THE WORLD DURING DR.
RIZAL’S TIME
ATTY. MARLON B. BALBERONA, MPG
BEDONA BEDONA CABADO & ENDONILA LAW OFFICES
Standard Street, Bankers Village VI, Dungon B, Jaro, Iloilo City
Tel. No. (033) 3210083
The Events and Important Changes of the
18th and 19th Centuries:
1. The march of imperialism and colonialism.
¡ Imperialism – the activity of a nation in exerting
formal or informal economic and political
domination over the other; the desire of civilized
nations to rule over the “weak nations.”
¡ Colonialism is where one country physically exerts
complete control over another country
Specific Events:
¡ The Opening of the Suez Canal;
¡ The Voyages and Subsequent
Colonization by the British,
French, Russians etc;
¡ America’s Territorial
Expansion and growth as a
world power;
¡ Territorial disputes (such as
the Spanish-German Dispute
Over the Caroline Is.);
Primary Reasons for colonization:
¡ Economic - secure raw materials,
markets for finished products,
additional food supplies, outlets for
surplus population, investment for
surplus capital;
¡ Political - national defense;
additional territories;
¡ Religious – spread particular
religion.
Techniques used:
¡ Engage in business
¡ Political control to protect
economic interest
Benefits brought about by and
imperialism colonization:
¡ sanitation,
¡ education,
¡ transportation,
¡ communication,
¡ improved way of living,
¡ government,
¡ recreation,
¡ enriched culture.
Bad effects of colonization:
¡ exploitation of natural
resources,
¡ progress is held back,
¡ racial discrimination
2. The nations struggle for Nationalism
Nationalism is a feeling of oneness by a group of people
who believe that they possess common traditions,
culture and common ideals and goals (Capino).
Two major struggles for freedom that influenced the
thinking of other nations:
¡ American Revolution (1775-1783), which led to the
independence of the Americans from Great Britain;
¡ French Revolution (1779-1789) which abolished
absolutism and feudal privileges for the French.
Other struggles for independence:
¡ In 1805, the Norwegians gained independence from
Sweden;
¡ In 1830, the Greeks gained independence from the
Turks;
¡ In 1861, Italy became a free and united nation from
the Austrians and French except for Rome (Capital
City) which was under the Pope and Venetia;
¡ In 1867, Canada became a self-governing nation;
¡ Mexico was conquered but fought for
independence and later elected the first
Mexican of pure Indian blood, Benito Juarez,
as President;
¡ On July 8, 1853, American Commodore
Matthew C. Perry re-opened Japan to the
world after a 214-year seclusion under the
Shogunate (1639-1853). It ended Japan’s
Isolation
The Revolt of and Spain’s loss of her Latin American Colonies (1800-1825):
¡ Argentina,
¡ Bolivia,
¡ Chile,
¡ Colombia,
¡ Costa Rica,
¡ Ecuador,
¡ El Salvador,
¡ Guatemala,
¡ Honduras,
¡ Nicaragua,
¡ Paraguay,
¡ Peru,
¡ Uruguay,
¡ Venezuela
¡ Japan’s War against China and Russia
¡ 1871-Germany, under Otto Von Bismarck,
known as “the Iron Chancellor”,
defeated France in the Franco-Prussian
war;
¡ February 17, 1872-unjust execution of
Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos,
and Jacinto Zamora
The gradual spread of democracy and the fight
for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Major World Events:
¡ Feb. 19, 1861(4 months before birth of Rizal)
Czar Alexander II of Russia issued a
proclamation emancipating 22,500 serfs
(slaves);
¡ Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. On
September 22, 1862, President Abraham
Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation
freeing the Negro slaves.
Advances for democracy:
¡ Right to vote (suffrage);
¡ Reforms (political) systems such as
referendum and initiative;
¡ Cabinet systems (House of
Commons and Lords);
¡ Abolition of slavery;
¡ Public education was provided in
many parts of the world.
The modernization of living through the
Industrial Revolution
¡ Industrial revolution was an increase in
production brought about by the use
of machines and characterized by the
use of new energy sources.
¡ Mode of production changed from
hand work to machine work;
¡ From domestic system to factory
system.
Positive Effects brought by the changes:
¡ Machines (such as the spinning jenny, cotton gin, and sewing
machine) hastened the revolution in manufacturing;
¡ Establishment of factories;
¡ The use of steel, discovery of oil, gasoline, and electricity, and
invention of the internal combustion engine heralded the
advent of the motorized age;
¡ The revolution in transportation (steamboats, locomotives,
airplanes, etc) and Communication (telephone, telegraph,
and cable facilities enabled man to conquer time and
distance;
¡ Increased demands for raw materials and markets for
finished products;
¡ Increase in employment and national income;
¡ Improved the standard of living;
¡ Improvement in medicine and public hygiene;
¡ Nationalism was stimulated, the modern means of
communication and transportation brought the people
close to each other; they began to realize their common
problems and aspirations and the need to solve these
problems and attain their goals;
¡ Increase in population;
Negative Effects brought by the changes:
¡ Dispute between labor and capital;
¡ Ruin of the domestic systems of production;
¡ Exploitation of the working class;
¡ The employment of child or woman
laborers;
¡ Concentration of wealth in the hands of a
few capitalists.
Responses to the Problems brought by the
Industrial Revolution:
A. The adoption of the laissez-faire policy; a policy of
minimum governmental interference in the
economic affairs of individuals and society
B. Early socialists responded by proposing gradual and
peaceful methods of reforms for they believed that
for as long as capitalists controlled the economic
life of the people, there could be no democracy;
C. Marx responded by advocating revolutionary
communism for he believed that only a violent
revolution could improve the lot of working men;
D. The Catholic Church reacted by advocating Christian principles
announced by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (The Conditions of
Labor):
1. Rights must be religiously respected;
2. It is the duty of public authority to prevent and punish injury;
3.The poor and the helpless have claim to a special
consideration whenever there is a question of protecting the rights of
individuals;
4. Since private property is as universal as human nature, the
state has the right to regulate the use of private property and to
protect it;
5. The preservation of life is the bounden duty of each and
all members of society. The worker is entitled to a just
and decent living wage which will enable him to live in
reasonable comfort as a human being, to develop his
faculties, and to attain his ultimate goal in life;
6. The state has the duty to provide favorable working
conditions; and
7. The workers have the right to form unions.
7. The advance of science.
¡ Many used systematized experimentation
to discover things about the facts of
nature;
¡ Researches were funded;
¡ Chemistry or Physics were greatly
enhanced;
¡ Medical science improved dramatically;
¡ Natural sciences brought new understanding of the world and the place of
man in it;
¡ Gave man longer life span
¡ Louis Pasteur discovered that germs caused diseases
¡ Robert Koch discovered the cause of anthrax; developed a method of inoculation for
prevention
¡ Joseph Lister introduced antiseptics to prevent infection; introduced the use of
anesthetics
¡ Crawford Long introduced anesthetic properties of ether in surgery
¡ William Morton was the first to use ether in tooth extraction
¡ James Simpson was the first to use chloroform
6. The new current in the movement of thought and the growing
confidence on progress.
¡ Modern philosophy came to a close around the end of the 18th and
19th centuries and upon its end began contemporary philosophy
that is characterized by political and religious outlooks.
¡ Many political thinkers emerged brought about by changes then
taking place in Europe.
¡ Among these thoughts was the deviation from the divine right
theory, which was the basis of absolute monarchies in Europe and
in Asia.
¡ Foremost among the proponents of these new political ideologies
were: John Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Charles Darwin, Hobbes,
Bakunin, Marx, and Edmund Burke.
¡ Exposed to their writings and teachings, Rizal (1861-1896) developed
his own philosophy and political thoughts.
¡ Europe became his social and political laboratory while his
countrymen the Indios, as referred to by the Spanish community
became his patients.
¡ The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 allowed liberal ideas to flow
into the archipelago.
¡ Among others were the ideas of the French revolution, anti-
clericalism, secularism and nationalism.
¡ The socio-economic and political conditions provide a fertile ground
in the country for the seeds of revolution to flourish.
¡ The Industrial Revolution brought unprecedented economic
progress around the world, and with this, the confidence that things
are becoming better.
¡ The average of the world’s great civilizations before they decline
has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this
sequence:
¡ From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great
courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from
abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from
complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from
dependency back again to bondage.
--Alexander Tyler 1770, Cycle of Democracy
