WPP Presentation

Room 1Room 2Room 3Room 4WELCOME toAge of Democracy and Progress, 18151914EXIT

Democratic Reform and Activism

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

EXIBIT 1The Representation of the People Act 1832 (known informally as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act to distinguish it from subsequent Reform Acts) was an Act of Parliament (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales.Back

EXIBIT 2About two years after her coronation, Queen Victoria (18191901) fell in love with her cousin Albert (18191861), a German prince. She proposed to him and they were married in 1840. Together they had nine children. Prince Albert established a tone of politeness and correct behavior at court, and the royal couple presented a picture of loving family life that became a British ideal.After Albert died in 1861, the queen wore black silk for the rest of her life in mourning. She once said of Albert, Without him everything loses its interest.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Back

EXIBIT 3The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. The affair is often seen as a modern and universal symbol of injustice,[1] and remains one of the most striking examples of a complex miscarriage of justice, where a major role was played by the press and public opinion.

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Self-Rule for British Colonies

EXIBIT 4Sir John Alexander Macdonald GCB KCMG PC PC QC (11 January 1815 6 June 1891) was the first Prime Minister of Canada (18671873, 18781891). The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career which spanned almost half a century. Back

EXIBIT 5Irish Republican Army (IRA), also called Provisional Irish Republican Army, republican paramilitary organization seeking the establishment of a republic, the end of British rule in Northern Ireland, and the reunification of Ireland.

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EXIBIT 6Maori, a Polynesian people who had settled in New Zealand around A.D. 800. Maori culture was based on farming, hunting, and fishing.

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War and Expansion in the United States

EXIBIT 7Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743 July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776). He was elected the second Vice President of the United States (17971801), serving under John Adams and in 1800 was elected the third President (180109). Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, which motivated American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation. He produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.Back

EXIBIT 8Lincoln passionately believed in preserving the Union. His upbringing might help explain why. The son of rural, illiterate parents, he educated himself. After working as rail splitter, boatman, storekeeper, and surveyor, he taught himself to be a lawyer. This career path led eventually to the White House. In Europe, people stayed at the level of society into which they had been born. Yet the United States had been founded on the belief that all men were created equal. Small wonder that Lincoln fought to preserve the democracy he described as the last best hope of earth.

BackAbraham Lincoln 18091865

EXIBIT 9President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

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Nineteenth-Century Progress

EXIBIT 10Thomas Alva Edison was one of the greatest inventors in history. He held thousands of patents for his inventions in over 30 countries. The United States Patent Office alone issued Edison 1,093 patents. Among his inventions was an electric light bulb, the phonograph, and motion pictures, all shown on this page.Some scientists and historians, however, believe that Edisons greatest achievement was his development of the research laboratory. Edison worked with a team of different specialists to produce his creations. His precise manner is illustrated by his famous quote: Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.Back

Thomas Alva Edison

EXIBIT 11Marie Curies original name was Marya Sklodowska. Born in Warsaw, Poland, she emigrated to Paris to study, where she changed her name to Marie.She achieved a number of firsts in her career. She was the first woman to teach in the Sorbonne, a world-famous college that was part of the University of Paris. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prizetwo, in fact. In 1911, she won the Nobel prize for chemistry. In 1921, she made a journey to the U.S. In 1934, she died from leukemia caused by the radiation she had been exposed to in her work.

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EXIBIT 12Charles Darwin (above) was a naturalist, but a number of 19thcentury thinkers tried to apply his ideas to economics and politics. The leader in this movement was Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher. Free economic competition, Spencer argued, was natural selection in action. The best companies make profits, while inefficient ones go bankrupt. Spencer applied the same rules to individuals. Those who were fittest for survival enjoyed wealth and success, while the poor remained poor because they were unfit. This idea became known as Social Darwinism. It also provided a rationalization for imperialism and colonialism.

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