AP european history 1988 dbq (gin act)

The Hanoverian control of the English government lasted from 1714 to 1837. During this reign, the population of London almost quadrupled, while Manchester grew even more rapidly. The Germanic rulers of the era depended upon Parliament to rule the British Isles. The utter constitutionalism of the Hanovers came under fire from the Jacobites and Tories, supporters of absolute monarchy in the form of the Catholic Stuarts waiting in Scotland and France. They staged rebellions in 1715 and 1745. The two uprisings caused En

According to British Excise Revenue Accounts, from 1701 - 1751 beer production remained almost completely static while gin production increased sixfold. Beer and port were the drinks of the rich while gin was their poverty-stricken counterpart. The contrast was shown by William Hogarth in his satirical illustrations. In Gin Lane, drawn in 1751, he shows people dying, babies being neglected, tools being sold for gin, and buildings crumbling. On Beer Street however, people are reading, painting, working, and buildings are being built. The book Distilled Liquors: The Bane of the Nation paints a picture of bestial, ragged people littering the streets of London in a drunken stupor instead of working. Many of the British nobles also derided the situation as they saw it. Several county magistrates from Middlesex and a Lord Lansdale all expressed to Parliament the common opinion that the abundance of gin among the lower classes had led to a situation that was detrimental to everyone. While pursuing a path of alcoholism, people had no skills or desire to work, child rearing became difficult, and they had no money to spend on anything except that next fix.

At the same time, capitalism was evolving from mercantilism and industry was gaining ground on agriculture. The domestic system required high amounts of unskilled manual labor which was provided by the vast lower class. Social mobility was infrequent at best for those of the laborers. The wages paid to the poor were inadequate and unfair. The economic bubble caused by the South Sea Trading Company in 1720 was evidence of the weakness and inexperience of the new system of publicly traded stocks and bonds. Economic troubles have always had the potential to lead to substance abuse, but the drunke

Some topics in this essay:
Gin Act, , Scotland France, Trading Company, London Tradesman, Lord Lansdale, Daniel Defoe, William Pulteney, Revenue Accounts, John Moore, gin act, eighteenth century, act 1751, gin production, gin act 1751,