ABSTRACT
The Machine age was born of three eighteenth century revolutions—the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution and the French Revolution. 1776 saw the birth of America as a nation. It was the year of publication of Adam Smith's, The Wealth of Nations, which marked the birth of classical political economy. The impact that the Industrial Revolution exerted on English political economy, the French Revolution exerted on German idealist philosophy. The French Revolution was marked at once by great daring, continuity and permanence of its revolutionary actions. The great French Revolution, begun for "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" emblazoned on its Declaration of the Rights of Man —even as the American Revolution, fought under the banner of the Declaration of Independence—ended in the consolidation of power by a new ruling class. The Industrial Revolution and the definitive taking of the land by the peasants formed the solid economic foundation of the new ruling class.
