Chartism Flashcards
What legislative bill was passed in 1832?
The Great Reform Act
How did the Chartism movement begin?
From the support generated for the ‘People’s Charter’
When was the People’s Charter written?
1837
Published May 1838
Who wrote the People’s Charter?
- 6 members of the London Working Men’s Association
* 6 radical (non-party affiliated) MPs
Name 3 people who helped start the Chartist movement
William Lovett
Francis Place
Henry Hetherington
They set up the LWMA in June 1836
Describe the London Working Men’s Association
- Strictly for the working class
- Membership restricted to 100 skilled workers (with 35 honours members join later)
- Main focus was on education for the working class
What were the six points of the Charter?
- A vote for every man 21 and over who was sane and not a prisoner
- Secret ballots
- No property qualification for becoming an MP
- MPs to be paid
- Fairer constituency layouts
- Annual Parliamentary elections
What was unique about demands of the People’s charter?
Nothing. They mirrored the wants of early radicalism as people had come to realise that the Great Reform Act did very little to change things for the working class
What were the political origins of the People’s Charter?
- Radical tradition
- Disillusionment with the results of the Great Reform Act
- 1831: vigorous campaigns against the unstamped press
- 1833: the Ten Hours Movement and Irish Coercion Act (may have been a model for how the gov wanted to control rest of the UK)
- Attacks in Trade Unions buy the authorities (eg 1837 in Glasgow TU leaders were charged with murder)
What were the economic origins of the People’s Charter?
- 1831: the campaign against the unstamped press made newspapers more expensive for the poor and cheaper for the rich
- The economic boom seen in the early 1830s broke in 1836 and poor conditions continued into the next decade
- The extension of the New Poor Law made the economic depression worse
Who were the two main leaders of Chartism?
William Lovett
Feargus O’Connor
What was Lovett’s approach to trying to get the Charter accepted?
- He was part of the ‘moral force’ side of Chartism
- He believed that through education and proving that the working class were worthy of the vote the charter would be accepted
- This clashed with the ‘physical force’ side of Chartism
What was O’Connor’s approach to trying to get the Charter accepted?
- He was part of the ‘physical force’ side of Chartism
- He did not actually engage in violence but he used language and the threat of violence as his strategy
- This clashed with the ‘moral force’ side of Chartism
- Was a powerful speaker which engaged people
- Established the Northern Star in Leeds in 1837
Name the three periods of Chartism and the dates
Phase 1: Development and First Petition (1838 - 1840)
Phase 2: Reaction to failure and revival (1840 - 1842)
Phase 3: The final phases and failure (1843 - 48)
How was the First Petition (presented in 1839) a success?
- Became a national movement with people across the country adopting it
- Mass meetings hosted - 200,000 attended in meetings help in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester
- Chartist press was well read - Northern Star sold 50,000 copies a week
- The Petition gained 1.25 million signatures and collected effectively with good national coordination
How was the First Petition a failure?
• Parliament rejected it by 235 votes to 46
• Less then half of MPs turned up to vote on the issue
There was no support in Parliament for the People’s Charter
How was the Northern Star successful in the early years of Chartism?
Its profits were used to finance the Chartist Movement
How was the Northern Star less successful in the early years of Chartism?
It wasn’t cheap and cost 4 and a 1/2d. This meant not everyone could access it easily
How was the National Convention a failure for the Chartist?
- It didn’t have a clear purpose
- Arguments drove away the middle classes
- Showed that the propertied or new enfranchised middle class were going to give into pressure like they did in 1832
- They came up with the idea to strike (‘sacred month’) but there was no support for it so they replaced it with a 3 day strike
What happened at the Newport Uprising?
- In Nov 1839
- 10,000 miners and iron-workers marched from villages in south Wales to Newport
- Lots were armed
- Marchers surrounded the Westgate Hotel where some local Chartist leaders were being held
- 20 protestors were killed when shots were fired
Why did the Newport Uprising worsen things for the Chartists?
- Gave the authority the mandate to arrest leaders and target Chartism
- South Wales Chartist leader John Frost was convicted of treason (but transported to prevent the creating of martyrs)
- Lovett was arrested after riots in Birmingham
- O’Connor was arrested too
How did the Chartists begin to revive the movement in 1840?
- The National Charter Association set up in July 1940
* The formation of a ‘Chartist culture’
