LAIR: Integration, Active Reading (August 10)

1. Introduction of the "19th Century" article on Wikipedia.

"The 19th century (1 January 1801 – 31 December 1900) was the century marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Napoleonic, Holy Roman and Mughal empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of theBritish Empire, the Russian Empire, the United States, the German Empire, the French colonial empire and Meiji Japan, with the British boasting unchallenged dominance after 1815. After the defeat of the French Empire and its allies in the Napoleonic Wars, the British and Russian empires expanded greatly, becoming the world's leading powers. The Russian Empire expanded in central and far eastern Asia. The British Empire grew rapidly in the first half of the century, especially with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, Australia, South Africa and heavily populated India, and in the last two decades of the century in Africa. By the end of the century, the British Empire controlled a fifth of the world's land and one quarter of the world's population. During the post Napoleonic era it enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which had ushered into unprecedented globalisation, Industrialisation, and economic integration on a massive scale."

2. Excerpt from "City Life in the 19th Century" by the Library of Congress:

"Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a dramatic rate. Owing most of their population growth to the expansion of industry, U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many of those who helped account for the population growth of cities were immigrants arriving from around the world. A steady stream of people from rural America also migrated to the cities during this period. Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the townships in the United States lost population because of migration.

Industrial expansion and population growth radically changed the face of the nation's cities. Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became commonplace. Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, was built, and skyscrapers began to dominate city skylines. New communities, known as suburbs, began to be built just beyond the city. Commuters, those who lived in the suburbs and traveled in and out of the city for work, began to increase in number."

3. Inauguation speech by Porfirio Díaz as President-elect of the Mexican Republic,  May 5, 1877.

"Restablecer la observancia genuina de la Constitución, fué el principal fin del movimiento revolucionario que ha traído el actual orden de cosas: conservarla intacta, ha sido el blanco de mis esfuerzos durante mi presidencia provisional: asegurar su triunfo y su imperio y satisfacer las exigencias moralizadoras de la revolución que acaba de consumarse, será el móvil de todos mis actos en lo futuro.
Promover en todo sentido el bien y prosperidad de México, es mi mayor anhelo, que espero ver realizado hasta donde puedan llegar mi capacidad, mi fuerza de voluntad y mi absoluta dedicación á tan sagrado objeto.
Pero esta, difícil empresa no puede, bajo un sistema de gobierno como el nuestro, llevarse á buen término por un hombre solo. El cumplimiento y desarrollo de gran parte de los preceptos constitucionales, no dependen exclusivamente del Ejecutivo: el nombramiento de muchos funcionarios cuya acción en el movimiento de la máquina administrativa es imprescindible, se encuentra en igual caso.
Es, pues, indispensable que sea uno mismo el deseo, uno mismo el fin de los Poderes públicos, para que uno mismo sea el plan y puedan encontrarse en armonía los medios empleados para llevarlo á efecto.
No es menos necesaria la cooperación de los ciudadanos en general, cooperación que ellos pueden prestar al Gobierno, no sólo sin grande esfuerzo, sino aun por medios fáciles."

4. Pictures of the throne area in the Houses of Parliament before and after the accesion of King Edward VII.

Queen Victoria's throne.

Edward VII had the throne area redesigned. Note the addition of a throne-like seat for Queen Alexandra, and the removal of the railings around the edge of the steps.