William Blake's Lifetime

For this build, I will be focusing on William Blake’s life, and the writing of Songs of Innocence and Experience. Blake was born on November 28, 1757, and lived a life of moderate means. He was an artistic child, and at the age of 10 he was enrolled in a drawing school. He then, at age 14, became apprentice to an engraver, James Basire. Once Blake was 21 years old, he left his apprenticeship and enrolled in the Royal Academy, making a living as an engraver. Blake soon met Catherine Boucher, and they were married on August 18, 1782. Catherine could not read or write, and was actually unable to sign her own name. Blake taught Catherine the skills of a reader and writer, and she actually became a very skilled draftsman, and she helped William with his designs. Their marriage was successful, but they did not have any children.

Thereafter, John Flaxman, a friend of Blake’s, introduced him to Harriet Mathew, (who was the wife of the Reverend Henry Mathew). Henry Mathew’s drawing room was often used as a place for artists and musicians to meet. This is where Blake first began writing and singing his poems. Through the help of John Flaxman and Harriet Mathew, in 1783 few of Blake’s poems were published, titled Poetical Sketches. Only about 50 of these copies were printed.

In 1784, Blake’s father died, and he used his inheritance to set up a shop and become a print seller, but the shop was unfortunately unsuccessful. In addition to this poor luck, Blake’s brother, Robert, was becoming increasingly ill. Blake cared for him, unfortunately watching his health deteriorate. After Robert passed away, Blake explained that he felt his brother’s sprit was always with him. Robert was actually the person who taught Blake how to illustrate his poems using copper plates and liquid that could be then transferred onto paper. He illustrated the plates for Songs of Innocence in 1789.

Songs of Innocence was originally published in 1789, then in 1794 a combined version of Songs of Innocence and Experience was published. In Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake (1863) told his readers that “neither wrote nor drew for the many, hardly for work’y-day men at all, rather for children and angels; himself ‘a divine child,’ whose playthings were sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth.” However, Blake believed his writings able to be understood by the majority. Although, this is hard to gauge now because of his old English writing, but I would generally agree with that. While most children probably would not have understood the deep meanings behind his writing, they would understand the essential narrative. I think of this in the same light as rewatching a favorite childhood movie. The narrative of the movie was understood in childhood, but all of the underlying themes come to light as a matured adult. Especially in “The Lamb” and “The Tyger,” I can imagine “The Lamb” to be a bedtime story read to children, though they don’t really know the meaning behind Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Works Cited

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). William Blake. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-blake

“Divine Images: The Life and Work of William Blake.” Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 39, Sept. 2020, p. 55. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsglr.A638637499&site=eds-live.

Wright, Thomas. The Life of William Blake. B. Franklin, 1969. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat07712a&AN=flc.140348&site=eds-live.

Maria Edgeworth

Maria Edgeworth (January 1, 1767 – May 22, 1849) was a writer and education during the Romantic Period. Born in England to an upper-class family, she spent most of her life living in Irleand which certainly contributed to much of her fiction as she was a witness to the oppression and lack of rights to education that so many Irish citizens were subject to. An author of nonfiction and fiction, she interested herself in education and wrote extensively on the subject. Some of those works included Letters for Literary Ladies (1794), The Parent’s Assistant (1796), and Practical Education (1798).

Her writings were somewhat controversial and were often criticized by her contemporaries for various reasons. Some thought she was too radical to suggest equitable education of women and members of the lower classes while others claimed that she was not radical enough, advocating for the equality in education despite gender and class but not advocating equal place in society for either. She did not seem to advocate against such things, but she did write according to the social and political limitations of the era rather than embracing an ideal that had not yet been reached.

One of her works about education entitled, Practical Education, was among her more contested writings. Anne Chandler writes on this topic in an article entitled, “Maria Edgeworth on Citizenship: Rousseau, Darwin, and Feminist Pessimism in Practical Education”. In it, Chandler states, “Practical Education…works in two directions. In volume one, which mainly addresses methods of early childhood education, Edgeworth's interleaving of Rousseau with Darwin is crucial to what her treatise offers parents: the opportunity to raise children of either sex who are immune to class rivalry, unafraid to speak their minds in public, and capable of ethical deliberation. In volume two, however, which more actively compares the curricular needs of young children and teenagers, that civic ideal is harder to proclaim without qualification” (Chandler 96).

It appears that Maria Edgeworth advocated these reforms while still understanding and speaking to the constraints of the time. She collects the thoughts of the Enlightenment thinkers before her (namely, Darwin and Rousseau) and combines them, elaborates upon them, and tweaks them into something new. Her steps toward progress were, perhaps, smaller than women such as Mary Woolstencroft would have approved of. However, her works played a major role in forming the understanding of educational systems and early childhood development and education that we have today.

In spite of the criticism her ideas received, Maria Edgeworth was an incredibly prolific writer and contributed greatly to both education and literature. Some sources claim that Jane Austen was a fan of her writing and this can certainly be seen in Jane Austen’s novels. Edgeworth’s ideas connect very cleanly with themes of class, gender, and education that we read of in Mansfield Park as well as other Austen Novels.

Work Cited

Chandler, Anne. “Maria Edgeworth on Citizenship: Rousseau, Darwin, and Feminist Pessimism in Practical Education.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 35, no. 1, 2016, pp. 93–122. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2016872976&site=eds-live.

On August 23, 1775, the British government issued the Proclamation of Rebellion

The Proclamation of Rebellion was issued by King George the III in response to news about the battle of bunker hill at the start of the American Revolution. The Americans lost the battle but they caused enourmous casualties to the British Army and proved that they were ready to fight if needed. Durring this time and after the battle the Continental Congress tried to send a peace agreement to the King saying they didn't want war but the Act of Rebellion was already given by the time it arrived and was later refused by the King. The Act was a proclomation brought before the Parlement by the king stating he wanted to use any force needed to end the rebellion using the army and if needed call on other allied countries to help in the efforts. This also included the use of a blockade around New York and a cese of trade with the colonies.This ended up being a cucial point in the war as it showed that King George would not try to resolve the conflict peacefuly pushing the colonists to stop trying to repair relations and to instead seek their own independence. Any British citicins found to be in corespondence or in favor of the colonies rebellion would be punished. This Act was a extremely critical peice of legestlature in the history not just of Britain but of the world because it helped to start the American Revolution.

Storming the Bastille

The storming of the Bastille in Paris is symbolically marked as the start to the French Revolution and it provided motivation and power to the revolutionaries. Despite the Bastille housing hundreds of prisoners they weren’t the reason that rebellious Parisians attacked it. The Bastille was known as the prison that housed political inmates so anyone that would be in there would be sympathetic to the revolution and against the Crown. The storming of the Bastille took place because the French rebels wanted to get their hands on the 250 barrels of gunpowder that had been transferred there a couple days previously. The rebels wanted to arm themselves and this was the way that they did it. 

The attack on the Bastille took place on July 14, 1789. At this point in time things were looking bad for the people of France, food was scarce and the people felt the government was only looking out for those in higher classes. Many of the Parisons focused their anger on the Crown and the government over the Bastille. The Bastille was viewed as a symbol of King Louis XVI’s absolute authority over the people. Because of this symbol a mob of Parisians gathered together on the afternoon of July 14, 1789 and stormed the Bastille. There were 82 soldiers who had been injured in battle and could no longer fight on the field, along with 32 grenadiers (soldiers armed with grenades) guarding the Bastille. They were led by Bernard-Rene de Launay. The mob of Parisians numbered closer to one thousand and they easily overthrew the soldiers and demanded the exchange of guns and ammunition. There were two drawbridges that protected the Bastille from the angry mob of people. Commander de Launay tried to reason with them but the people were angry and scared and didn’t want to do anything that helped the government. Launay offered to surrender and lower the second drawbridge as long as the crowd would let him and his soldiers leave the Bastille. The Parisians refused and demanded that he lower the drawbridge. De Launay realized that his soldiers wouldn’t be able to defend the Bastille against the angry mob and so he lowered the drawbridge. The mob was then able to swarm the courtyard and free seven inmates from their cells. The crowd also took De Launay and dragged him through the streets of Paris. They then beat and beheaded him. His head was stuck on a pike and paraded through the streets. Many of De Launay’s guards were killed along with him but with a few of them managing to escape the revolutionaries. 

To many of the lower class Parisians the Bastille was seen as the tyranny of the absolute monarchy in France. It was seen as King Louis XVI looking down upon the people’s suffering and smiling at what he saw. The Fall of the Bastille was the ‘spark’ that ignited the revolution fire in the Parisians. It also symbolized the role that the citizens would have to play in the revolution and freeing the people of a terrible monarchy. This was such a historic day for the commoners of France yet in King Louis XVI’s journal on July 14, 1789 he only wrote one word, “nothing” in which he was referencing his day of hunting. He either had no clue about the uprising or he didn’t care about what his people were going through. The storming of the Bastille was a representation of a victory for a nation that was fighting for its freedom from a careless and selfish monarch. After the storming of the Bastille the French Revolution began because the people of France realized they could take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for their ruler to come to their aid and provide for them.

The Bastille is no longer standing today. It was destroyed after the revolution and scattered throughout Paris. It was demolished into individual stones that were taken away as souvenirs by those who survived the revolution or they were used in constructing the new roads of Paris. There is a memorial on the site of the Bastille that helps the people of Paris the events that led to their freedom.

Thomas Paine's Libel Case and Its Effects

Afraid the revolutionist ideas from France would pour into England, the English government of William Pitt sought for ways to fight against the radical groups in England that began to gain more of an audience and voice. These radical movements in the 1790s found exceptional popularity through authors that wrote and printed anti-government books that encouraged men to seek liberty. These anti-government works of literature were able to reach a larger number of people having sold well across the country. 

Notably, one of these radical authors was Thomas Paine. Most known for his successful work of his anti-government literature titled Common Sense that he wrote while living in America, Thomas Paine, on his return back to England, began publishing more works, specifically Rights of Men. Rights of Men was in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections from 1790 which was a political pamphlet that advised Englishmen to be cautious of the French Revolution and the radical ideals that started the revolution. Paine's Rights of Men was especially targeted by English government officials as it was seen as a pamphlet that was "a foundation stone upon which .. the monumental collection of pamphlets and speeches were in favour [while Burks's pamphlets were in opposition] to the French revolution and political reform of Britain" (Macleod 693). Eventually, Thomas Paine was put on trial December 18, 1792 by William Pitt for seditious libel against the English government. At the time Seditious Libel was condemnable under common English law, seen under law as a criminal act. The reason for this trail was because of Paine's 'negative' reponse in Rights of Men to Burke's Reflections pamphlet which had praised the British government. In a journal article titled "British Attitudes Toward The French Revolution," Macleod reiterates another historians argument that "Bruke had written his tract for an elite readership and had never intended [Reflections] to be a blueprint for a popular movement" (693), but it did exactly that. Soon, many english men and women were particiapating in conversations of the French revolution and seeking for a change in the British government. 

When it came to Thomas Paine’s tiral, Paine's lawyer, Thomas Erskine, was recorded to have said that radical theories had the right to the freedom of speech and print because it could improve government if it was published in “good faith.” On page 21 of the Eighteenth century collections website that contains the full court synopsis, Erskine stated in behalf of Paine that "The Freedom of the Press of England, Gentlemen, consists in this, that a man must not address to individuals, upon the spur of some occasion, opinions that shall provoke them to sedi∣tion, to insurrection, and tumult; but he may freely address to the universal reason of a whole nation, prin∣ciples of Government, congenial with, or hostile to, the form of Government under which he lives." Members of the radical movement thrived off of the words that Thoms Erskine had said in court and treated him like a hero, printing his words onto fliers and using them as a way to push their liberties and radical ideas further. 

Thomas Paine however, was still found guilty. In the end, the government felt that Thomas Paine’s case justified them in being able to further suppress other published works from people supporting, or leading, the radical movement. Thus, orchestrated by William Pitt, the 1794 Trials of Treason were organized and other radical members were brought to the stand. Among the 1794 Trials of Treason, Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke and Thomas Holcraft, were the highest charged cases with several crimes, but the most serious charges they had were seditious libel and treason. 

Thomas Erskine, Thomas Paine’s lawyer in his libel trial two years prior, played a major part within these trials; oftentimes also being the spokesperson for these men from October  to November 1794 when the trials took place. On these three separate accounts, the men were trialed in front of a jury and a judge and were acquitted each time. Had they been found guilty, they would have been hanged and quartered by the law that was in place at the time. Loyalists to the government believed that these men were let free because the law of death for treason was outdated, but the trials served their purpose - the men stepped down out of the limelight and the movement came to a halt until a new reform several years later would occur. 

These libel court cases demonstrate the liberties and powers of the people at that time, and the liberty of free speech to which they were willing to fight for. While the movement fluctuated after these court cases, there were still radicals that fought for these freedoms until they were able to receive them without oppression.

Works Cited:

MACLEOD, EMMA VINCENT. “BRITISH ATTITUDES TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.” The Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 3, 2007, pp. 689–709. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x07006310.

“The Trial of Thomas Paine: For a Libel, Contained in The Second Part of Rights of Man, before Lord Kenyon, and a Special Jury, at Guildhall, December 18. With the Speeches of the Attorney General and Mr. Erskine, at Large.” ECCO TCP, quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004809446.0001.000/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext. Accessed 27 Apr. 2022.

The Reign of Terror

The Terror

            The French revolution started in the year seventeen eighty-nine. From the start it quickly be came radical and violent with the overthrowing of King Louis the XVI and his execution by guotie. Later on the reign of Terror began with war between France and the rest of the European powers along with strong divisions in the National Convention that caused the already radicalized France to become even more violent in its ideas towards anyone and everyone that was opposed to the revolution, or showed any sympathy to the old king and his family. In June of seventeen ninety-three a group of radicals called the Jacobins took control of the National Convention and instituted many new and radical measures into the government including the creation of a new calendar and the eradication of the Christian church. Driven by fears of war, uprisings, rebellions, and a need to keep people in line the Jacobins began the ten-month long Reign of Terror. Anyone who was found or thought to be against the Jacobins ideals, or their practices would be arrested tried for treason and executed using a guotiene a form of execution made popular during the time by making everyone, whether they be noble or pheasant, die the same way. These measures along with parts of the ever-growing military given orders to hunt down any groups trying to stage rebellions or nobles who escaped the revolution it quickly became one of the bloodiest eras in history up to that point with an official number of over seventeen thousand people tried and executed with an unknown number having died in prison or without a trial being given to them. These practices continued into the beginning of the reign of Napoleon after he proclaimed himself Emperor of France.

            This form of governing by using fear to stay in control of a people was first proposed by the theorist Niccio Machiavelli in the fifteen hundred stating that in order for a ruler to remain in control he has to “Always act in his best interest.” Napolean and the rest of the Jacobins adopted this theory of ruling deciding that it would be best to be feared by the people so that no one would ever dare to try and start a rebellion against them like they had done against the king. The Reign of Terror eventually ended when one of the main perpetrators, Robespierre, the head of the Committee of Public Safety until he too was executed in July of 1794. His execution brought a change to the ideas of the French people where they revolted against the terrible bloodshed that the Reign of Terror had created in the country. This point of history was a dangerous example of how an idea that had started out with good intentions of giving people equal rights free of a monarchy became corrupted by power hungry rulers, and fear, which led to tragic consequences for a people and country.

The Enclosure Act of 1801

The Enclosure Act of 1801 was one of many Enclosure Acts. According to the UK Parliament, “between 1604 and 1914 over 5,200 Enclosure Bills were enacted by Parliament which related to just over a fifth of the total area of England, amounting to some 6.8 million acres.” To understand why the Enclosure Act of 1801 was different than the others, the term “enclosing land” must be understood. Back before the 12^th century, there were open fields where anyone can farm. However, after the 12^th century, holdings were consolidated into individually owned or rented fields. This means that people were essentially setting up yards, or boundaries, to increase farming or renting for their own gain as a landowner. The issue with this is that it displaces all those people using the common land. Many of these people were the lower class with no other options, leading to more and more citizens without jobs.

Before the Enclosure Act of 1801, landowners were essentially meeting up together to draw these boundaries. The issue with that is that many landowners were thinking about their own gain with the land they were enclosing and not of the rural workers who survived of the common lands. In consequence, poor farm workers were forced to leave and find a new way of income. In 1801, Parliament passed the act so that 3/4ths of the town had to agree on the land they were enclosing. While this may have helped some towns where there were more farmers on common land than not or citizens who did not want to displace the poor farmers, enclosing was still very popular and many more Enclosure Acts were passed after 1801. This is due to the fact that even though the Enclosure Acts were removing workers from their income, it was growing agricultural production and inventing new practices in agricultural production. Efficiency increased as well as the availability which made the upper class believe that this consequence was a sacrifice that had to be made for the rest of the country.

The Enclosure Acts and their displacement of poor farmers is important to note because of what it did to society in the Industrial Revolution. It is widely understood that the Industrial Revolution caused poor laborers out of the countryside and into urban factories to work for extremely small wages with poor working conditions. The Enclosure Acts were part of this drive out of the country into the urban city. After losing income and food to feed themselves, laborers were left with little options. One option, they could work as tenant farmers as a servant for large landowners. Another option, to move to the crowded cities where the wages were being lowered as more desperate workers came in and where jobs were becoming limited fast. Many chose the second option. This does not mean that the Enclosure Acts directly caused all the negatives aspects of the Industrial Revolution; however, it was a major contributing factor as more and more peasants became displaced while landowners continued the competitive race to gain land for farming and renting.

Works Cited

McElroy, Wendy. “The Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution.” The Future of Freedom Foundation. 2012. https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/enclosure-acts-industrial-re...

Sharman, Frank. “An introduction to the enclosure acts.” The Journal of Legal History. 1989. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01440368908530953

“Enclosing the Land” UK Parliament, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/town...

Pride and Prejudice Published

Pride and Prejudice Book Cover

Katrina Sorensen
For my final COVE build, I thought it would be interesting to look more into Pride and Prejudice and Austens effect on the romantic period and the regency period. Pride and Prejudice was written in 1796 and published in 1813 and to this day it is considered to be Austen’s most popular novel. When it was initially published in 1796, it was originally called First Impressions but was changed when it was officially published. Pride and Prejudice sits right at the beginning of the regency period which is mostly identifiable by the development of arts and sciences that were prominent in that time period. This period and the growth of industrialism and other historical changes that were happening made an impact on Austen's writings and shows in Pride and Prejudice with the military presence and the examination of gender roles. Literature and the printing of literature was also expanding in this time which made Austen even more successful.

One of the more prominent ideas in Pride and Prejudice is the continued discussion of social rank throughout the novel. Mr. Darcy specifically shows the regency period idea of a “perfect gentleman.” Not only does he have good social standing and good social rank, but he has some of the other qualities looked for in the romantic/ regency era. Throughout the story, Mr. Darcy chooses to pursue Elizabeth even though Miss Bingley is trying to attract Darcy’s interest. Mr. Darcy recognizes this and chooses Elizabeth anyway because he finds her intelligence more attractive than the ability to be socially “accomplished” which until this time was very important for women.

While Pride and Prejudice is an amazing story that had a great impact on the regency period and culture, it is also important to discuss Austen as a person and her relationships with other writers at the time. A lot of Austen's characters, specifically her male heroes are often considered to be very similar to the byronic heros of Lord Byron. In an article discussing the byronic in Austen’s writings, it says “Although Austen and Byron are often considered to be irreconcilable opposites, in this article I argue that Austen engaged closely with Byron's poetry and drew inspiration from some of his most popular poems” (Wootton 1). The article continues later talking about the many ways that Byron and Austen differ especially in their writing styles and personal lives. However, the author does want to point out that, “Austen was responding to the same cultural stimuli as Byron; more specifically, that Austen was responding to the same cultural stimuli as Byron; more specifically, Austen’s familiarity with a number of the Byronic hero’s literary predecessors, from Milton’s Satan and Shakespeare’s Hamlet to Richardson’s Lovelace, suggests an indirect connection through shared sources” (Wootton 2). Both Byron and Austen would have been influenced by the same literary culture that would have influenced them to write their own literature. While it is very possible that Austen would have been influenced by some of Byron’s poems, this time period was full of a lot of change that was happening because of the culture created from the “shared sources.”

Jane Austen and the writing of Pride and Prejudice mark a very important part of the romantic period and the regency era. Her writings have been and will continue to be a section of literature loved by all who love romance and feminist ideas that are presented in her novels.

Works Cited:
Wootton, Sarah. “The Byronic in Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice.’” The Modern Language Review, vol. 102, no. 1, 2007, pp. 26–39, https://doi.org/10.2307/20467150. Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.

Bussa's Rebellion

By the 18th century, Britain was actively participating in the transatlantic slave trade, which was the leading cause of economic success among the colonies. “The introduction of a massive slave society into the English world required philosophical and legal justifications. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, plantation owners, merchants, scholars, and politicians alike cobbled together a regime built on control and exploitation that was bolstered by philosophical notions of difference and protected by a legal superstructure. The English borrowed from a set of preexisting discourses to defend their engagement with the slave trade and forced labor. These included arguments from natural philosophy, which emphasized cultural, physiological, and even moral differences, and the Christian scriptures, from which contemporaries extrapolated that black Africans were descended from Ham and thus condemned to be slaves. “ (Kelly) 

Bussa's Rebellion was the first of three massive slave rebellions in the British West Indies, and it was the largest of the three. It took place in Barbados in April of 1816. The rebellion was carefully planned and organized by the senior enslaved who worked on several plantations, but it was led by an African-born slave named Bussa. The rebellion started in the evening in the southeast at St Philip, eventually spreading to the southern and central parishes of Christ Church, St John, St Thomas, St George and St Michael. Three days later it was put down by the local militia and the imperial troops after martial law was established on April 15th, lasting until July 12th.  

Not much is known about the man that this rebellion was led by and named after. We do know that he was a ranger at the Bailey plantation in St. Phillips, which meant he was the head officer among the enslaved workers on the estate. This role allowed him to travel around to different estates, thus allowing him to plan this rebellion with people across multiple estates. 

“Bussa commanded about 400 men and women against the troops. These included the West India Regiment, an all-black branch of the British Army. He was killed in battle and his troops continued to fight until they were defeated by superior firepower. One white civilian and one black soldier were killed during the fighting. Compared to this, 50 enslaved people died in battle and 70 were executed in the field. Another 300 were taken to Bridgetown for trial, of which 144 were executed and 132 sent away to another island.” (National Archives)

This rebellion was significant because it was the first event that really shook the public faith in slavery leading up to the abolition of it within the British Empire. Prior to this event, slaves resisted in more discreet ways, like practicing their own faith in secret, speaking their native tongue in private, performing rituals like drumming or even just running away. There had been rebellions in this area prior to this one, the most successful being the one in Haiti in 1791. However, this rebellion is noted as being the one that kickstarted the abolition movement. It helped push the anti-slavery agenda in Britain and, with the help of the rebellions that followed, drove parliament to pass the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. 

Works Cited:

Kelly, Jason M. "Anti-slavery movement, Britain." The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest. Ness, Immanuel (ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Blackwell Reference Online. 

“Bussa's Rebellion.” The National Archives, The National Archives, 23 Sept. 2021, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/bussas-rebellion/.

The Six Acts 1819

Six Acts Cartoon Depicting Effects

The Six Acts created in 1819 was a set of legislation created as one of the ways the government responded to The Peterloo Massacre. The passing of the Six Acts was with hopes of monitoring and legally restricting the freedoms of the public and press. This submission created many barriers for public meetings regarding the church of state, and such meetings needed specific permission, essentially banning all public meetings. There was also a huge crackdown on what was being published by authors, especially if containing “blasphemous or seditious material” (Mather, 2014). The Six Acts were composed of the following; “The Training Prevention Act, The Seizure of Arms Act, The Seditious Meetings Act, The Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act, The Misdemeanours Act, and The Newspaper Stamp Duties Act” (Bloy). These acts all essentially were passed to limit public meetings, increase search for weapons, and limit publications by placing regulations and taxes, giving an overarching theme of control. To kick start these acts, The Seditious Meetings Act limited public gathering and required the approval of permission from a sheriff or official. The Training Prevention Act essentially made it illegal for citizens to be trained to use firearms, while The Seizure of Arms Act allowed for increase in search for weapons in private property and the confiscation of weapons. The Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act increased taxes on publications of print and “restricted the freedom of the legitimate press”, while The Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act doubled down on existing laws for punitive writings from authors (Bloy). The Misdemeanours Act essentially increased the court processing system by reducing chances for bail. This attempt at suppressing the push and opportunity for radical reform created a notion that there was a lack of freedom and threat towards freedom being applied. These acts were created in hopes on employing control on the population but instead it was counterproductive and create much resistance. It is important to note that there is development of the impact that politics had during the romantic era. What was considered to be radical reform was a push against the current tendencies of the state, and often spreading of messages of the opposing view of the state, views in which were rapidly spread as they would call for more freedoms. The government at this time had to do what was necessary to limit the outreach of jeopardizing opinions in order to contain and maintain control to benefit themselves. This type of control is what we continuously see many writers during this time try to speak out against through their works. All of this calls towards themes that were expressed throughout this era, themes such as individualism, freedom, and even revolution that follows certain political reform/ideology.

Works Cited: 

Mather , Ruth. “The Peterloo Massacre.” British Library, 15 May 2014, https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-peterloo-massacre.

Sammysturgess. “The Six Acts and Censorship of the Press.” The History of Parliament, 21 Aug. 2019, https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2019/08/20/the-six-acts-and....

 “The Age of George III.” The Six Acts 1819, http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/distress/sixacts.htm.

The Greek War of Independence

The Greek War of Independence was a conflict that took place from (1821-1829). The ethnic Greek population, tired of their subjugation under Ottoman rule, decided to band together to reclaim the lands of their ancestors out from foreign rule.

The revolution was organized by a secret society known as the Filiki Eteria, which roughly translates tot he Society of Friends, who's main goal was to overthrow the Ottoman rule and establish a Greek state. Greeks of the time were considered a lower class to their Islamic leadership, and were subject to heavy taxes many bans on ownership for things like Guns and Mounts. Greek-born citizens had to defer in all legal cases to Muslim jurisdiction. Worst of all, Greek citizens were subject to the recruitment of Janissary, where young Greek christian children were conscripted from a young age into the Ottoman army. The Filiki Eteria's goal then, was to reclaim an autonomous state for the Greek people, one where they could live without being second class citizens in their own homes.

The Filiki Eteria were able to gain many allies from people both within and outside the Ottoman Empire, and because of this were able to bolster small scale revolutions in parts around the country. Two of the most notable groups in this process were the Klephts and Armatoloi. These were made up of groups of bandits living in the Ottoman empire who had little ties to either the Greek or Ottoman people, and were made up of free spirits, societal outcasts, and escaped convicts. Those who sided with the Greeks were known as the Klephts, and those who sided with the Ottomans were the Armatoloi. However, alliances within these people were constantly shifting, and it was difficult to know who sided with who. Due to Greece's widespread reputation as the birthplace of Western Civilization, many wealthy American and European aristocrats assisted the Greeks in their revolution. Most notable among them was the famous poet Lord Byron, who assisted in organizing funds and supplies for the Greek revolutionaries, ultimately contracting a fever in 1824 and passing away shortly thereafter. Ultimately however, his death spurred on many more allies in the west until eventually Western powers intervened directly.

Alexander Ypsilantis acted as the leader of the Filiki Eteria in 1821 and began the first rebellions around the Danubian Principalities, gaining support from local Romanian Christians. Ypsilantis would later, however, make some poor judgements in his leadership, leading to him being exiled and eventually dying in poverty. Without him, many small scale revolutions were carried out semi independently all over the Ottoman territories in Greece, where the Sultan was able to get the upper hand. Muhammad Ali Pasha the Great of Egypt was sent by the Ottomans to quell the revolution, and he was very effective at fighting back the Greeks over sea. However, in 1827, the combined fleets of Britain, France, and Russian were able to beat back the power of the Ottoman Empire's naval fleet, thus ensuring Greece would be able to gain it's independence.

The revolution ultimately culminated in the end of the Ottoman empire, as this had marked the first time that a Christian minority had successfully rebelled against the Ottoman empire. The success of the revolution had emboldened other minority groups under the Ottoman flag, such as the Serbs, Bulgars, Romanians, and Arabs. The newly established Greek state, although impoverished from the conflict, was supported by many wealthy allies in Europe, who used their wealth and influence to assist in keeping the country afloat during its early days.

Sources:

https://www.greece.org/march-25th-the-greek-war-of-independence-1821/

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Greek_War_of_Independence

The Chartist Movement

During the British Romantic era, civil liberties were granted to a very limited group of people. For example, the right to vote was only given to male property holders, solidifying the classism that had been deeply rooted in British culture for past millennia. The Chartist movement was formed as a protest against this striking lack of representation and frank dehumanization that these limitations begot. It began – or at least gained traction – around 1832 when the Reform Act failed to extend the right to vote to those who did not own land.

The Chartist movement headed up a charter with that focused on the following demands according to the website parliament.uk: “all men to have the vote (universal manhood suffrage), voting should take place by secret ballot, Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years, constituencies should be of equal size, members of Parliament should be paid, the property qualification for becoming a member of Parliament should be abolished”. Further rejection of these demands throughout the decades prompted further unrest and protests that came to a head in the Peterloo Massacre. That being said, the persistence of the movement did breed some success and most of their demands had been met by 1918.

In their book surrounding this subject, Bouthaina Shaaban exclaims, “literature, especially poetry, became the chief medium not just to convey political issues but also to enhance their value and magnify their effect, so much so that the Chartist Movement came to be known as 'the Minor Poets' Movement'” (Shaaban viii). Shaaban then spends much of their writings highlighting the influence that the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley had on this movement. One of those influences that Shelley had over this political and literary era is that his focus was “centered chiefly on the task of educating the people, revealing for them the nature of their circumstance and the necessity of its reform” (Shaaban 8). Though part of the upper class (though, certainly on the lower end of it), Percy Shelley was deeply invested in revealing the class divides and the tyranny of the ruling classes.

To lay out exactly what it is about Shelley that appealed to members of the Chartist movement, Shaaban explains,

“First, the Chartists believed that Shelley was more fundamentally radical than any of his compeers and than those who were known to have molded his views. Second, Shelley's stance on the inheritance of his father's seat in Parliament and of the family estate and his views on Ireland, religion and various other social and political issues were greatly appreciated and admired by the Chartists. Third, Shelley was a poet whose theories on reform, on the one hand, and the fusion he managed between poetry and politics, on the other, corresponded to the relation they envisaged between poetry and politics” (Bouthania, 1-2).

Thus we see that, Shelley was not only a defender of the people of lower classes but also a rejector of the power and prestige that could have been and legally was his. Additionally, he was very open and even loud in these radical ideas that led him to support the lower classes most affected by tyranny of the ruling classes.

Shelley’s poetry was a shining example of his strong vocal support of the ideals that fueled the Chartist movement. For example, in the poem “England 1819” he describes the monarchy as “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king, - /Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow” as “mud from a muddy spring” (Shelley 1-3). He openly mocked their claim to religious favor, calling them “Christless” and “Godless” (11). He then blamed them (as he should) for the blood shed during the Peterloo Massacre, painting a picture of “A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field” (7), accusing the army, the great emblem of Empirical force, of liberticide. Percy Shelley’s eloquent opposition to the tyrannical hold that the upper class had on the people was suppressed even by friends and fellow activists that were deeply involved in the movement such as Leigh Hunt and could not be published until after his death.

Slavery Abolition Act

Slavery Abolition Act 1834

From the 16th century to the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834, Great Britain enslaved an estimated 3.1 million Africans and shipped them to areas in Britain and to British colonies in the Americas; especially to Britain's island of Barbados where large sugar plantations were grown and worked by African Salves, commonly under the direction of strict owners. Britain financially relied on the sugar and cotton plantations in Barbados which gave Britain a strong hold on the global trade market and increased economics. As sugar became more popular among the wealthy in Britain and in higher demand across the globe as they knew it, Britain continued to ship slaves to the island so more sugar could be harvested and produced and traded.

The road to freedom for African slaves was a long one. Beginning in the 1770s, more people became aware of the mistreatment of slaves that opposed their Christian views and spoke out against the slave trade and the use of slaves. Namely, "the campaign of [anti-slavery] in Britain was led by signifigant Quaker anti-slavery groups who made public their concerns and brought it to the attention of politicians who were in a position to enact real change" (Brain). One politician that made an initial change for abolition was a judge named Lord Mansfield. Dmla uring a court case in 1772 between a slave, James Somerset, and Charles Stewart, a customs officer, ruled that slaves could no longer be transported to England against their will. Although the verdict of the court case did not abolish slavery in that moment, the verdict grabbed the attention of many in the public which ultimatley initiated an anti-slavery movement being formed in 1783. 

Of these abolitionists was philanthropist and Parliament member, William Wilberforce. His standing in society made him a great influential figure in this movement and an advantage in reaching high political figures that others could not talk to. Several times, Wilberforce gave many speeches to the House of Commons where he condemned the slave trade, but at that point, did not advocate for the total abolition of the slave trade. The push for abolition of slavery continued to gain followers, and throughout the years gained the following of slaves themselves. Slaves pushed for abolition through resistence - resistence to work, to be transported, but the greatest resistence to slavery from the slaves was to run away. There are documents and newspapers that demonstrate the frequency of these revolts from the slaves, with "Missing Slave" fliers and even violent revolts such as the one that happened in Haiti. 

Another push for abolition was ignited through William Fox's pamphlet An Address to the People of Great Britian printed in 1791, which condemed the sugar plantations in West Indies. This pamphlet was printed during a time when British citizens showed more of an interest in the boycott of "slave grown sugar" (Holcomb 612). Using graphic imagery to sway more citizens to join the boycott, Fox "claimed that each pound of West Indian sugar contained two ounces of African flesh.. Laborers... murdered so that 'fine ladies and protstitues might be outfitted as they gathered around the British tea table' " (Holcomb 612). The imagery of women using goods from murdered laborers and the metaphorical use of the "British tea table" that represented gender, consumerism, and class, had a distinct impact on consumerism of sugar with the upper class and resulted a successful percentage of boycotters of the upper class in Britain. Abolition of slavery was a topic talked about at every table and throughout the streets, and the impact of boycotts and a call for reformation was powerful. 

Parliment felt the pressure from all sides, and passed the Slave Trade Act in 1807. This outlawed the trading of slaves, but not slavery itself. Soon, the Slave Trade Felony Act in 1811 made slavery a felony. Eventually, all of Europe was experiencing major society and moral change through the Enlightenment movement, the French revolution and more reported uprisings and violent revolts led by slaves in Barbados, Demerara and Jamaica. The legislation to abolish slavery was presented to Parliment July 26, 1833, but it wouldn't be until August 1st 1834 when the legislation was fully accepted, enforced, and slavery was abolished. This was because the first bill did not mention the East Indaia Company, Ceylon or Saint Helena, and Great Britain would pay slave owners (20 million pounds collectively) for the loss of slaves as a compensation for them.

Works Cited:

Brain, Jessica. “The Abolition of Slavery In Britain.” Historic UK, Historic UK, 29 Oct. 2021, www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Abolition-Of-Slavery.

Holcomb, Julie L. “Blood-Stained Sugar: Gender, Commerce and the British Slave-Trade Debates.” Slavery & Abolition, vol. 35, no. 4, 2014, pp. 611–28. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039x.2014.927988.

The National Archives. “Slavery and the British Transatlantic Slave Trade.” The National Archives, 27 Apr. 2021, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/brit....