Britain - Old Order Challenged, GRA

Question 1

What was the Parliamentary system like before 1832?

Answer 1

Not involved in:

• education
• healthcare services
• housing
• poverty
• unemployment

Cared about taxes, dealing with disorder, army and navy and fighting wars

Question 2

What was the role of the Crown before 1832?

Answer 2

Monarch appointed ministers of state (had major influence on politics).
Important support in the Commons. Over 100 MPs were placement (dependent on Crown for their seat)

Question 3

What was the House Of Lords like before 1832?

Answer 3

Consisted of most government ministers, leads of the army, civil service and CoE. Great landowners were peers (controlled constituencies that sent MPs to the Commons.

Not enough of them to ensure the Commons would always support the Lords and the monarch’s ministers.
Usual for the Lords to join with the Crown in opposing a measure passed by Commons

Question 4

What was the House of Commons like before 1832?

Answer 4

Largely independent members who could afford to spend time doing unpaid political work. Not necessarily bound to Whigs or Tories.

Question 5

What were Constituencies like before 1832?

Answer 5

MPs either represented boroughs or counties. Counties and boroughs returned 2 MPs to Parliament.

Rotten boroughs: So few voters that they were easily bought or bribed to vote for a particular candidate.

Pocket boroughs: Under the control of a single powerful person or family to vote in their choice.

Large Northern towns (Manchester, 182,000 inhabitants in 1831) and Midland towns (Birmingham, 144,000 inhabitants) had no MPs because in medieval times they were unimportant and didn’t get a borough status

Question 6

Who could vote before 1832?

Answer 6

-County: owned freehold land worth at least £2 a year
-Borough:
‘burgage boroughs’ handed down from father to son
‘pot-walloper’ boroughs own a hearth and not be claiming poor relief
‘scot and lot’ boroughs allowed men who paid certain ancient taxes.

Inconsistent in boroughs

Question 7

How many people could vote in 1831?

Answer 7

Out of 24 million, less than 500,000 could vote (men)

Question 8

What were elections like before 1832?

Answer 8

Legally a general election every 7 years.
If a landowner supported a candidate there was no point in anyone else trying to get elected to that seat. (pocket boroughs)
Election polls open for several days.
‘Treating’ - cost of transporting electors, board of lodging, banquets, beer etc.
Vote wasn’t secret - hustings (go out and call name they were voting for)

Question 9

Why were there reform movements before 1832?

Answer 9

• Soldiers returning from war couldn’t find work
• Workers in war supplies lost their jobs
• High corn price = high bread price
• Govt. in debt, had to increase tax

Question 10

What individuals kept the idea of parliamentary reform alive whilst Britain was at war with France (1799-1815)?

Answer 10

• John Cartwright
• William Cobbett (addressed stamp duty issue, able to reduce newspaper prices)
• Henry Hunt

Question 11

What happened in the Spa Fields Meetings 1816?

Answer 11

People wanting to abolish tax and nationalise land held a meeting on Spa Fields, Islington, London.
Henry Hunt spoke about reform.
The crowd rioted and marched in London.
Stopped by military and suspended the Habeas Corpus Act

Question 12

What was the Habeas Corpus Act?

Answer 12

Meant everyone imprisoned had to be brought to trial within a certain length of time. Prevents people from being imprisoned without being charged of a crime

Question 13

What happened int he Pentridge Rising 1817?

Answer 13

Govt. undercover agent reported a threat for mass revolt in the North of England.
Unemployed textile workers (led by Brandreth) planned to capture Nottingham castle.
They were meet with troops to arrest the marchers. Many hung and imprisoned

Question 14

What happened in the Blanketeers 1817?

Answer 14

Unemployed workers in Manchester planned to march to London to present a petition to the Prince Regent demanding reform and to restore the Habeas Corpus.
They marched in blankets to sleep in overnight but didn’t make it to London; were broken up by troops

Question 15

What happened in Peterloo 1819?

Answer 15

60,000 people went to St Peter’s Field in Manchester marching for reform, going to listen to Henry Hunt.
He was arrested and the military moved in to help, killing many people.

Question 16

What were the Six Acts?

Answer 16

After Peterloo, didn’t want anything similar to happen again.
Govt. showed its determination to end all possibilities of peaceful protest.
Overall: powerful attack on the radical movement. Legal protest was virtually impossible and by 1820, reform did not seem near.

Question 17

What factors increased the likelihood of reform from 1820-1832 outside parliament?

Answer 17

• Manufacturing interest
• Revolution in France colliding with 1830 elections
• Distress in towns and countryside
• Political Unions
• The Press

Question 18

What was the manufacturing interest in regards to parliamentary reform?

Answer 18

Manufacturing towns in the Midlands and North were realising that their interests were not being represented in Parliament - believed reform was necessary

Question 19

How did the distress in the towns and countryside effect the idea of reform?

Answer 19

Bad harvests in 1829 and 1830 reduced trade and the cholera epidemic of 1831-32 made it worse.
High poor rates, unemployment, poor trade and low wages. Desire for reform to improve the situation

Question 20

What were Political Unions in regards to parliamentary reform?

Answer 20

All wanted different kinds of parliamentary reform, but were united over focussing on public opinion. They showed how public opinion could be expressed without breaking the law.

Question 21

What was the Birmingham Political Union?

Answer 21

Founded by Thomas Attwood
Intended as a ginger group to focus and lead local reform movements using petitions and public meetings
United masters and men

Question 22

How many people were attending BPU meetings by 1832?

Answer 22

100,000

Question 23

Outline the aims of the National Political Union

Answer 23

Wanted the manufacturing interests to be represented in the House of Commons

Question 24

What did William Lovett and Henry Hetherington want in regards to reform?

Answer 24

Universal male suffrage

Question 25

What was the importance of the provincial newspapers in regards to pushing for parliamentary reform?

Answer 25

Impact on local opinion

Links with political unions - BPU used it to generate support and public interest

Question 26

What were the Tory attitudes towards reform?

Answer 26

Traditionally defended the rights of the monarch and the status of the Church of England. Advocated measures to maintain law and order, especially against radical agitation or riots caused by economic distress.

Question 27

What were the Whig attitudes towards reform?

Answer 27

Were less vocal about their views on radical unrest, but in practice acted as vigorously as most Tories when involving their interests or property.
Wanted to reflect the true interests of the country.
But leader of the Whigs in the Commons Lord John Russell led a campaign for reform

Question 28

What were the similarities and differences between the Tories and the Whigs?

Answer 28

Similarities: Both wished to preserve the power and status of the landowning classes and to prevent revolution

Differences: Whigs believed, by 1830, that the best ways of gaining those would be to introduce reform. Tories didn’t agree (shown in the Six Acts)

Question 29

What were the Corn Laws?

Answer 29

Designed to protect the price of British wheat against foreign competition. Benefited the landed interest - protect them against the cheaper imported corn that would benefit the urban population.
They led to resentment by the lower classes, leading to the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League (1838)

Question 30

What happened on the 2nd November 1830?

Answer 30

In a speech by the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords he defended the current electoral system, ignoring the political unions, the great reform rallies, the press and the election of MPs against Wellington.
He had hoped this would rally his supporters against the reform of Parliament, but it had the opposite effect:
Tories who were anxious about the situation before joined the Whigs. A few weeks later the Tory govt. was defeated

Question 31

What happened after the Tory government collapsed in 1830?

Answer 31

King William IV asked the Whig leader Earl Grey to become prime minister (no other Tory leader could form a government)

Question 32

What were the proposals of the First Reform Bill?

Answer 32

An attempt to shift the balance of representation away from the landowners and towards the middle classes

Question 33

How was the First Reform Bill received in Parliament?

Answer 33

Passed through the commons by one vote.
Those opposing the bill at the committee stage objected several aspects to it, so Grey persuaded the King to dissolve parliament and hold a general election

Question 34

What happened in the 1831 general elections?

Answer 34

Early Grey had a majority of 130 seats in the newly elected House of Commons

Question 35

What were the events of the 2nd Reform Bill

Answer 35

July 1831
Got through the Commons easily
Was rejected by the Lord by 41 votes

Question 36

What was the public response to the 2nd Reform Bill?

Answer 36

• Riots in Bristol, Derby and Nottingham
• New political unions formed and old ones strengthened
• Protest marches everywhere

Question 37

What were the events of the 3rd Reform Bill?

Answer 37

December 1831
Got through the Commons but delayed by the Lords
Asked the King to create new peers who would support reform and get it through the Lords, but the King refused.
Grey’s Whig government resigned in 1832

Question 38

What were the Day of May?

Answer 38

Country erupted into riots and rallies after the rejection of the 3rd Bill.
Westminster filled with anti-Tory petitions
BPU said they would march on London until the Bill became law.
‘Stop the Duke, go for Gold’ - idea to withdraw money from banks and cause a financial crisis.
The King asked Wellington to return but wouldn’t due to disagreements with Robert Peel. Grey recalled to parliament

Question 39

How did the Bill become a Law?

Answer 39

Tories who opposed the bill before mostly passed it.
Was passed by 106 votes to 22.
Signed on 7 June 1832

Question 40

Who was the head of the Catholic Association in Ireland and what did he do?

Answer 40

Daniel O’Connell

Used legal methods

Question 41

Why did Wellington pass Catholic Emancipation?

Answer 41

Was worried about Civil War

Question 42

What were the results of Catholic Emancipation Act for the Tory party?

Answer 42

It split the party:

• Liberal Tories: already opposed to Wellington over electoral reform (they wanted it)
• Ultra Tories: felt betrayed by their leader. Had the view that a representative parliament wouldn’t have passed it and so now supported parliamentary reform
• The Tory centre: followers of Peel and Wellington over Catholic Emancipation

Question 43

What was Lord Grey’s view towards reform?

Answer 43

In favour of an increase in the representation of the counties because the county members were more independent of the executive.

He knew the importance of growing industrial towns being represented in Parliament and opposed ‘rotten boroughs’.

He was in favour of a uniform franchise qualification for borough seats.

Question 44

What was Thomas Babington’s argument towards reform?

Answer 44

‘Reform in order to preserve’
Threat of revolution could only be avoided if the aristocracy were prepared to make concessions to the rising middle class. A revolution would destroy the hierarchal political system, leading to the confiscation of their property.

Question 45

Why was external pressure for reform important?

Answer 45

• Public response to actions made inside parliament could effect the act passed (e.g when Grey resigned, the public tried to cause an economic crisis so the King had to recall Grey and pass the bill)
• Rioting and protesting represented the working and middle classes’ political views, who didn’t usually get a say

Question 46

What were the Whigs’ reasons for reform?

Answer 46

• preserve power of the landed aristocracy
• maintain the importance of property
• avoid a revolution

Question 47

How was the Great Reform Act radical?

Answer 47

• Big increase in the representation of counties
• Abolition of 56 rotten boroughs
• More middle class got the vote
• 49% increase in size of electorate (almost doubled)
• Some redistribution of seats to industrial cities

Question 48

How wasn’t the Great Reform Act radical?

Answer 48

• Still based on interests rather than size (not all big cities)
• Still only men of a high social class got the vote
• Still no secret ballot
• Still have to be wealthy to be an MP

Question 49

What the the impact of the GRA on the social composition of the House of Commons?

Answer 49

No sudden increase in the number of MPs from middle-class backgrounds.
80% of MPs represented landed interest. 
Dominance of the aristocracy and gentry at Westminster continued

Question 50

What was the Chandos clause and what was its effect?

Answer 50

A clause inserted in the 1832 GRA by Lord Chandos
Gave the vote to tenants-at-will (can have their tenancy ended at any time by their land lords, meaning they were highly likely to vote in the same way as their landlords).

Balanced the loss of votes/representation from the mainly Tory disenfranchised rotten and pocket boroughs

Question 51

What were the Benathmites?

Answer 51

A group of radical thinkers with considerable influence over Whig thinkings on reform, including people such as Edwin Chadwick and Francis Place. Not an organised group but did have strong links to parliament.