1830-1850 Flashcards

1
Q

Explain why there was a revival in the demand for parliamentary reform between 1829 and 1830?

A
  • Strikes in the North of England
  • Sudden slump in the economy
  • Jeremy Bentham continued to advocate
    -Death of King George the 4th
  • Passing of catholic Emancipation
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2
Q

Explain the pressure put on the government to pass the Great Reform Act?

A

-Birmingham political union formed and put pressure on the government by organising strikes and protests
-swing riots of 1830 scared the government into action
-1831 riots in Derby and Nottingham when the first bill was rejected, 12 people were killed

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3
Q

How did the Great Reform Act effect the franchise?

A

-property rate was lowered to £10 in borough constituencies
- county constituencies people had to hold a long lease of £10 and short of £50.

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4
Q

How did the Great Reform Act effect representation?

A
  • 56 rotten boroughs were abolished
  • 143 seats were made available for redistribution
    65 given to counties, 65 given to boroughs without MPs, 8 to Scotland and 5 to Ireland
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5
Q

Name some arguments FOR the Great Reform Act

A
  • electorate in Britain increased from 478,000 to 813,000
  • rotten boroughs disappeared
  • industrial towns were given MPs
  • first step towards democracy
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6
Q

Name some arguments AGAINST the Great Reform Act

A
  • Scotland, Wales and Ireland continued to be under represented
    -length of parliament remained 7 years
  • no dramatic change to the membership of the HoC
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7
Q

What did the Swing Riots do?

A

Destroyed workhouses and teithe barns

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8
Q

What was the Merthyr rising?

A

large groups of men and women marched through the streets, broke into shops to reclaim what had been stolen from them and destroyed account books detailing their debts

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9
Q

What was the result of the Merthyr rising?

A

The execution of Richard Lewis
-The Truck Act was passed - paying workers in tokens became illegal
Unions were stamped out

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10
Q

What were the tolpuddle martyrs ?

A

Group of farm labourers from the village of Tolpuddle. Small group including George Loveless set up a secret union and swore an oath to keep it a secret.
Sentenced to 7 years transportation

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11
Q

Why were the Rebecca riots significant ?

A

display of public protest that the government gave in to.
sending soldiers to stop the riots didn’t work so they were forced to make the tolls fairer

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12
Q

What did the chartists do?

A

in 1839 Submitted a petition with 1/.3 million signatures on to the HoC
a second was submitted in 1842

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13
Q

What was the Humanitarian movement?

A

People from all walks of life who wanted to improve the working and living conditions of the working classes. William Wilberforce was one

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14
Q

Name some reform Acts passed in 1833

A
  • Abolition of Slavery
  • Factory Act
  • First Grant for education
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15
Q

What was the Poor Law Amendment Act?

A

Based on Edwin Chadwick’s report. Extremely unpopular, took away outdoor relief, workhouses became the focus of discontent, only benefitted rate payers.
It was lucky that there were a few years of good harvests otherwise the death rate would have been much higher.

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16
Q

What was the Municipal Corporations Act 1835?

A

benefitted the rate payers and middle classes but not the poor:
- councillors now elected every three years
- mayor elected annually
- compulsory to pay for the police force

17
Q

What were the problems of the Whig reforms from 1833-41?

A
  • They still used repressive measures in incidents like the Tolpuddle Martyrs 1834, Chartists 1839, Rebecca Riots. So they didn’t really understand the real causes of poverty and unemployment
  • Did little to ease suffering of working classes
  • Reform came to a trickle after 1835 as Palmerston (PM) was against reform
  • some laws made a start but did not go far enough or were not compulsory
18
Q

What were Peel’s motives to repeal the Corn Laws?

A
  • Corn Laws were against his free trade principles
  • Pressure from the anti-corn law league
  • fear that if the Corn laws weren’t repealed, there would be increased calls for further electoral reform
19
Q

Was the repeal of the Corn Laws easy to put through parliament?

A

It took 5 months of fierce struggle with his opponents before the Act became law in June 1846.
- Ministers resented Peel’s high handed attitude towards the party
- many conservative MPs believed that the repeal of the Corn Laws was a betrayal of the Party’s commitment to protectionism