Chartism

Question 1

Thomas Carlyle on Parliament’s ineffectiveness of dealing with Chartists

Answer 1

“you abolish the symptoms to no purpose if the disease is left untouched” and parliament should “inquire into popular discontents before they get the length of pikes and torches”

Question 2

Thomas Carlyle on who the Chartists were

Answer 2

“radcial members above all; friends of the people, chosen with effort, by the people, to interpret and articulate the dumb deep want of the people”

Question 3

Thomas Carlyle on the ‘madness’ of the Chartists

Answer 3

“when the thoughts of the people, in the great mass of it, have grown mad, the combined issue of the people’s workings will be a madness”

Question 4

the ‘Plug Plots’

Answer 4

strikes in Lancashire, Yorkshire, the Midlands and areas of Scotland in summer 1842. Workers removed plugs from boilers to bring factory machinery to a halt. Largely to do with wage cuts but linked to strong Chartist support which was higher in times of poverty

Question 5

Chartism as a moral crusade

Answer 5

“golden rules of Christian duty are based on the principles of brotherly love, equality and justice” and Chartism waimed to “place our institutions on the basis of justice”- Lovett and Collins

Question 6

Chartism on never ending according to Lovett and Collins

Answer 6

“our rulers may exasperate corruption, but they will find it powerless and conquering the minds and hearts of the millions…. the spark once struck is inextinguishable”

Question 7

1838 people’s charter

Answer 7

6 points:

• A vote for every man over 21
• secret ballot
• salaried MPs
• remove property qualification to be an MP
• equal voting constituencies
• election every year for parliament

Question 8

2 main leaders of Chartism

Answer 8

Lovett- peaceful

O’Connor- violent tactics and made speeches on how individuals should be willing to die for the cause

Question 9

Northern Star

Answer 9

by Sep 1838 circulated to 10k and by summer 1839 this was 50k and by the end of the year it had the 2nd largest circulation in the UK. O’Connor made a personal profit of £13k by the end of the year

Question 10

violent riots in Chartism

Answer 10

November 4th 1839
5k men marched to Newport and gathered outside the Westgate hotel where troublemakers were being held. soldiers killed 22 and brought the riot to an abrupt end

Question 11

Procession of the grand Petition

Answer 11

1842
accompanied to the commons ‘by half a dozen bands of music, banners and flags’ and the times said it gathered a crowd of 50k including some MPs

Question 12

Whig Government in power 1835-41

Answer 12

Melbourne who had opposed 1832 reform act and opposed the repeal of the corn laws. replaced by Tory government under Peel

Question 13

1948 petition

Answer 13

claimed to have 6 million signatures but many were found to be illegitimate and was expected to gather a large crowd on its march to parliament from Kensington- 8k soldiers were there but only 20k chartists showed up so seen as a failure and an end to the campaign

Question 14

How many women signed the 1839 petition?

Answer 14

200k

Question 15

Chartist petitions on public display

Answer 15

in Sheffield, a petition for the repeal of the poor law was placed in every church and place of worship in town
network of radical booksellers, newsagents, publishers and association rooms and public houses were used as locations or the signing of national petitions and in some areas petitions were dropped at houses for signature and collected the following night

Question 16

how many signatures on the Grand petition

Answer 16

1.3 million
6 miles long
however Mps voted to not hear the petitioners

Question 17

Attwood on the power of petitions

Answer 17

1838- petitioners would be “banded together in one solemn and holy league’ and they ‘served as a symbol of the unity between the cause and the people”

Question 18

Poor law amendment

Answer 18

1834
poor relief commission set which issued regulations on how poor relief was awarded and was committed to the principle of “less eligibility”
you had to move into workhouses and in return for work, they would receive food, clothes and schooling for children

Question 19

average weaver’s wages in Manchester 1838

Answer 19

2 shillings and a penny per week and a weaver could “easily remember when he earned twice as much for the same work”

Question 20

Birmingham political union

Answer 20

revived in 1837 and gained 5k members
demanded vote by ballot, abolition of the property qualification and household suffrage.
divide in the group- working class against Attwood and his supporters as they wanted him to shelve the currency campaign to favour universal suffrage

Question 21

Charles Kingsley on why Chartism was popular

Answer 21

devoted a chapter in ‘Alton Locke’ to ‘How folks turn chartist’ describing the misery and squalor of working life

Question 22

Disraeli on why poverty did not explain Chartism

Answer 22

was not solely an economic movement as poverty gave rise to ‘tumult’ not to ‘organisation’ and poverty was not a new phenomenon

Question 23

why according to Disraeli, did Chartism exist?

Answer 23

“because the Chartist could not govern himself, because he needed the care and protection of those above him” he defined Chartism as “Guide me, govern me! I am mad and miserable and cannot govern myself”

Question 24

Chartists use of the constitution

Answer 24

demanded that those with a sound mind and no criminal convictions should be allowed to vote in 1942 constitution as they believed this right was constitutional

Question 25

Chartism and the American constitution

Answer 25

fired by the same grievances of tax, representation and sovereignty and the Chartist Circular printed the Declaration on its front in February 1840 and in bookstores it was sold alongside the people’s charter

Question 26

Chartist circular likening their cause with divine law

Answer 26

published William Blackstone’s quote: “life and liberty are derived from the same almighty source… no human laws are of any validity if contrary to the law of nature” and denial of suffrage was going against nature rights and the original, authoritative constitution.
they chose to neglect Blackstone’s advocacy that there should be complete parliamentary sovereignty- - cited selectively

Question 27

William Corbett on relief and religion

Answer 27

right to relief was affirmed by “the express and incessantly reiterated comments of God”

Question 28

Glasgow Chartist meeting led by Atwood

Answer 28

1838
500k size crowd
notable as Glasgow was one of the most deprived areas of Great Britain- Malcolm Chase said “penury, dirt, misery and crime culminate in Glasgow to a pitch unparalleled”

Question 29

National petition’s contents on quality of life

Answer 29

“we find ourselves overwhelmed with private and public suffering”

Question 30

Small towns/ women’s involvement in Chartism

Answer 30

the local needs of the woman in eland were aired in several Chartist newspapers
Mary Grassby aired grievances with the new poor law as it “cast women in the role of dependants on their husbands”and many female chartists labelled it a state-sponsored assault on women, describing the dress given in workhouses and the fact their children were taken away from them

Question 31

1851 census- nature of the population

Answer 31

43% worked in the secondary sector, of mining, manufacturing and building nad over 50% of the population were living in towns
population had grown by 10 million since 1801