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The Luddites During The Industrial Revolution

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The year is 1811, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution; steam looms in the lace and stocking trades are replacing skilled workers. The factory owners begin to bring in small children and women, who are generally easier to exploit and are cheaper to employ. The formerly skilled men who manned the looms began to band together under the name Luddites to destroy the steam looms that replaced them. They pleaded with the government for assistance but the pleas fell on deaf ears, and they began to take matters into their own hands. Motivated by the loss of their livelihood and their indignation at the hands of “progress”. (Lindholdt, 1997) While overall the Luddites were not successful in their main objective of getting the steam looms …show more content…

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