What are some positive things that you admire about the 18th century?

Imagine if we used horses and boats instead. How much pollution would be reduced?
Then again, there was plenty of horse poop in city streets and country roads. And when city horses died, they were left out in the streets until the “knackerman” came around to chop it up and render its remains.

Famous photo from the early 1900s


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And waste from boats was dumped right into rivers and harbors.
 
Then again, there was plenty of horse poop in city streets and country roads. And when city horses died, they were left out in the streets until the “knackerman” came around to chop it up and render its remains.

Famous photo from the early 1900s


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And waste from boats was dumped right into rivers and harbors.
But we are smarter now, right? Right???
 

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One thing I envy was the possibility of actually owning your own land. (I know not everyone had that possibility though.) Here in the US now, there is a phrase where, if we have a mortgage or a paid off mortgage, we say we "own our home." But that is never actually true. We will forever pay property tax which means we never truly own it.
Not necessarily. Some states have homestead exemptions that are less than the property tax.

Personally, I'm rather a fan of paved roads, treated running water and sanitary sewers, so I'm OK with that teensy little garnishment.
 
I don't know if it was that great. Powdered wigs, wooden teeth, poor bathing habits. And of course in the Americas, slavery.

But if anything, it was the renaissance style of thinking. People like Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson who believed in science as well as diplomacy. These days there are those who don't truly believe in science and that's kind of sad.
Slavery existed in the 18th century in a lot of places outside the Americas. In fact, there are still places in the world where slavery exists.
 
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Slavery existed in the 18th century in a lit of places outside the Americas. In fact, there are still places in the world where slavery exists.
It's still everywhere throughout the world, nowhere is safe & rebranding sex traffic victims as "workers" is nothing but Ghislaine style malevolence.

Maybe an Enlightenment II that includes the marginalized can be on it's way :) or so I hope.
 
What are some positive things that you admire about the 18th century? With Independence Day coming up, what are some things that you enjoy from the time period or impress you that occurred during that time? One thing I enjoy from time period is the music. I also admire that people from that time tried to waste very little and were very inventive on how to survive without the convenience of electricity.
Examples:
Many of these things, the food, the music, all can still be enjoyed today.
And it wouldn't be expensive. You can live like it's the 1800's without ever going BAROQUE.

Bad puns included, those are free.
 
Yeah, you could get a pig and three chickens for the price of one daughter.
People mostly grew their own food and you didn’t need to pay for water (and yes, clean fresh water did commonly exist).

 
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