Laissez Faire Dbq Analysis

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During the course of the 19th century, periods of great reform and political change spread throughout the European Continent. Innovative ideals and machinery formed by the Industrial Revolution led to a rise in the working middle class, which ultimately created an unstable social structure. Undesirable working conditions and low wages led to a growing awareness of the relationship between government and democracy, encouraging political participation by the people. Voices from differentiating status and lifestyles sought to rectify working conditions and increase rights through the advocation of laissez faire principles, government intervention, unity among workers, and revolutionary tactics. The ethics of laissez faire became increasingly popular during the 1800s as many began to support the idea of a free trade economy in which the people regulate the market. This concept allowed the amount of income for each individual to be allotted under natural circumstances. Thomas Malthus, English economist, noted that the causes of poverty and inequality were not to be solved by government intervention. …show more content…
The London Workingmen’s Association called for the suffrage of all workers over the age of twenty one, in an attempt to grant workers’ their deserved voice in government and to lessen the sufferings of the laboring poor(Source 4). This organization was comprised of members most afflicted by the governments indifference and experienced the effects of being excluded as a representative body firsthand. Flora Tristan, a French writer and political activist, also tried to spread unity among social classes with the inclusion of gender equality. Having experienced the unfair working conditions and payments as a working woman, Tristan appealed to the rights of women and all depraved by factories and other institutions (Source