3 - Growth of democracy Flashcards
(29 cards)
Pre-reformed system facts
New industrial towns lacked MPs –> Birminham, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield
By 1831, Lanchire had a population of 1.3 million and 14 MPs vs. Cornwall had a population of 300,000 had 42 MPs
2/3rds of elections were uncontetsed
Cooping = kidnapping of rivals
Rotten Borough = Old Sarum had 2 MPs and no population
Demands for Reform
Radical societies
London Corresponding Society
Formed in 1792
The founder Thomas Hardy claimed there were 5,000 members in the early 1790s, but was apporximately 1,000
Octover 1795, a demonstration at Copenhagen Fields attracted over 100,000 people
–> prefered Thomas Paine’s ‘The Rights of Man’ and meetings over violence
Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information
Formed in 1792
In May 1792, it had managed to raise 10,000 signatures on a national petition for male suffrage.
Thomas Paine vs. Edmund Burke
Burke = ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ 1790 ‘swinish multitude’
Paine = 1792 ‘the Rights of man’
—> by 1793 200,000 copies had been sold
—> too radical = charged with treason in 1792 and he fled to France.
Demands for Reform
Economic problems
- Napoleonic Blockade 1806
- June 1812 — USA declare war on Britain
- 400,000 soldiers returned home after the Napoleonic Wars ended to find no work = Post-Napoleonic War Depression — In 1817 Poor Relief cost £7.9 million
- In Shropshire, 7000 iron workers lost their jobs because they was so client as the war ended
- By the early 19th century 1 in 4 men were in uniform so when the war ended they were unemployed
- Agricultural depression = the Year Without a Summer/the Lost Summer in 1816 — led to the passage of the Corn Laws in 1815 + speenhamland system based on the price of bread = made the system more expensive
+ Panic of 1857 and 1866 — the Western Bank of Scotland failed on November 9 1857 causing the government to intervene and suspend the Bank Charter Act of 1844
Demands for Reform
Emergence of the radical press
Reflected already present anger
William Cobbett in November 1816 began publishing ‘Weekly PolitIcal Register’ as a 2 pennies (cheap so working class reader vs. illiterate)
The Manchester Observer duped Peterloo as the ‘Peterloo massacre’ August 1819 - radical newspapers in new towns as industrial so poverty, and less representation.
Government response to the demands for reform
BEFORE 1800
- From 1793 an Alien Section and Secret Service infiltrated radical societies
- 1799 + 1800 combinations act banned trade unions
- Two Acts/Gagging Act 1795 included the Seditious Meetings Act = banned meetings over 50
- 1,000 loyalist groups by 1793 (e.g. Church and King clubs)
Government response to demands for reform
AFTER 1800
- The Game Laws 1816 = going against a landowner punishable by up to 7 years transportation to Australia
- 1817 = suspension of Habeas Corpus — following the Spa Field meetings (Dec. ‘16)
- The Six Acts 1819 = a reaction to Peterloo - stricter regulations — e.g. The Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act made newspapers more expensive, to 4 pennies — scared of the radical press
Protest examples
SFR + TPR + MotB
Spa Field Riots 1816
First meeting = 20,000 people and mostly peaceful
Vs. 1817 third meeting = crowd attacked the Prince Regent’s coach
The Pentrich Rebellion 1817
Uprising plan
Most of the group dispersed
Leader captured = 3 executed and 30 transported
The March of the Blanketeers
March 1817
4,500 set out but local magistrates dispersed them
Only 300 set out to deliver their petition still
Stopped by yeomanry
Protest examples
PM + TCSC
Peterloo Massacre
August 1819
Henry Hunt spoke
60,000 people gathered to listen
Yeomanry charged — 11 killed and 400-600 wounded
Duped ‘Peterloo Massacre’ by the radical Manchester Observer
Cato Street Conspiracy
February 1820
Led by Arthur Thistlewood
Plan to assassinate Lord Liverpool’s cabinet
Government spy caused them to fail
Conspirators executed
5 others involved were transported
Political unions facts
Birmingham Political Union
led by Thomas Attwood - called King Tom by William Cobbett (WPR)
Between the lower and middle classes
Attracted regularly 100,000 people at rallies and 200,000 during the ‘Days of May’ 1832
1/3 of the 100 unions were in the North
Reform which led to The Great Reform Act 1832
First, Second, and Third Bill
The first reform bill - March 1831
—> Redistribute 100 rotten boroughs
Passed by 1 vote majority
The second reform bill - July 1831
Passed by 136 votes
Rejected by Lords by 41 votes
Caused rioting – London, Nottingham, and Bristol
Third Reform Bill - December 1831
Whigs majority of 162 votes
William IV refused to increase Whig MPs in the Lords
Government failed and Wellington was asked to form a government
Triggered Days of May
Scared the Lords into allowing the bill to pass in June 1832
Riots that followed the second reform bill’s failure
Nottingham Castle which was the home of the Ultra Tory the Duke of Newcastle was burned
Bristol was controlled by rioter for 3 days
—> when troops were sent in 12 were killed and over 100 wounded.
Riots that followed the initial failure of the third reform bill (GRA)
The Days of May 1832
Closest Britain came to a revolution
Demonstrations were organised by the Birmingham Political Union attracted 200,000 at a rally
The significance of the Great Reform Act 1832
Change
Electorate rose from 366,000 to 650,000 = approximately 18% of the male population
Increase in contested seats = 30% before 1832 and 50% after
42 new boroughs created
Decline in the power of the Tories = between 1832 and 1853 the Tories were in power for fewer than 7 years.
The significance of the Great Reform Act 1832
Continuity
Had to have an income of £600 to stand an MP whilst the average income was £24 a year for a family of 5 in 1790
73 boroughs had fewer than 500 electors and 31 had fewer than 300.
South still over represented = Leeds - only 5,000 qualified for the vote from a population of 125,000 due to the £10 rule.
Chatists facts
Causes of Chartism
1832 Reform act failed to help workers
1833 Factory Act didn’t provide the 10 hour working day
1834 Poor Law Amendment act punished the poor through workhouses
Failure of Chartism
Petitions
First Petition = May 1839
May 1839 = 1.2 million signatures had been collected
Parliament rejected the petition by 235 votes to 46
Second Petition = April 1842
Rise in popularity by the major economic recession and 1841-42
Proposed April 1842 with 3.3 million signatures
Rejected by 287 votes to 49
Third Petition = 1848
5.7 million signatures only 2 million were real
– given confidence by the French Revolution
–> not credible
Failure of Chartism
Use of violence
The Newport Risings 1839
Read the Riot Act and soldiers (despite the Police so governmnet saw them as a threat)opened fired killing 20 Chartists and wounding 50
Plug Riots 1842
500,000 workers went on strike
Wasn’t a Chartist protest but that didn’t stop Peel from arresting 1,000 Chartists who were involved
Failure of Chartism
Strength of British state
Peel’s reform = 1847 Fractory Act
1839 Rural Police Act
By 1851 there were 13,000 police in England and Wales
Failure of Chartists
Regional differences
Strongest in the North
Didn’t coordinate across the country
Regional support = in Wales, Chartism was often associated with Nonconformist chapels but in Leeds some Chartists worked to enter local government.
Chartismoriginated in WalesinCarmarthen so was more prevelant there.
Newport Risings = South Wales
Also prevelent in Birmingham = Bull Ring Riots – July 1839
Causes of the 1867 Reform Act
- Failure of the 1832 Reform Act
- Death of Lord Palmerston — October 1865 — his focus was on foreign policy and expanding the British Empire
- Hyde Park Riots 1866 = the reform league had a meeting on the 23rd July 1866 and 200,000 invaded the park resulting in the police calling for military support —> both meetings ended peacefully
The reform League had 400 branches by 1867 - Role of Disraeli = wanted to gain votes like the Whigs did with the first reform act
Impact of the Second Reform Act
Success
Electorate increased to 1/3rd of all adult males
Now 2.46 million voters across the country
45 seats taken away from boroughs with fewer than 10,000 people –> 7 were disenfranchised
–> 25 went to other counties, so Manchester and Liverpool got fairer representation
Impact of the Second Reform Act
Failures
Midlands and North were still under-represented
A residency clause discriminated against 30% of the working class population
Plural voting system meant that some votes twice
1918 = all men over 21 can vote
Influencial Liberal MPs
Gladstone
Caused divides in the Liberal Party due to his proposed 1866 reform bill
Lord John Russel
1859 = introduced a bill which included reducing the qualification for the franchise to £6 from £10 but did not become law.
John Bright = MP for Birmingham in 1858
Forced Peel to repeal the corn laws 1846
Appointed President of the board of trade in 1868
Trafalgar Square demonstration of June 1866 = present at meeting by the reform league after the failure of the reform bill
