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OCR A Level History > William Pitt the Younger: Fact Learning > Flashcards

William Pitt the Younger: Fact Learning Flashcards

Facts and Statistics about William Pitt the Younger's time in office. (60 cards)

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1
Q

When was Fox’s India Bill voted down (which led to his dismissal)?

A

15th December 1783

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2
Q

When had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer?<br></br><br></br>Under who did he serve?

A

Since 1782, under Shelburne.

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3
Q

What example is there that Pitt had the support of independents from early on in his tenure? What did this bill do?

A

The March 1784 Mutiny Bill, which confirmed the legality of military discipline to maintain the armed forces.

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4
Q

When did Pitt call an election?

A

March 1784

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5
Q

What sinecure had William Pitt refused?

A

Clerkship of the Pells

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6
Q

How many MPs existed at the time of the March 1784 election?

A

558

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7
Q

How many MPs in 1784 were firm Pittites?

A

52

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8
Q

How many MPs were Foxites in the March 1784 election? How much had this decreased from the last election?

A
  1. This was down 100 from the last election.
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9
Q

How many MPs were independent supportes of the government in the March 1784 election?

A

183

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10
Q

How many MPs were people who owed jobs, income or loyalty to the Crown and thus voted his way?

A

185

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11
Q

When Pitt became Prime Minister, how much government income was being spent on servicing British debt? (Percentage and number out of total)

A

£8m out of £13m total government income, so 61%

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12
Q

When Pitt entered office in 1783, by how much did Government expenditure exceed income?

A

By £10.8m.

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13
Q

From how much (by how much %) had the national debt risen during the war years?

A

From £127m in 1775 by 91% during the war years.

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14
Q

How much was the national debt as a value when Pitt won the election in March 1784?

A

£284m.

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15
Q

How much did the later war with France bring the national debt up to?

A

£456m.

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16
Q

When did Pitt introduce the sinking fund to try and reduce the national debt? Was it a success?

A

1786.<br></br><br></br>It was successful, having reduced the public debt by £10m by 1793. However war with France again aggravated this as government borrowing again had to rise that year.<br></br><br></br>It was also arguably not a success as short-term debt rose by £7m between 1783 and 1793.

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17
Q

What items did Pitt introduce indirect taxes on? [9]

A

<ul><li>Bachelors</li><li>Hats</li><li>Servants</li><li>Wig powder</li><li>Dice</li><li>Houses</li><li>Windows</li><li>Paper</li><li>Carriages</li><li>Silver</li><li>Gold</li><li>Beer</li><li>Bricks and tiles</li><li>Saddle horses</li><li>Silk imports</li></ul>

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18
Q

When did he introduce a tax on retail shops? Was it a success? What happened to it?

A

In 1785. It was so unpopular that it caused rioting and he had to repeal it in 1789

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19
Q

When did Pitt amend the Hovering Act? What did this change?

A

He amended the Hovering Act to the Pitt Hovering Act in 1787, which increased the jurisdiction of naval searches from 6 to 12 miles

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20
Q

What did Pitt do with the Tea Duty? Why did he do this?

A

He reduced it from 119% to 25% to discourage tea smuggling to increase British income from tea duties.

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21
Q

How many excise officers did Pitt cut by the early 1790s?

A

750

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22
Q

When did Pitt reform the Civil List? What did this do?

A
  1. It reduced the sum of money paid to the Royal Family.
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23
Q

What achievements could Pitt claim by 1792? [2]

A

<ol><li>That he had added an extra £1m to revenue by reducing smuggling</li><li>That he had added an extra £1m to revenue by indirect taxes<br></br></li><li>That he had added an extra £2m to revenue by additional consumption<br></br></li><li>That total net income was 47% higher than in 1783</li></ol>

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24
Q

When did Pitt introduce an income tax? What was significant about this?

A

It was enacted in 1799 (though he announced it in 1798). He was the first PM to introduce an income tax which marked the economic crisis Britain was in.

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25
Who did Pitt appoint to customs in 1787? What did he do to help administrative reform?
Richard Frewin. He centralised the fund from customs duties to avoid needless different accounts which complicated the financial situation and created useless jobs.
26
Who did Pitt appoint to the Navy in 1784? How did he help administrative reform?
Charles Middleton. He oversaw the creation of 33 new ships from 1784.
27
How many sinecures had Pitt managed to abolish between 1783 and 1793?
180
28
What did he do with the EIC? When did he do this? How did this help administrative reform?
In 1784, he introduced the India Act of 1784, which established a Board of Control where two ministers sat which was responsible for scrutinising the EIC. This helped the government policy of reform.
29
Where did Pitt's reforms have limitations? [1]
  • He was defeated in a motion to remove 36 "rotten boroughs" in 1785
  • He paid off John Palmer, who orginally supported his plan of high-speed mail coaches but later changed his mind after Anthony Todd, whose family had run the postal service for 30 years, had opposed the scheme
30
When did Pitt sign the Eden Treaty with France? What did this do to help his British trade reforms and how did it benefit Britain?
In 1786 (28th September).

This put a general tariff reduction of 10-15%. This benefited Britain more as they produced more manufactured goods so had better export conditions.
31
When did Pitt sign the Canada Act? How was this a calculated political move?
He signed the Canada Act in 1791. 

This was a smart move that split Canada into Upper (more Loyalists) and Lower Canada (more French-speaking people) and granted greater autonomy to the regions to secure their loyaly amidst the French Revolution. It consolidated imperial control and countere the spread of revolution to British colonies. 
32
What evidence is there of Pitt's trade policy being successful?
  1. He turned a deficit of £2.5m to a profit of £2m during his tenure.
  2. His tighter stance on the EIC meant that they paid £500,000 annually to the Exchequer to increase government income.
33
What did Pitt put in his Regency Bill? How did Fox then blunder? [2 policies from the Bill]
In his January 1789 Regency Bill, he restricted the powers of the Regent:

  • Stated that the Prince Regent could not create peerages of appoint new members to offices without Parliamentary approval
  • The Queen would retain control over the King's household and guardianship
  • The Regency would expire once the King recovered
  • It emphasised parliamentary sovereignty over hereditary claims

Fox then blundered by protesting this even though he was supposed to be the radical who was against royal prerogative, which thus made him look like an opportunist.
34
How was Whig opposition weak in the late 1780s and early 1790s? [5 or 6]
  • By 1788 Lord North was virtually blind
  • Fox was in declining health
  • Portland, in 1794, "jumped ship" with 5 other ministers to Pitt's government
  • Edmund Burke did the same, alone, in 1791
  • There was huge division over the Regency Crisis
  • There was huge division over the French Revolution and attitudes to it, as seen by Burke switching.
35
What examples are there of radical groups emerging in the 1790s? Dates as well.
  • The London Corresponding Society - 1792
  • The Society for Constitutional Information - 1791
  • The Society of Friends of the People - 1792
36
What other developments regarding royal families in Britain and France occurred between 1792 and 1793?
  • George III issued a proclamation against seditious publications and meetings in late 1792
  • Louis XVI was executed in January 1793 which prompted mounting revulsion and fear of revolutionary panic in Britain
37
Up to many members did the LCS reach at its peak? When was this?
Up to 5000 members in 1795 at its peak.
38
Who led the Society of Constitutional Information, which had a more mixed social membership to reflect its views?
Reverend Horne Tooke.
39
Why was the LCS somewhat ineffective?
Because, in their August 1792 Address to the People, they preached peaceful protest against the government, which meant the government basically didn't listen.

Note that this was one of the ways in which the radical movement was divided during the period, which you could argue was a reason for its failure.
40
What economic conditions contributed to the increasing revolutoonary appetite at the time?
  • Bad harvest in 1792
  • Bad harvest in 1795-6 and raised wheat prices as a result
  • Average wheat prices going up from 46 shillings (1780-89) to 58 shillings(1790-99)
  • Wheat prices going as high as 76 shillings per quarter in 1796
41
How many supporters did Fox have by the 1790s? Why was this period difficult for the Foxite opposition?
He had around 50 supporting MPs left - though they could be branded as traitorous and enemies of the state during the French Revolution, which made them even less popular.
42
What happened at Spithead? What is the timeline of events?
Underpaid sailors refused to return out to sea in March 1797, and mutinied again on the 7th May until a pay raise was agreed with Lord Howe on the 15th May, at which point they returned to their duties.
43
What happened in the Nore? When did this happen and what was the outcome?
On the 12th May 1797, another mutiny occurred in the Nore. 29 sailors were hanged as a result.
44
What two notable examples of popular opposition to the radical uprising are there?
Birmingham, July 1791
Manchester, 1792

These two were particularly against the non-conformist nature of the radicalism, as many Britons were not prepared to abandon their religion for the movement and the idea of non-conformist caused a huge uproar.
45
What other example of popular loyalism is there in the 1790s? When was this set up? How popular was this by when?
The APLP was set up in November 1792 by John Reeves and had up to 2000 branches throughout the country by the end of 1793.
46
What 3 pro-government newspapers were set up between 1792 and 1793?
  • The Sun
  • The Oracle
  • The True Briton
47
When did Pitt introduce an act to establish paid magistrates in London to help counter radicalism?
June 1792
48
When did George III make his proclamation against seditious speeches?
December 1792
49
When was the National Convention of British reformers in Edinburgh broken up? What happened to the leaders?
In October 1793. The leaders were tried and arrested.
50
When did Pitt suspend Habeas Corpus?
May 1794.
51
When was Thomas Hardy tried? Who else was he tried with? What was the result? (year)
He was tried in 1794. he was tried with John Horne Tooke and John Thelwall, and all were acquitted in a very quick trial. Was quite embarrassing for the government.
52
Name 2 of the Gagging Acts and what they did.
  • The 1795 Treasonable Practices Act forbade expressing views likely to bring the King or Government into contempt
  • The 1795 Seditious Meetings and Assemblies Act forbade any public meetings of more than 50 people without a magistrate's permission and that such meetings could be dispersed
53
How many people did the Seditious Meetings and Assemblies Act prosecute?
200 people.
54
What 2 Acts did Pitt introduce as a response to the Naval Mutinies of 1797?
  • The Seduction from Duty and Allegiance Act
  • The Act Against Administering Unlawful Oaths
55
When did Pitt introduce the Newspaper Publications Acts ?
1798-99.
56
When did Pitt introduce the Combination Acts? What did these do?
1799-1800. These prevented workers uniting for higher wages and for better conditions.
57
How else did Pitt crack down on radicalism? (think administration; what did he create) [1]
  • He introduced an Alien Office to monitor (specifically French) immigrants into Britain to try and cut off any foreign sources of radicalism
  • He set up a small Secret Service Section to monitor radicalism using agents.
58
What is the infamous story regarding the weakness of Whig opposition in the 1790s?
It is said that there was one time where the opposition went home in one carriage because so few had turned up. Rough.
59
When did Britain go to war with France under Pitt's tenure?
February 1793.
60
What was bad about Fox's image and relation to the Royal Family? [2]
  • He was a heavy gambler and drinker and frequently engaged in debauchery
  • He is often seen to have "corrupted" the King's son the Prince of Wales at the time, with similar habits
  • He gave the Prince of Wales, George, a large £100,000 allowance which not only looked corrupt and ill-mannered, but also completely contradictory with his Whiggish views which cemented his reputation as a sleazy, ingenuine and corrupt politician

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