Chapter 1.2 A wide franchise and debates over suffrage Flashcards

1
Q

What does suffrage mean?

A

The right to vote in elections

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2
Q

Which groups of people have the right to vote in the UK?

A
  • All adults over the age of 18
  • British and Irish citizens can vote in each other’s countries
  • Commonwealth citizens
  • UK nationals who’ve lived abroad for less than 15 years
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3
Q

Which groups of people are excluded from taking part in parliamentary elections?

A
  • People under the age of 18
  • EU citizens (apart from Irish Republic)
  • Prisoners (challenged by European Court of Human Rights, but ignored by government)
  • Members of Parliament
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4
Q

Which flaws of the electoral system existed between the late Middle Ages & the early 19th century?

A
  • There were two types of constituency: the counties and the boroughs
  • Plural voting was allowed under law
  • Most women were excluded from voting
  • Distribution of parliamentary seats had not kept pace with economic growth and the population movement
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5
Q

Why was having two type of constituency in the late Middle Ages to the early 19th century seen as a major flaw of the electoral system?

A

Two types of constituency: boroughs and counties.

  • In counties, only those who owned property worth at least 40 shillings could vote.
  • In some boroughs, all free men could vote, whereas in others it depended on property ownership or tax payment.

The qualifications for voting were inherently elitist.

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6
Q

Why was the existence of plural voting in the late Middle Ages to the early 19th century seen as a major flaw of the electoral system?

A

It allowed wealthy men who owned property in more than one constituency to vote

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7
Q

What is wrong with the fact that the distribution of parliamentary seats had not kept place with economic growth and population movement from the late Middle Ages to the early 19th century?

A

Emerging industrial towns were yet to acquire representation of their own. There was also a growth of the Jewish and Irish immigration population in the 19th century.

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8
Q

What is a Rotten Borough?

A

A constituency with hardly any voters

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9
Q

Which Act brought about the first major change to the UK electoral system?

A

The 1832 Great Reform Act

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10
Q

Which changes did the 1832 Reform Act implement?

A
  • Granted the vote to new groups of people like tenant farmers and smaller property owners
  • Abolished rotten boroughs and created seats for urban areas like Manchester
  • Created a standard of qualification for the franchise: all male householders living in properties who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more
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11
Q

What was the main consequence of the 1832 Reform Act?

A

Gave the vote to an additional 5% of the population

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12
Q

How was the 1832 Reform Act further extended?

A

Through the Reform Act of 1867, the Representation of the People Act and the Equal Franchise Act

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13
Q

What was the Reform Act of 1867?

A

It was an Act that enfranchised borough householders, these were working class men (13% of adults could vote)

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14
Q

What was the Representation of the People Act of 1884?

A

It was an Act that ensured rural and urban constituencies had the same population (25% of adults could vote)

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15
Q

What was the Representation of the People Act of 1918?

A

Enfranchised men over 21 and some women over 30.

75% of adults could vote

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16
Q

Which Act equalised the terms for voting between men and women?

A

The Equal Franchise Act of 1928

Full adult suffrage

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17
Q

Which Act put an end to plural voting?

A

The Representation of the People Act of 1948

18
Q

Which Act reduced the voting age from 21 to 18?

A

The Representation of the People Act of 1969

19
Q

Why was the exclusion of women from the franchise largely unchallenged until the late 19th century?

A

People assumed that married women were represented by votes cast by their husbands

It was believed that only men should have a say on issues of national importance, so women could vote in local council elections but not parliamentary ones

20
Q

When did the situation for women’s disenfranchisement begin to change?

A

When the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies was established in 1897

21
Q

Who was the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies?

A

They were mainly middle-class women known as “suffragists” whose gain was for women to have the vote

22
Q

What methods did the suffragists use?

A

They used non-violent methods of persuasion such as peaceful demonstrations, petitions and lobbying MPs

23
Q

Which radical feminist group formed in replacement of the suffragists?

A

The Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903

24
Q

Who was the Women’s Social and Political Union?

A

They were a mixture of middle and working class women known as “suffragettes”

25
Q

What differentiated the suffragettes from the suffragists?

A

The suffragettes believed in using militant tactics to persuade

26
Q

How did the suffragettes plan to obtain the vote for women?

A

By gaining publicity and attacking notorious institutions and disrupting political meetings to put pressure on parliament

27
Q

Who was Emily Davison?

A

She was a suffragette who threw herself under the king’s horse at Epsom Derby in 1913, this garnered huge publicity

28
Q

What attitudes did the suffragettes attract?

A

They attracted hostility, but also sympathy for their strength and endurance.

29
Q

What happened to suffragettes who were imprisoned?

A

They went on hunger strikes, which caused the authorities to resort to force-feeding.

This garnered more publicity and depicted the liberal government of the day as harsh.

30
Q

How did the suffragettes show moderation?

A

They suspended their campaign on the outbreak of WW1.

31
Q

Why was the Representation of the People’s Act of 1918 introduced?

A

Mainly due to growing pressure to give the vote to all working-class men as many who had served in the armed forces were not householders, so they had no stake in the political system for which they were expected to lay down their lives.

32
Q

What is the main argument regarding the effectiveness of the suffragette’s tactics?

A

The suffragettes may have alienated potential supporters through the use of violent tactics

33
Q

Why is the suffragettes movement seen as important?

A

Because it kept the issue of voting rights on the agenda in the decade before WW1

34
Q

What is thought may have happened if the right of women to vote was not granted?

A

The campaign would have restarted in a political environment more favorable to the idea of equality

35
Q

What impact did WW1 have on the Representation of the People’s Act of 1918?

A

As large numbers of women were recruited into vital jobs vacated by men who had left to fight, this persuaded the government of their fitness for the vote.

However, most female workers were young and unmarried, so did not benefit directly from the 1918 legislation.

36
Q

How did women contribute to the war effort?

A

Women vastly occupied dangerous jobs at munition factories due to the high demand of weaponry for war

37
Q

What popularised the campaign to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16?

A

The Scottish independence referendum in 2014, whereby those that were sixteen or seventeen were allowed to vote

38
Q

Which major parties were in favour of reducing the voting age to 16 in the 2015 general election?

A

All major parties except from the Conservatives

39
Q

What are the main arguments for lowering the voting age to sixteen?

A
  • Votes at 16 would be consistent with other areas of responsibility e.g. they can marry, join the army, etc
  • It would reduce the political alienation of young people who are likely to be aware of issues at 16 as they would be at 18
  • Citizenship Education at GCSEs and Politics at A-level equips young people with necessary knowledge about the constitution
  • A wide range of political issues affect them too e.g. tax rates, public transport, university tuition fees, etc.
40
Q

What are the main argument against lowering the voting age to 16?

A
  • Many of the things people aged 16 can do are still circumscribed. For example, they can get married and join the army but only with parental consent.
  • At 16, they may not have the life experience and maturity to make political judgments
  • As the majority of people aged 16 live with their parents and go to school, they are vulnerable to being influenced
  • Most other countries have chosen 18.
41
Q

Which statistic supports lowering the voting age to 16?

A

The turnout for people aged 16 and 17 in the Scottish referendum was more than 70%

42
Q

Which statistic support keeping the voting age at 18?

A

Levels of participation in the UK elections are lowest for the 18-24 age group, so it is unlikely that lowering the voting age would set a new trend