Evolution of Pre-Industrial Economy and Political Systems
Traditional Manufacturing and the Domestic System
In the traditional manufacturing industry, the peasant family was the basic production unit, working the land and developing domestic consumer products. In cities, there existed craft production controlled by guilds—groups of artisans who regulated production techniques, prices, and the number of employees. The demand for products progressively increased after the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, encouraging traders and craftsmen to seek new production systems to escape the union controls that made it difficult to increase production and limited profit margins.
The Shift to Industrial Manufacturing
With this broad objective, the work started at home began to spread. During the eighteenth century, another model of industrial production (manufacturing) was driven by the state or private initiative, where luxury items were produced. The production process was manual; its novelty was to concentrate a high number of workers hired under the same roof. These manufactories set a precedent for modern factories.
Divine Right and Absolute Monarchy
The central axis of the political system of the Ancien Régime was the absolute monarchy, based on the divine right. The authority of the monarch came from God. The state was controlled by the monarch, who concentrated all powers (legislative, executive, and judicial) and possessed absolute power. Additionally, arbitrary power was the norm of the state, and no law protected subjects from the limitations of despotism. One of the real power limitations came from parliaments, which were institutions that brought together representatives of the three estates; however, absolute monarchs tried to marginalize parliaments and only turned to them in extreme situations.
The Outset of Parliamentary Systems
In the eighteenth century, only Britain and Holland had a monarchy where the monarch was limited by a parliament. This process took place in England through the two revolutions of the seventeenth century, which ended the absolute monarchy. England was converted into a parliamentary monarchy; the executive and the legislature were separated, and parliament voted on laws and controlled government members. Citizens were guaranteed the protection of individual liberty, and an independent judicial power was institutionalized to limit the executive. However, limitations remained: only a minority of 15% of the population had the right to vote, slavery continued, and the inhabitants of the colonies were not represented in parliament.