de Dios, Kaiser Daric C.

5,4 Hist 17 Tth 09:00-10:30AM

The Challenges and Responses in the 19th Century

 Nationalism has had a long history in our country. In our struggle for freedom, there have been periods when strong
nationalist feelings fired our people to action and other periods when nationalism seemed to be forgotten. Every
generation has its own views; and each view can be supposed to differ from the others, each having its own
importance. Altogether, they would aid in the fair assessment of what Philippine nationalism has achieved, or what it
aims to achieve as part of a collective agenda to strengthen the Filipinos' concept of nationhood and nationalism. Our
early revolt against Spain failed was because we had the absence of nationalism and national leaders. Nationalists
believe that the resources of our country should be for the benefit of our people today and in the future. Nationalism
is necessarily anti-imperialist. However, anti-imperialism is not racism. Nationalists are not anti-American or anti-
Japanese; they are only against those policies of governments that harm the interests of the Filipino people, policies
which these governments pressure our government to adopt. Nationalism is an important development in the 19th
century because we Filipinos had the great intense desire to regain our lost freedom not just against the Spanish
oppression but from everyone.

 Democracy has been a major component of who we are since the 19th century. However, the Philippine democracy of
the 19th century was not imposed, granted, instituted or developed by a foreign power. It was internally generated
and a testament to the Filipino patriots of the past. The development of democracy in the Philippines has been an
uneven process, and the security forces of the country and their leaders have played a major part in both advances in
democracy and in setbacks. The Philippines has been directly influenced by the United States in developing its
autonomy as a democracy. Part of the 19th century development of a Philippine democracy was the development of
guidelines and responsibilities of the Filipino as a citizen. Democracy is an important development in the 19th century
because we had the rise and gradual spread of liberalism and equality which we first realized successfully in the
American Revolution and then achieved in part in the French Revolution. Democracy is in our blood and on its behalf
Filipino blood has been spilled for its creation and in its defense. It is a legacy to be protected, preserved, honored and
should never be subverted.

 The Industrial Revolution that started in Europe had repercussions to the Philippine economy. A radical
transformation of the economy took place between the middle of the eighteenth century and the middle of the
nineteenth; something that might almost be called an agricultural revolution, with a coexisting development of
agricultural industries and domestic as well as foreign trade in the Philippines. I consider the industrial revolution as an
important development in the 19th century during Rizal’s time because it is the advancement of the early days to
becoming to a modern world. The universe is dynamic and therefore it always changes and I partake the essential
meaning of change in the Philippines where we’ve grown in becoming a good country which we ourselves, Filipinos
have developed, not just ourselves but also from the foreign colonization. One of the most crucial developments in the
19th century was the industrial revolution and in this time brought the invention and use of machines. There was a rise
of the factory system, the mass production of essential and non-essential goods. There was an improvement of
people’s standard way of living and their encouragement of people’s mobility. However there was a gap between the
rich and the poor, an unending economic warfare between labor and capital and other environmental problems. In the
Philippines, it caused the displacement of the farmers from their lands. Furthermore, the fast tempo of economic
progress in the Philippines during the 19th century facilitated by Industrial Revolution resulted to the rise to a new
breed of rich and influential Filipino middle class.