1) how Adam Smith and David Ricardo can be linked to these Revolutions

2) why these Revolutions happened first in England

From an economic standpoint, eighteen century is characterized by the development of
the Industry and the English trade as well. England was the very first country to
industrialize, categorizing it in one of the most developed countries in the world.
Needless to say that Adam Smith and David Ricardo, both economists, exerted undue
influence on these events. The former, was capable of providing the ideological and policy
foundations to make headway towards capitalism, stating that government intrusion was
somehow feckless. Thus, the Wealth of Nations, a book written by Adam, expressed some
concerns like the fact that a nation needed to expand its economic production by
encouraging the division of labour. Moreover, he insisted that what really could enrich
European nations was not importing gold and silver, but opening up new free-trade
markets all over the world.
The latter, David Ricardo, made other contributions that were not so usual as of yet,
mentioning, as a striking example, the necessity for limiting the number of people per
family, since big families needed more jobs in order to survive. Hence, he also stated that
the salaries should be just sufficient to satisfy their bear necessities like food.
What is more, he was not in agreement with the intervention of the government over those
who did not flush with money. In fact, he believed that the government could worsen their
situation.
It is of the utmost importance to mention that even though Smith points out that there
ought to be a subsistence salary which allows a worker to financially support their family
and, which should be increased if the economy boomed, David Ricardo dissents and
maintains that under any circumstance should a salary be increased.
Nonetheless, one of the facets in which they came to an agreement has to do with the
support of a free trade system since, in that way, every country will therefore invest in their
jobs, chiefly distributing labour in an equitable way, allowing the countries to reap their own
benefits and contribute to the “Universal welfare”.

2. There are some factors to distinguish when mentioning England as the first
industrialized country:
*The enormous power that traders reached, even at the cost of having as much power in
the Parliament as the King used to have at that time.
*The agricultural growth, allowing the countryside and the cities to have food for the
inhabitants.
*The dominance England had over the seas altogether with its fleet which allowed them to
transport commodities across and to other countries.
*Large supplies of coal (which fuelled the steam engines used at the time).
*Last but not least, Britain’s economy which was not so controlled and allowed technology
to be established and used in a fruitful way in terms of the revolution.
1) Did everyone benefit form enclosure? 2) What was the importance of the railways in the
Industrial Revolution?

1. The enclosure acts were a series of Parliamentary Acts by which the British government
took large tracts of land from the poor and gave them to private owners in order to spark a
production boom. Although those poor ones were provided with smaller plots, they could
not progress because they did not count on water, wood or any other attributes on a
regular basis.
On the one side, it was beneficial for the rich peasants in Britain since they were seen as
appropriate to make long-term investments on land and plan crop rotations to improve the
soil. Thus, they could produce more for sale and soar their profits.
On the other side, the poorest sectors did not have access to firewood because land was
now exclusive property of one proprietor. What is more, neither could them hunt animals
nor graze them. As a consequence, they had to move to different places to look for jobs
and earn a living.

2. As I mentioned in the other thread, it was necessary to transport raw materials and
commodities from one place to another. Hence, a network of canals was created in order
to transport iron, coal and steel to and from the new industrial centres. By the 1840s, the
railways appeared and by the 1870s, there were over 25,000 kilometres of railway track
only in Britain.
At the beginning of the nineteen century, the very first steam locomotive was created by
Thomas Newcomen (an Englishman). Despite the fact that it was not powerful enough so
as to carry wagons, it was used to transport minerals extracted from the Killingsworth
mines. Some time elapsed and in 1814, another Englishman (George Stephenson) was
capable of creating a locomotive to move heavier loads. In 1825, this means of transport,
started to be used to carry passengers.
It is paramount to mention that in 1767 Richard Reynolds created a set of rails for moving
coal at Coalbrookdale and even though these were initially made of wood, they were
replaced by iron rails afterwards. In this way, some companies were created in order to
continue with the wide spread of the railways. Needless to say, those railways played a
key role in farming since the products could be moved through long distances, what had a
positive effect on people’s diet as well. On “shortening” the distances, the marked regions
of Britain started to be somehow defaced and communication means were boosted.