Manchester Dbq Essay

Words: 834
Pages: 4

Throughout the 19th century, Manchester, England, became Europe’s leading textile manufacturing center shortly after the city built its first large mechanized cotton mill in 1780. After the construction of the mechanized cotton mill, the world had seen its first industrialized city. After Manchester’s industrial revolutionary invention, the city’s population increased more than 280,000 between 1750 and 1851. The majority of the population growth in Manchester consisted of working class members interested in obtaining a job involving Manchester’s revolutionized machines, and immigrants looking for a new start in the growing city. The History of Manchester gives a perfect visual of Manchester’s increasing growth in population. As shown in the …show more content…
Report on the Sanitary conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain mentions, “diseases caused or aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail among the laboring classes.” (Document 4). The author, Edwin Chadwick, was a health reformer and inspected Manchester and reported it as a city with unhealthy living conditions. Because Chadwick was a health reformer, he could be emphasizing his views on the negatives since that is his job. Due to Manchester’s vast population growth in a small period of time and with limited land, the city was forced to create close living conditions. The decision to create close living conditions resulted in overcrowding throughout the city. Edwin Chadwick’s reaction to the cities unhealthy working conditions is negative because he noticed that the overcrowding resulted in filth all through Manchester. Furthermore, the filth resulted in unwanted diseases which could spread easily between citizens in Manchester due to the overcrowding issue. Edwin Chadwick also notes, “the annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation is greater than the loss from death or wounds in modern wars.” (document 4). Although Chadwick could be exaggerating in order to emphasis his view on Manchester’s unhealthy environment, these statistics are a perfect example of how brutal the living conditions are within the industrialized