Britain 3: growth of parliamentary reform

Question 1

Growth of reform before 1832

Name 5 factors

Answer 1

Middle class
Unreformed system
Pressure outside
Parliament actions
French rev

Question 2

The Middle class

Why did it matter they were educated and self-made?

Answer 2

They wanted their political power to match their economic power to drive business forward

Question 3

The Middle class

When did Richard Arkwright die with a fortune of what?

Answer 3

In 1792 with a fortune of £500,000

Question 4

The Middle class

Why did the Corn Laws indirectly effect them?

Answer 4

They had to increase working class wages = decreased profits

Question 5

The Middle class

Why did the Corn Laws encourage them to want reform?

Answer 5

They could vote on policies that would benefit business, not worsen it

Question 6

Pressure outside parliament

In what year did it cost a penny to join the London Corresponding Society?

Answer 6

1792

Question 7

Pressure outside parliament

How many copies did Paine’s Rights of Man sell, and when?

Answer 7

200,000 copies in 1793

Question 8

Pressure outside parliament

What was the Cato Street Conspiracy?

Answer 8

1820 assassination attempt on Lord Liverpool’s cabinet

Question 9

Pressure outside parliament

Who ran the BPU?

Answer 9

Thomas Attwood

Question 10

Pressure outside parliament

How many people regularly attended rallies when the BPU was created in what year?

Answer 10

100,000 people in 1830

Question 11

Pressure outside parliament

How many attended the BPU ‘Days of May’ rally?

Answer 11

200,000

Question 12

The unreformed system

What fraction of elections were uncontested?

Answer 12

2/3

Question 13

The unreformed system

How long did elections take?

Answer 13

As long as 2 months

Question 14

The unreformed system

In what year did less than 5% of the male population have the right to vote?

Answer 14

1831

Question 15

The unreformed system

What was bad about the rotten borough Old Sarum?

Answer 15

It had a single landowner but still had 2 MPs

Question 16

The unreformed system

What was Lancashire’s population and how many MPs?

Answer 16

1.3 million and 14MPs

Question 17

The unreformed system

What was Cornwall’s population and how many MPs?

Answer 17

300,000 and 42MPs

Question 18

The French revolution

What ideas did Thomas Paine spread?

Answer 18

Spread of ideas about monarchy and nobility

Question 19

The French revolution

When did Napoleon blockade Britain?

Answer 19

1806

Question 20

The French revolution

What did Napoleon’s blockade mean for the working class?

Answer 20

They had to pay an indirect tax on sugar and beer to increase govt income

Question 21

Parliament Actions

What did the Duke of Wellington want to do with 2 corrupt constituencies?

Answer 21

Transfer seats to other rural areas, but the Canningnites wanted to give this to Manchester and Leeds

Question 22

Parliament Actions

What did the Duke of Wellington’s alienation of Canningnites mean?

Answer 22

Govt was focused on gaining popularity

Question 23

Parliament Actions

What did the Whigs want?

Answer 23

moderate reform, as a growing number of them were middle class

Question 24

Parliament Actions

How did the Whigs want to gain support?

Answer 24

Keeping a check on the ‘tyranny of the monarchy’ and stop potential violence by including more people in the political system

Question 25

The French Revolution Why did people argue about the French Bourbon dynasty collapse?

Answer 25

That it had collapsed due to a failure to recognise genuine popular electoral grievances, as what was being voiced in Britain

Question 26

Parliament Actions What did the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829 do?

Answer 26

Allowed Catholics to be MPs for the first time

Question 27

Growth of reform after 1832 List 5 factors

Answer 27

Pressure within Peaceful pressure outside Violence Legacy of 1832 Act Chartism

Question 28

Peaceful pressure outside What did the 1865 Reform League want?

Answer 28

universal manhood suffrage and secret ballots

Question 29

Peaceful pressure outside What did the 1864 National Reform Union want?

Answer 29

equal distribution of seats

Question 30

Peaceful pressure outside When did the Anti-Corn Law League make speeches to raise public awareness?

Answer 30

1858

Question 31

Peaceful pressure outside Give an example of a liberal minded employer who was campaigning for reform

Answer 31

Samuel Morley, a wool manufacturer from Nottingham

Question 32

Legacy of 1832 Act What did the size of the electorate rise from and to?

Answer 32

From 366,000 to 650,000

Question 33

Legacy of 1832 Act What % of the male population could now vote?

Answer 33

18%

Question 34

Legacy of 1832 Act Voting was still public until when?

Answer 34

1872

Question 35

Legacy of 1832 Act What did you have to have an income of to be an MP?

Answer 35

£600

Question 36

Legacy of 1832 Act The Whigs made no attempt to deny that what was designed to exclude the lower classes from voting?

Answer 36

the £10 limit on the 1832 Reform Act

Question 37

Pressure within When did Disraeli draft his bills from?

Answer 37

Feb-Aug 1867, causing 3 cabinet members to resign

Question 38

Pressure within Who was more liberal, replacing Palmerstone in 1865?

Answer 38

Earl Russel

Question 39

Pressure within What and when did Gladstone argue in parliament?

Answer 39

In 1864, he argued it was a scandal only 1/10 of those with a vote were working class

Question 40

Parliament Actions What did the first reform bill in March 1831 aim to do?

Answer 40

redistribute 100 rotten boroughs

Question 41

Pressure within Who was John Bright?

Answer 41

MP for Birmingham

Question 42

Pressure within What did John Bright support?

Answer 42

Reform League's idea of 1 man = 1 vote

Question 43

Pressure within Where did John Bright speak and to how many people?

Answer 43

At a meeting of 150,000-200,000 people at Brookfields in Birmingham

Question 44

Violence When were the Hyde Park Riots and how many people attended?

Answer 44

1866 - 200,000 people

Question 45

Violence Who was the Reform League leader that announced another rally at Trafalgar Square?

Answer 45

John Bedford Leno

Question 46

Chartism (use in violence) When were the Plug Riots?

Answer 46

1842

Question 47

Chartism (use in violence) What were the Plug Riots?

Answer 47

500,000 workers going on strike across Staffordshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire

Question 48

Chartism (use in violence) What was the Newport Uprising?

Answer 48

20 dead and 50 wounded at Westgate hotel

Question 49

Chartism (use in violence) When was the Newport Uprising?

Answer 49

November 1839