Slums+&+Tenements

=Slums and Tenements  =

Questions

 * 1) What were the living conditions like in the Slums?
 * 2) Who all lived in the slums?
 * 3) Was there a society based only in the slums?
 * 4) What was the general world view of those living in the slums?
 * 5) What did they do for entertainment?
 * 6) Who benefited from the slums?
 * 7) How did they get around in the slums?
 * 8) Was there any chance for betterment of life?
 * 9) How widespread was disease in the slums?
 * 10) Were there riots like there were bread riots in France?

1. Who were the living conditions like in the Slums
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The living conditions were poor. The people had low sanitation, and they didn't take precautionary measures such as the washing of hands and use of soap like we do today. Most could not afford to visit a doctor if they got sick. Often, the families all lived in very small houses called tenements. In the slums, the roads were dirty and narrow. Because the slums were constructed fast (due to the migration to cities), housing was usually poorly built. In addition, to provide food for the family, oftentimes, children had to work brutal days as well. Women and children were useful in that they had small hands so they can reach inside a moving machine and fix it. However, these machines were not turned off while doing so this process often led to the loss of limbs. The wealthy saw the people who lived in the slums as dispensable.

(http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/morfa.html)

Disasters like this one were all but common and many weren't even remembered, proving that the upper class people did not care too much about the safety of these mine workers.

//<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I pump out the water in the under bottom of the pit to keep the men's room (coal face) dry. I am obliged to pump fast or the water would cover me. I had to run away a few weeks ago as the water came up so fast that I could not pump at all. The water frequently covers my legs. I have been two years at the pump. I am paid 10d (old pence) a day. No holiday but the Sabbath (Sunday). I go down at three, sometimes five in the morning, and come up at six or seven at night. "// - Alexander Gray

This quote shows how hard the children work. The children have workdays of 12+ hours a day, which is more than twice the average school day at MICDS. In addition, while we sit and listen to lectures, he pumps water, which is intense travail at best.



As shown in the picture, the women and children had difficult jobs. It is implied that the child on the bottom had to climb under the machine and fix something that was going wrong.

media type="youtube" key="8zXwZ0vnBno" height="344" width="425"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Who all lived in the slums?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The lower and working class dominated the slums. These were usually people who were on the verge of living on the street. These were people who could not afford to go anywhere else, so they lived in the slums. People who lived in the slums usually were manual workers with no education. Then again, the extremely poor did not benefit greatly from the industrial revolution. The moderately poor became more middle class, but the remaining lower and working classes stayed where they were.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Was there a society based only in the slums?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The people in the slums had a good sense of community. This was forced most of the time, as families in a neighborhood had to share baths, water supplies, etc. Over time, the people in the neighborhood grew closer. People of the same socioeconomic status banded together in common ideals and interest. In addition, most of the people at this time were still Christians. Churches really brought the community together. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. What was the general world view of those living in the slums?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The general mindset was that working hard is the only way to survive. In addition, everyone wanted to improve the quality of life because it wasn't all that great. It wasn't all that different from the medieval times, except for the desire to improve quality of life. The people in the slums were more for socialism and communism so they get their fair share, as opposed to capitalism and liberalism, which the middle class wanted because they benefited the most from it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. What did they do for entertainment?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The people in the slums did not have very much leisure time. As mentioned in the quote above, " ... //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[He goes] down at three, sometimes five in the morning, and [comes] up at six or seven at night. "// This leaves him with at most 11 hours of time in which he needs to sleep and eat. The adults had even less such time. When they did have time, however, they tried their best to educate themselves. They realized how much of a rut they were in, and even though they were tired, they studied to try to be come more educated. With this education came protests, as the people wanted better lives for themselves. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Who benefited from the slums?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Most of the people who lived in the slums benefited from the slums, as even though they were bad, they were a place to live. This allowed easier access to cities during the migration to cities.The landlords benefited in that people paid them for the housing they were living on. Also, construction companies were hired a lot more because there were a lot of slums that needed building. Eventually, most of the people who lived in the slums benefited because it was an opportunity to get into the city at a time when getting into cities was important. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. How did they get around?
The slums happened during a time when trains and steam engines were being developed. However, most of these people could not afford to do anything other than walk. This was added on to the daily 12+ hour work day making the condition of life worse.

Long Milgate

As you can tell from this picture, streets were narrow and the roads weren't exactly great.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Was there any chance for betterment of life?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Yes and No

Yes because the peasants who had no land to live on in the first place. Many people improved their lives as is by living in said slums. Instead of salvaging food out of the trash or begging, they were able to do manual work for the food. They had //some// place to live (if not a good one).

No, because this new life wasn't very big a jump in terms of improvement. They left the streets to live in tenements that were small. They approached diseased neighborhoods that had open sewers. In addition, for the people that were already there, this jump from working to middle class was very difficult. Because the working and lower classes had no education and were very poor, they could not afford to spend time educating themselves or their children, as their children had to work as well. Thus, while the middle class continued to be on a rise, the lower classes stayed the same.

As time progressed, things got a little bit better for everyone in terms of rights. Below is a table showing "Factory Acts" that made children at first have to work less. Gradually, women started getting rights, and at the end, no worker was allowed to work more than 56.5 hours a week. With these reforms, people had more leisure time to do other things, such as educate themselves.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/workingconditions.htm)
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Factory Act 1819 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Limited the hours worked by children to a maximum of 12 per day. ||
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Factory Act 1833 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Children under 9 banned from working in the textiles industry and 10-13 year olds limited to a 48 hour week. ||
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Factory Act 1844 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Maximum of 12 hours work per day for Women. ||
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Factory Act 1847 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Maximum of 10 hours work per day for Women and children. ||
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Factory Act 1850 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Increased hours worked by Women and children to 10 and a half hours a day, but not allowed to work before 6am or after 6pm. ||
 * <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1874 || <span style="color: #004080; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No worker allowed to work more than 56.5 hours per week. ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. How widespread was disease in the slums?
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In the slums, disease was a constant threat. Disease was extremely prevalent during these times, and due to the low sanitation as well as little to no medical priority, it was more dangerous in the slums than anywhere else. The water supply that fed the entire neighborhood was easily poisoned with bacteria and thus disease spread like wildfire. Even everyday diseases became like plagues. At that point, Typhoid and Cholera destroyed populations. These diseases spread through the water. The rich people did nothing about it because they thought that it had no impact on them. on them. Eventually, people pitched in, and this problem was resolved by improving hygiene, etc. Nowadays, the washing of hands as well as routine cleaning of the pipe and the usage of underground pipes (as opposed to open sewers) are stopping those diseases from becoming deadly.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10. Were there riots like there were bread riots in France?
With education came desire for self improvement. At the beginning of this time, there were no bread riots like those in France, as people had jobs (at least not early on). These jobs' salaries were barely enough to get by. Eventually, people did protest to try to improve quality of life.

Here are some of the key protests:

The Chartists
These were the group of people composed of working class and middle class citizens who wanted to bring more rights to the people as opposed to letting the aristocrats make all the decisions. This was important because as proven above by the mine incidents, the aristocrats didn't know or care about many of the situations that happened to the working class.

__The People's Charter__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
 * 1) That from and after the passing of this Act, every male inhabitant of these realms be entitled to vote for the election of a Member of Parliament, subject however to the following conditions.
 * 2) This meant that every citizen had the right to vote for members of Parliament under the following conditions:
 * 3) That he be a native of these realms, or a foreigner who has lived in this country upwards of two years, and been naturalised.
 * 4) That he be a citizen or have been living in England for 2 years
 * 5) That he be twenty-one years of age.
 * 6) That he be at least 21
 * 7) That he be not proved insane when the list of voters are revised.
 * 8) That he is sane
 * 9) That he be not convicted of felony within six months from and after the passing of this Act.
 * 10) That he has not done anything really bad against the law in the last 6 months
 * 11) That his electoral rights be not suspended for bribery at elections, or for personation, or for forgery of election certificates, according to the penalties of this Act...
 * 12) That his rights of sufferage not be suspended for doing things against the rules, like bribery, impersonation, forgery of votes, etc.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cato Street Conspiracy
Lead by a man named Arthur Thistlewood, a group of people got really sick of the way they were treated as well as the extreme hunger they faced. If anything, this was the most similar one to the bread riots. They planned to blow up the entire cabinet and the prime minister, but were betrayed, arrested, and executed.

The Peterloo Massacre 60,000 people met at a large rally in central Manchester, and most of them were from the slums. They went to listen to Henry Hunt. The crowd was peaceful, but because they got in the way of the Army’s arrest of Hunt, 11 were killed and more than 400 were injured. Nothing was done, as the army was simply following orders.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The slums were a major part of the Industrial Revolution Era. These areas trafficked a lot of people, making the movement to cities as well as the expansion of cities possible. In these slums, few made it out. Through these brutal conditions, men, women, children all lived through. These people didn't realize they were poor until the industrial revolution, where they all seeked to escape the toils of farm labor to go and improve their lives in the cities. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">

= = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bibliography =
 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1. "Industrial Revolution." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2009. Web. 17 Sep. 2009. <[|http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com]>. **
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 2. "urbanization." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2009. Web. 17 Sep. 2009. <[|http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com]>. **
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 3. "Industrial Revolution." //Welcome to Nettlesworth Primary School//. Web. 24 Sept. 2009. <[]>. **
 * 4) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 4. "Passaic County Community College LibGuides - HI 102: Western Civilization II - The Industrial Revolution." //Passaic County Community College LibGuides - Home//. Web. 24 Sept. 2009. <[]>. **
 * 5) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 5. "Industrial Revolution - housing." //Cottontimes index//. Web. 24 Sept. 2009. <[]>.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">  **
 * 6) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> 6. "Disease during the Industrial Revolution." //Schoolshistory.org.uk - online lessons - GCSE study aids - Teachers resources//. Web. 26 Sept. 2009. <[]>. **
 * 7) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 7."The 1890 Morfa Colliery Disaster." //MIT//. Web. 26 Sept. 2009. <[|http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/morfa.html]>. **
 * 8) ====<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. "Growth of the Cities (Overview)." //World History: The Modern Era//. ABC-CLIO, 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2009. <http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com>. ** ====
 * 9) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 9. "Diseases in industrial cities in the Industrial Revolution." //History Learning Site//. Web. 26 Sept. 2009. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/diseases_industrial_revolution.htm>. **
 * 10) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 10."Working conditions during the Industrial Revolution." //Schoolshistory.org.uk - online lessons - GCSE study aids - Teachers resources//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/workingconditions.htm>. **
 * 11) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 11. "Political protests of the 19th century." //Schoolshistory.org.uk - online lessons - GCSE study aids - Teachers resources//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/protestmovements.htm> **
 * 12) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **12. "The Chartists." //Schoolshistory.org.uk - online lessons - GCSE study aids - Teachers resources//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/chartists.htm>.**
 * 13) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **13. "The People's Charter." //The Victorian Web: An Overview//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chartism4.html>.**
 * 14) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **14. "Political protests of the 19th century." //Schoolshistory.org.uk - online lessons - GCSE study aids - Teachers resources//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/otherprotests.htm>.**
 * 15) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **15."[Untitled]." Comic strip. //Child Labour & The Industrial Revolution//. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vindust.html>.**
 * 16) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> **16. //Industrial Revolution: Journey through the Eyes of Children//. Dir. Kakeproductions. //Industrial Revolution: Journey through the Eyes of Children//. YouTube, 6 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zXwZ0vnBno>.**