Early Radicals Flashcards
What threat did the radical reformers pose to government in the 1790s?
- Overthrow the monarchy / remove hereditary rule
- Calls for increased suffrage
- Creation of reforming clubs (LCS, Tom Paine)
Why did the publication of Tom Paine’s The Rights of Man have such a great impact?
- Simple language
- Affordable prices
- Offered remedies to the problems of the time
- Widely discussed
- A time of great change and excitement (FR and AR)
How did the government respond to radicalism in the 1790s?
- Suspension of Habeas Corpus (1794)
- Treasonable Practices Act (1795)
- Seditious Meetings Act (1795)
- Combination Acts (1799)
Who were the Luddites?
- Used to work in manual industries, highly skilled and highly paid.
- Livelihoods threatened by advent of new machinery.
- In retaliation destroyed the machinery.
- Government responded after assassination of mill owner.
What were the effects of the end of the war with France?
- Inspired radicals
- End of war-time economy, mass unemployment (soldiers and manufacturers)
- Income tax replaced by indirect tax (damaging the poor)
What were the Corn Laws?
-A series of laws from 1815 that protected landowners by increasing the price of wheat, restricting imports of wheat
Why did so many people demand parliamentary reform after 1815?
- Poor harvests
- Indirect tax
- End of war economy
- Corn Laws were introduced raising the price of wheat
- Unpatriotic argument could no longer be used
What was the impact of William Cobbett’s Political Register (1802) ?
- Affordable pamphlets increased access to politics for the previously un-involved
- Cobbett used labels
- Lower class able to truly join the cause
What was the importance of John Cartwright and the Hampden Clubs?
- Affordable to join (1d/week)
- Collected signatures for petitions
- Financed the movement (Pamphlets)
What was Spa Fields?
- December 1816 meeting held in London.
- Before Hunt arrived, a small section of the crowd rioted. They looted shops and killed a pedestrian but stopping when Hunt arrived.
- Hunt called for lower taxes and reform of Parliament, acquiring signatures from the crowd but unable to deliver the 700 petitions until 1817.
- Petitions were all ignored or dismissed.
What was The Pentrich Uprising?
- June 1817 200 unemployed workers marched to Nottingham, armed with weapons under leadership of Jeremiah Brandbeth.
- Infiltrated by government spy William Oliver who alerted the authorities, leading to the arrest of marchers.
- Three leaders were hanged and 14 others were transported to send a message.
What was The March of the Blanketeers?
- March 1817 demonstration in Manchester (Planned march to London).
- William Benbow gathered 5000 marchers, planning to split them into groups and give them petitions to carry.
- The gathering was broken up, 27 people were arrested including Benbow and several hundred marchers were pursued and attacked by cavalry.
What was Peterloo?
- August 1819 meeting in Manchester, attended by over 60,000 people (many families) with many carrying banners and Henry Hunt set to speak.
- As Hunt made his speech, the magistrates became increasingly anxious. Yeomanry were sent in to arrest him and used their swords to clear a path.
- Panic ensued, 11 people were killed and over 400 injured in the stampede.
- Government congratulated magistrates and imprisoned Hunt for two years.
What were the Six Acts?
- November 1819, to many reflected a determination to suppress peaceful protest.
- It could be argued that the Acts made it impossible to protest legally, yet in other ways their importance can be seen as exaggerated.
How many copies did Tom Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’ sell within a year?
200,000. No longer was political discussion limited to the propertied class.
