p&tp part three: reform and reformers Flashcards
chapter 7: what were problems w the electoral system in the early 19th century?
- king & major landowners controlled country
- workers in new towns/cities had no political representation
- rotten boroughs (no one living there, still sent 2 MPs to parliament)
- pocket boroughs controlled by rich individuals
- women didn’t have vote
- no secret ballot
- no standard property qualification that gave someone vote - in some places only needed fireplace & door w lock (potwalloper boroughs), in others needed house
chapter 7: what happened in the Peterloo Massacre?
- 1819: 60,000 workers in Manchester went to St Peter’s Field to hear Henry Hunt speak; he was calling for reform to parliament
- local magistrate panicked when saw crowd - gov worried about large crowds after French revolution - and called the local troops
- within 10 mins > 600 people killed & 15 injured
- Hunt arrested & put in prison; after Peterloo the Six Acts introduced; stated that any meeting > 50 people for radical reform was act of treason
chapter 7: what year was the Peterloo Massacre?
1819
chapter 7: what were the consequences of Peterloo?
Hunt arrested & put in prison; after Peterloo the Six Acts introduced; stated that any meeting > 50 people for radical reform was act of treason
chapter 7: what were some important steps in trying to persuade the gov for reform (Great Reform Act; BPU)
- Thomas Attwood from Birmingham formed Birmingham Political Union of the Lower and Middle Classes of People in 1829
- he, along w 8000 others, sent petition to parliament for reform
- they wanted: shorter parliaments (to make it harder to buy votes), end of property qualifications, & vote for all men who contributed taxes
- renamed to Birmingham Political Union (BPU) & vowed to cooperate w law
- BPU copied across country
- when Attwood called for people not to pay taxes king & gov were worried
chapter 7: what happened in the Great Reform Act of 1832/the lead up to it?
- 1830 election: Tory party replaced by Whig party led by Earl Grey; in same yr George III died & William IV succeeded him - both Whigs and William IV more progressive & open to reform
- Earl Grey tried 3 times to pass laws for a reform act but House of Lords wouldn’t pass it - didn’t want ordinary people to have more power by being represented in parliament
- on 3rd attempt Earl Grey requested that king appoint more lords who were Whigs or sympathetic to reform
- scared that they’d lose power & influence, the Tory lords passed Great Reform Act
chapter 7: what were the main points of the Great Reform Act?
- 56 v small locations lose right to elect own MPs
- 30 other smaller towns lose 1 MP
- London & other large towns/cities given more MPs
- people who earn > £150 per yr can vote
- voters increase from 435,000 to 642,000
chapter 7: how successful/’great’ was the Great Reform Act?
- middle class: merchants & industrialists gained more representation; rotten boroughs removed & new towns/cities got an MP
- working class: most didn’t earn enough to vote; no secret ballot meant those who could vote had to vote for their factory/land owner
- did reduce power of king & landowners and proved change possible
chapter 7: what year was the Great Reform Act?
1832
chapter 7: what were the causes of chartism?
economic:
- skilled workers no longer needed bc of new machines in factories
- Poor Law of 1834 sent people w financial problems to workhouse
social:
- most workers in new towns/cities lived in poor conditions
- bad harvests in 1830s meant many farmworkers couldn’t feed their families
political:
- Great Reform Act didn’t give working class the vote
- still no secret ballot
chapter 7: when was the Chartist movement created, by who, and what did they want?
- 1836
- William Lovett: from London Working Men’s Association, started campaign w support of Thomas Attwood & BPU
- wanted MPs to be paid
chapter 7: what actions were taken by moral force by William Lovett in the Chartist movement?
- sent 1st petition to parliament 1839 - rejected
- sent 2nd petition to parliament 1842 - rejected
- encouraged temperance among members to show they were disciplined & worthy of vote
- edited newspaper, The Chartist
chapter 7: what actions were taken by physical force by Feargus O’Conner in the Chartist movement?
- called for violence after rejection of 1842 petition
- encouraged workers to damage machinery (plug plot)
- called for a general strike & a republic
- sent 3rd petition to parliament 1848 after return of economic & agricultural depression in 1847: rejected
- established more radical newspaper, Northern Star
chapter 7: what did the gov do in response to the Chartists? (before 3rd petition of 1848)
- rejected petitions
- put up posters asking people not to attend Chartist meetings
- arrested Chartists regularly
- transported Chartists to countries like Australia
chapter 7: what happened in the Third Petition thing in 1848? (Chartists)
- O’Conner & < 50,000 supporters met on Kennington Common in London on 10 April 1848
- authorities had expected more, so had prepared troops & thousands of police to stop O’Conner’s supporters entering city
- O’Conner had to take petition into London himself; was said to have 5 million signatures but only had 2 million & many of names were forged - incl. Queen Victoria’s name
- gov saw whole thing as a farce
chapter 7: impact of Chartism?
failed in short term for many reasons:
- strong parliamentary opposition
- standard of living started to inc during 1850s
- alternative working class movements grew
- divided leadership of Lovett & O’Conner
- lacked 1 clear message
but in long term, campaigns for electoral reform v successful, achieving 5/6 of Chartists’ 6 main aims by 1928
chapter 7: what years were the Chartist movement?
1836-1848 ish i guess
chapter 7: aims of the Chartists and when these were achieved
- votes for all men: 1918
- equal-sized constituencies: 1884
- voting in secret: 1872
- wages for MPs: 1911
- no property qualifications to be able to vote: 1918 (men)
- an election every year: never
chapter 7: summary of chapter 7/Great Reform Act & Chartism
- Britain had growing working & middle class bc of Industrial Revolution
- they wanted electoral reform & the vote
- gov reacted badly when workers gathered at St Peter’s Field
- Earl Grey passed Great Reform Act 1832 which favoured middle class
- Chartist movement developed to try & get vote for all men
- electoral reform achieved in long term
chapter 8: what were the Corn Laws/why had they been introduced in 1815?
- during war w France, Britain banned cheap French wheat used to make flour for bread
- w/o any competition, British farmers got high price for wheat they grew
- when war ended many politicians (who were also wealthy landowners) wanted to keep big profits from high wheat prices
- so Corn Laws kept price of wheat high, by banning cheap non-British wheat; this made farmers & landowners happy
chapter 8: who were the 2 key members of the Anti-Corn Law League, and what did they do?
- Richard Cobden - became MP in 1841
- John Bright - became MP in 1843
both excellent orators & spread word of League throughout country w these tactics: - gave speeches
- created pamphlets
- published newspaper articles
- used railways to travel faster
- sent pamphlets through penny post to reach every eligible voter
chapter 8: reasons people opposed the Corn Laws
- unfair to poor as price of basic food - bread - far too high
- cheap wheat could lower living costs
- people would have more money to spend on other goods, like meat
- people could buy industrial goods
- improved trade w other countries would help to secure peace
chapter 8: who was the new Prime Minister during the Anti-Corn Law League stuff?
Robert Peel, supported them, but leader of Conservative Party so had to move slowly to convince gov
chapter 8: what happened in the Irish Famine of the 1840s?
- Irish relied heavily on bread & potatoes for diet, but in early 1840s potato harvest failed
- by 1846 Ireland facing terrible famine & no spare wheat in Britain to send to millions starving
- at same time a crop failure in Scotland & England threatening same crisis
- Robert Peel’s hand forced; he’d need to repeal Corn Laws & allow cheaper foreign wheat to be used to feed people
