Idea Of Progress 1

Presentation of the Luddites, an Industrial Rebellion 

Today, we started working on the new notion, "Idea of Progress." We studied a few pictures from the 19th century, they looked like drawings. The first document presented people, maybe peasants, with weapons. There was a building on fire in the background, and a huge character on the foreground, called "the Leader of the Luddites." 
The second document presented us with a group of angry people with axes. A man tried to stop them from destroying a machine. It was a machine used in the textile industry.
The third document was a poster asking for people to denounce Luddites (machine breakers), and rewarded witnesses (témoins) with £1.000. We also noticed that it took place in the early 19th century (in 1812 precisely). 
Then the last document compared the Luddites with rats in a cage, like people who reject technology.

 To sum it all up, we know:
- the Luddites were a group of people,
- who destroyed machines,
- burnt buildings,
- were rebellious,
- rejected technology,
- were connected with the textile industry,
- acted around 1812.








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