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The French Revolution
Following hard on the American Revolution (1776-83), the sweeping aside of the French feudal order demonstrated the irresistible rise of freedom and enlightenment. -
William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence
the collection as a whole explores the value and limitations of two different perspectives on the world. Many of the poems fall into pairs, so that the same situation or problem is seen through the lens of innocence first and then experience. Blake does not identify himself wholly with either view; most of the poems are dramatic—that is, in the voice of a speaker other than the poet himself. Blake stands outside innocence and experience, in a distanced position from which he hopes to be able to -
Mary Wollstone Critiques Female Educational Restrictions in A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Mary Wollstonecraft decided to respond writing A Vindication of the Rights of Man - a defence of the Revolution and its principles. The book, published in 1790, was not particularly well written although it became very popular and made her name known. Soon after Mary Wollstonecraft’s book came out, Tom Paine wrote his classic The Rights of Man. -
English artisans called Luddites riot and destroy textile machines fearing that industrialism threatens their livelihoods
The Luddites were trying to save their livelihoods by smashing industrial machines developed for use in the textile industries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Some Luddites were active in Lancashire also. They smashed stocking-frames and cropping frames among others. There does not seem to have been any political motivation behind the Luddite riots; equally, there was no national organisation. They attacked anything they saw as a threat to them. -
Brother Grimms begin to publish Grimm's FairyTales
So, when on December 20, 1812, they finally got a group of tales published, those tales were meant to be purely as the Brothers heard them. No spicing things up to meet the demands of the market. They treated the tales as non-fiction. -
United States Declares War on Britian
The obvious main reason that Britain was capturing American ships and took any sailors that had been in the British navy off the American and impressed them back into the British service. They took many who they only suspected of having been British . Both the French and the British ignored the rights of US neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars, so there were already hard feeling with the British, -
1813 Jane Austen publishes pride and prejudice
Pride and Prejudice described the clash between Elizabeth Bennet, the independent and intelligent daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner, who both are blinded by their assumptions and desires. Their relationship starts from dislike, but Darcy becomes intrigued by her mind and spirit, and the "beautiful expression of her dark eyes". -
1819 One fo a series of innefective factory acts prohibits employment of children under nine
no children under 9 to work in factories. Children from 9 to 16 allowed to work a maximum of 72 hours per week with one and a half hours a day for meals. -
Noah Webster publishes An American dictionary of the English Language
Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language was produced during the years when the American home, church and school were established upon a Biblical and patriotic basis. Webster, descended on his mother's side from Pilgrim Governor, William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, made important contributions to an American educational system which kept the nation on a Christian Constitutional course for many years. -
1831 Victor Hugo Hunchback of Notre Dame
On this day in 1831, Victor Hugo finishes writing Notre Dame de Paris, also known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Distracted by other projects, Hugo had continually postponed his deadlines for delivering the book to his publishers, but once he sat down to write it, he completed the novel in only four months.