial technologies, since Prince Albert desired to portray Britain as a country at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. This exhibition was significant in that it shaped international relations and artistic education around the globe.

 Mill’s economic philosophy potentially would have been shaped by the cultural and intellectual residues of The Great Exhibition, as a nascent sense of a global community began to emerge. Mill’s philosophy centered around the notion of utilitarianism, or the idea that one’s actions should be perceived as rightful if they promote the happiness of the most amount of people possible. In some sense, the Great Exhibition sought to create a spectacle and create a space to share ideas and technology that different countries were using to increase the quality of life for their residents. Moreover, while Mill does not specifically allude to The Great Exhibition, the fact that he goes to France to continue his education suggests this idea that different parts of the world have different types of knowledge that should be accessible to most individuals. 

"The Great Exhibition of 1851." Enclopaedia Britannica, 27 February. 2021, https://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain/articles/the-great-exhibition#. 

"The 1851 Great Exhibition." West Midlands History: People of Ideas, Innovation, and Enterprise, 27 February 2021, https://historywm.com/collections/great-exhibition.