issues of political reform- 1830

Question 1

Power of the Monarch

Answer 1

Bound to govern by oath.
Used Patronage
Could summon/dissolve parliament.
Could choose or appoint PM

Question 2

Representation

Answer 2

Dominated by the wealthy and influential landowners in Parliament to look over their own influence and seek promotion.

Question 3

Elections

Answer 3

1801- Population = 9.4 Million - 250,000 men had the vote.
Public Voting.
No uniform system of voting.
County members (rural) elected by men who held the land worth 40 shillings a year.
Boroughs Varied.
Dominated by varied corruption.
Pocket boroughs - landowner nominated the MP.

Question 4

Pressures for changes

Answer 4

Radicals e.g Cobbett, Radical MPs e.g Francis Burdett.
Radical Groups such as the Hampden Club in London by John Cartwright began new political activism and was copied in large towns and regions.
Increased literacy, helped by the Sunday school movement (The very first Sunday Schools were established in England in 1780 to reach out to poor, illiterate children working under brutal conditions in factories.) helped prioritise the working class and attracted them to Hampden clubs.

Question 5

Whig Cabinet in 1830

Answer 5

Earl Grey - PM
Lord Melbourne- Home Secretary
Lord Brougham - Lord Chancellor
Lord Palmerston- Foreign Secretary
Viscount Althorp- Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lord Goderich- Secretary fro war and the colonies (Tory PM 1827-18)
This evidences elitism.

Question 6

Whig Proposals for Reform

Answer 6

Men with property worth £10 could vote. (Towns)

Counties with a population of 150,000= no MP, Borough with 10,000 = 1 MP, boroughs with 2000= No MP.

Copyholders and leaseholders with land worth more than £20 a year could vote (Cities)

Secret Ballot introduced.

Election timing were now every seven years.