3 - Growth of democracy Flashcards
Pre-reformed system facts
New industrial towns lacked MPs –> Birminham, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield
By 1831, Lanchire had a population of 1.3 million and 14 MPs vs. Cornwall had a population of 300,000 had 42 MPs
2/3rds of elections were uncontetsed
Cooping = kidnapping of rivals
Rotten Borough = Old Sarum had 2 MPs and no population
Demands for Reform
Radical societies
London Corresponding Society
Formed in 1792
The founder Thomas Hardy claimed there were 5,000 members in the early 1790s, but was apporximately 1,000
Octover 1795, a demonstration at Copenhagen Fields attracted over 100,000 people
–> prefered Thomas Paine’s ‘The Rights of Man’ and meetings over violence
Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information
Formed in 1792
In May 1792, it had managed to raise 10,000 signatures on a national petition for male suffrage.
Thomas Paine vs. Edmund Burke
Burke = ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ 1790 ‘swinish multitude’
Paine = 1792 ‘the Rights of man’
—> by 1793 200,000 copies had been sold
—> too radical = charged with treason in 1792 and he fled to France.
Demands for Reform
Economic problems
- Napoleonic Blockade 1806
- June 1812 — USA declare war on Britain
- 400,000 soldiers returned home after the Napoleonic Wars ended to find no work = Post-Napoleonic War Depression — In 1817 Poor Relief cost £7.9 million
- In Shropshire, 7000 iron workers lost their jobs because they was so client as the war ended
- By the early 19th century 1 in 4 men were in uniform so when the war ended they were unemployed
- Agricultural depression = the Year Without a Summer/the Lost Summer in 1816 — led to the passage of the Corn Laws in 1815 + speenhamland system based on the price of bread = made the system more expensive
+ Panic of 1857 and 1866 — the Western Bank of Scotland failed on November 9 1857 causing the government to intervene and suspend the Bank Charter Act of 1844
Demands for Reform
Emergence of the radical press
Reflected already present anger
William Cobbett in November 1816 began publishing ‘Weekly PolitIcal Register’ as a 2 pennies (cheap so working class reader vs. illiterate)
The Manchester Observer duped Peterloo as the ‘Peterloo massacre’ August 1819 - radical newspapers in new towns as industrial so poverty, and less representation.
Government response to the demands for reform
BEFORE 1800
- From 1793 an Alien Section and Secret Service infiltrated radical societies
- 1799 + 1800 combinations act banned trade unions
- Two Acts/Gagging Act 1795 included the Seditious Meetings Act = banned meetings over 50
- 1,000 loyalist groups by 1793 (e.g. Church and King clubs)
Government response to demands for reform
AFTER 1800
- The Game Laws 1816 = going against a landowner punishable by up to 7 years transportation to Australia
- 1817 = suspension of Habeas Corpus — following the Spa Field meetings (Dec. ‘16)
- The Six Acts 1819 = a reaction to Peterloo - stricter regulations — e.g. The Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act made newspapers more expensive, to 4 pennies — scared of the radical press
Protest examples
SFR + TPR + MotB
Spa Field Riots 1816
First meeting = 20,000 people and mostly peaceful
Vs. 1817 third meeting = crowd attacked the Prince Regent’s coach
The Pentrich Rebellion 1817
Uprising plan
Most of the group dispersed
Leader captured = 3 executed and 30 transported
The March of the Blanketeers
March 1817
4,500 set out but local magistrates dispersed them
Only 300 set out to deliver their petition still
Stopped by yeomanry
Protest examples
PM + TCSC
Peterloo Massacre
August 1819
Henry Hunt spoke
60,000 people gathered to listen
Yeomanry charged — 11 killed and 400-600 wounded
Duped ‘Peterloo Massacre’ by the radical Manchester Observer
Cato Street Conspiracy
February 1820
Led by Arthur Thistlewood
Plan to assassinate Lord Liverpool’s cabinet
Government spy caused them to fail
Conspirators executed
5 others involved were transported
Political unions facts
Birmingham Political Union
led by Thomas Attwood - called King Tom by William Cobbett (WPR)
Between the lower and middle classes
Attracted regularly 100,000 people at rallies and 200,000 during the ‘Days of May’ 1832
1/3 of the 100 unions were in the North
Reform which led to The Great Reform Act 1832
First, Second, and Third Bill
The first reform bill - March 1831
—> Redistribute 100 rotten boroughs
Passed by 1 vote majority
The second reform bill - July 1831
Passed by 136 votes
Rejected by Lords by 41 votes
Caused rioting – London, Nottingham, and Bristol
Third Reform Bill - December 1831
Whigs majority of 162 votes
William IV refused to increase Whig MPs in the Lords
Government failed and Wellington was asked to form a government
Triggered Days of May
Scared the Lords into allowing the bill to pass in June 1832
Riots that followed the second reform bill’s failure
Nottingham Castle which was the home of the Ultra Tory the Duke of Newcastle was burned
Bristol was controlled by rioter for 3 days
—> when troops were sent in 12 were killed and over 100 wounded.
Riots that followed the initial failure of the third reform bill (GRA)
The Days of May 1832
Closest Britain came to a revolution
Demonstrations were organised by the Birmingham Political Union attracted 200,000 at a rally
The significance of the Great Reform Act 1832
Change
Electorate rose from 366,000 to 650,000 = approximately 18% of the male population
Increase in contested seats = 30% before 1832 and 50% after
42 new boroughs created
Decline in the power of the Tories = between 1832 and 1853 the Tories were in power for fewer than 7 years.
The significance of the Great Reform Act 1832
Continuity
Had to have an income of £600 to stand an MP whilst the average income was £24 a year for a family of 5 in 1790
73 boroughs had fewer than 500 electors and 31 had fewer than 300.
South still over represented = Leeds - only 5,000 qualified for the vote from a population of 125,000 due to the £10 rule.
