When did literacy and the ablility to read really come into effect in Europe and US?

Question

What were the reasons.

Answer 1

Well in the 1500's Gutenberg was the first to utilize the printed word using reusable letterheads but it took a long time to master his abilities, most of his adult life. When his 'Bible' came out it was a brilliant book and inspired many other printers to make shop of their own. It wasn't until the early 1700's when literacy really began to take off in England. The problem was that in different parts of England, a different dialect of English was found, different spellings, pronunciations etc. The printed word unified languages, including the English language. It has been the subject of censorship as well. You can imagine what censorship was like in the 1700's. There wasn't universal education like today either. You were very lucky if you did two or three years of schooling, either because you were rich or entering the priesthood. By the mid 1800's into the 1900's, public education became the norm. Never in humankind's history have so many people been able to read and write as in the last 100 years or so. Although books were around for hundreds of years before Gutenberg, there were written excruciatingly by hand, one by one, page after page. No copy and paste back then. So it really all started with Gutenberg's dream of printing the Bible with his new letterheads.

Answer 2

In Europe literacy as such really started to increase during the Industrial Revolution which made paper and reading materials cheap enough for the wider public. So, in the UK at least, around the mid 1800's.

In the USA, the white population would have had a relatively high literacy rate because of their European background. Those who could not read and write were prevented from voting, therefore denying this right to much of the black slave population.

Answer 3

In Britain, school reforms and the introduction of the compulsory eduction for childen in the late 1800s would be an important factor. So the legal side of things are worth remembering.