Source: Adapted from a letter by an English merchant discussing inland navigation and land usage, 1789.
"The benefit of these inland navigations [canals] is not confined to the towns through which they pass, or the coal-works which they immediately connect. By their means, the inland counties are supplied with fuel at a moderate rate, and the lands are highly improved by the ease with which manure is brought to them. Moreover, the enclosures of our fields, which have of late years so much increased, have driven many hands from the plow; yet these very hands, by the facility of transport, are now employed in the manufacture of iron and the digging of coal, which are the true foundations of our kingdom’s present wealth."
Which of the following developments in eighteenth-century Britain is best illustrated by the letter writer's observations?
- The way in which agricultural changes and geographic advantages, such as accessible coal deposits and navigable waterways, intersected to supply the labor force and resources needed for industrialization.Answer
- BThe development of nationwide electrical grids and chemical refining techniques that allowed rural migrants to quickly transition into heavy steel manufacturing.
- CThe application of mercantilist policies aimed at establishing state-owned factory monopolies to accumulate gold bullion by preventing private trade in coal and iron.
- DThe passage of parliamentary reform acts inspired by socialist and Marxist principles that protected displaced agricultural laborers by regulating working conditions in factories.