Chartism - Why did Chartism Fail to Achieve its Aims?

Question 1

Rejection of the petitions by P - What happened to the petitions in P?

Answer 1

Petitions presented three times, and were rejected each time by a large majority

Question 2

Rejection of the petitions by P - What did P rejections lead to for the campaigners?

Answer 2

Campaigners became disillusioned – the numbers of signatures on the third petition was low compared to the first two

Question 3

Divisions among the leadership - What did Lovett originally want?

Answer 3

Lovett originally wanted to include female suffrage, but this was overruled by his fellow Chartist leaders

Question 4

Divisions among the leadership - What did disagreements over methods lead to?

Answer 4

Disagreement over the importance of protesting by argument or violence led to confusion and conflict when unity was required

Question 5

Divisions among the leadership - Difference in interests between O’Connor and Lovett?

Answer 5

Lovett was particularly interested in education as a solution – O’Connor was interested in land sharing – some leaders emphasised a Methodist, teetotal approach, while Scottish leaders focused on a mainstream Chartist approach

Question 6

Divisions among the leadership - Was there a single decision making body and what were the leaders not willing to do?

Answer 6

There was no single decision-making body and leaders were not willing to compromise

Question 7

Class divisions - Differences between the working and middle classes?

Answer 7

The violence associated with the working classes did not motivate middle classes to united with them – the movement was still strong without the middle classes, but would have been harder to oppose if it was unified

Question 8

Conflict with others protests and reforms - Impact of the 1847 Factory Act and the 1848 Public Health Act?

Answer 8

The 1847 Factory Act reduced the working week for factory workers, and the 1848 Public Health Act started to improve conditions in urban areas, which weakened support for Chartism

Question 9

Conflict with others protests and reforms - Impact of the anti-corn league

Answer 9

The Anti-Corn Law League caused division – some Chartists, especially moderates and the middle-classes, wanted to support it, more radical northern members wanted to oppose it and still others thought it should be ignored

Question 10

Aims being too ambitious - When were the six points eventually passed?

Answer 10

It took until 1928 for five of the six points of the People’s Charter to be achieved

Question 11

Aims being too ambitious - Status of annual elections?

Answer 11

Annual general elections never became part of the constitution

Question 12

Aims being too ambitious - How may the Chartists have achieved more?

Answer 12

Had the chartists followed a single, focused aim such as universal suffrage, they may have achieved more

Question 13

Inconsistent support - Examples of fluctuating support?

Answer 13

Support was stronger in the years which coincided with economic hardship, notably the petition years of 1839, 1842, and 1848

Question 14

Effective gov tactics - What did the gov tactics do?

Answer 14

Gov arrests led to short prison sentences for leaders – most leaders served time in prison leading the movement directionless

Question 15

Damage to the reputation of the Chartist movement - The Kennington March

Answer 15

The Kennington March – after a lot of worry about a mass march, relatively few marchers turned up and dispersed peacefully

Question 16

Damage to the reputation of the Chartist movement - The third petition

Answer 16

The Third Petition’s failure in Parliament was exacerbated by O’Connor, who claimed it contained 6 million signatures when it had fewer than 2 million, including fake names like ‘Pug Nose’ and ‘No Cheese’ – a parliamentary investigation discredited Chartist claims about the petition

Question 17

Damage to the reputation of the Chartist movement - O’Connors land plan

Answer 17

O’Connor’s land plan – the efforts to purchase land, run a land bank, and settle workers on independent plots of land, was a sincere effort to help workers, but lacked real organisation and discredited the movement

Question 18

Was Chartism really a failure - How may Chartism have had an indirect influence?

Answer 18

The Chartist movement was a failure in that it faded out and didn’t achieve any of its aims – however in an indirect sense it did have an impact – within the various reform acts, every one of the six points except annual parliaments was enacted

Question 19

Was Chartism really a failure - What did the Chartist movement teach to future protests?

Answer 19

Furthermore, the Chartist movement taught future political and protest movements valuable lessons – many of the younger leaders were active in political movements in the following decades

Question 20

Was Chartism really a failure - What did the Chartist create?

Answer 20

Plus, the Chartist movement created an exclusively working-class culture in Victorian England – EG the spread of TUs – by the 1870s, they had become a significant political force for the working classes and strikes were commonplace – between 1872 and 1879 there were more than 300 strikes per year