Extending the Franchise

Question 1

Describe voting in the early 1800s

Answer 1

• very few people could vote
• no secret ballot- publicly declared allegiance
• took place on hustings or at open-air meetings
• elections had to be held once every 7 years
• boundaries for counties and boroughs had not changed in hundreds of years

Question 2

Describe rotten boroughs

Answer 2

Few people lived in the towns, and seats were openly bought or sold

Question 3

Describe MPs

Answer 3

• MPs were not paid- had to be very rich
• each county and each borough had 2 MPs
• most of the new industrial towns had no MPs
• rotten boroughs
• many MPs were elected unopposed
• corruption very common
• custom to ‘treat’ voters at election time to ensure their vote
• some Lords with big estates around the country might have 10 more MPs in their power

Question 4

Describe Lord Stormont

Answer 4

• 2nd June 1780- Gordon Riots
• the British constitution would be dangerous to change
• ‘extending the right of voting to all the Roman citizens destroyed their republic’

Question 5

Describe Major John Cartwright

Answer 5

• 1776
• published ‘Take your Choice’ pamphlet
• argued in favour of electoral reform and universal manhood suffrage
• toured country for 30 years demanding radical reform

Question 6

Describe Francis Burdett

Answer 6

• 15th June 1809- introduced Reform Bill into Parliament
• demanded equal electoral districts, annual parliaments, the right of every tax payer to vote
• defeated 79 to 15

Question 7

Describe William Cobbett

Answer 7

• produced weekly newspaper- the Political Register- widely read and distributed
• subject to perpetual government harassment

Question 8

Describe Hampden Clubs

Answer 8

• named after ship money rebel of 1637
• set up across country
• 1817- 150

Question 9

Describe the portrayal of the Napoleonic Wars

Answer 9

• a battle for British freedom against French tyranny
• helped reformers- freedom for who?
• hindered them- anyone opposed to the government was painted as a revolutionary, anti-patriotic and out to destroy everything British

Question 10

Describe the Spa Fields Riots

Answer 10

• 1816
• London
• James Watson- we have been oppressed for 800 years since the Norman conquest… the Ministers have not granted us our rights

Question 11

Describe Peterloo gathering

Answer 11

• 16th August 1819
• St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester
• Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt talked about reform
• 100, 000 men, women, children dressed in best clothes marched with banners
• demanded reform, universal suffrage and equal electoral districts
• peaceful protest- scared Manchester magistrates

Question 12

Describe how the Peterloo gathering was dealt with

Answer 12

• read the Riot Act (most ppl couldn’t hear)
• sent militia
• 11 died, 400 injured (cut with sabres)
• journalists arrested, leaders of protest charged with treason, magistrates and yeomanry praised and acquitted of any wrongdoing

Question 13

Describe the immediate consequences of the Peterloo Massacre

Answer 13

• Six Acts passed:
• restricted public meetings to less than 50 people
• further restrictions on what journalists could write and publish
• allowed local magistrates to search any property for arms
• military-style drilling became illegal
• increased penalties for seditious or libellous publications
• increased stamp duty on publications
• attempted to speed up convictions
• some people opposed the acts as they said the repression would make opposition grow

Question 14

Describe parliament of 1830

Answer 14

• Lord Grey- Whig led government

* House of Commons passed 2 Bills which were both rejected by Tory-dominated House of Lords

Question 15

Describe riots during 1830 parliament

Answer 15

• Bristol, Nottingham and Derby

* Captain Swing protests against new threshing machines

Question 16

Describe the Great Reform Act in general

Answer 16

• 1832

* third reform Bill passed through both Houses of Parliament

Question 17

Describe Lord John Russel

Answer 17

• 1792-1878
• Finality Jack
• younger son of Duke of Bedford
• 1813- became MP
• supported Whig Party
• Minister in Earl Grey’s government
• one of the principal architects of the Great Reform Act- as far as the government would go in changing the constitution’
• led Whig opposition to Corn Laws in mid-1840s
• later became unsuccessful PM (1846-52, 1855-56)

Question 18

Describe the terms of the Great Reform Act

Answer 18

• disenfranchised 56 boroughs in England and Wales
• reduced 31 boroughs to 1MP
• created 67 new constituencies
• broadened the franchise’s property qualification in the counties: included small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers. Some had vote taken away by new property qualifications
• around 650,000 could now vote
• created a uniform franchise in the boroughs- gave the vote to all householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more and some lodgers
• explicitly male suffrage only

Question 19

Describe Lord Grey

Answer 19

• 1764-1845
• Cambridge uni
• 1786- aged 22- Whig MP
• PM- 1830-34
• was an advocate for reform
• Great Reform Act and abolition of slavery passed under his government
• wanted restrictions on Catholics in public life lifted
• wanted to strengthen the current constitution and engage middle classes
• wary of going too far- did not want to aid the political enfranchisement of the workers

Question 20

Describe reactions to the Great Reform Act

Answer 20

• political and economic agitation increased as ordinary people realised the reform act had not addressed their grievances
• Tolpuddle Martyrs wrongly punished for forming a trade union
• widespread opposition to the Poor Law Amendment Act was effective in some areas
• Ten Hour Movement
• Anti-Corn Law League

Question 21

Describe the Chartists

Answer 21

• radicals
• politically and economically motivated
• 3 periods of greater activity coincided with economic strife and rising unemployment
• many women were active Chartists (Birmingham Charter Association had over 2000 female members)
• working class members
• December 1842- 401 branches of National Charter Association- 50,000 paid-up members

Question 22

Describe the People’s Charter

Answer 22

• 1838
• pulled together long-standing demands of the Chartists
• votes for all men over 21
• secret ballot
• equal electoral districts
• no property qualification to become an MP
• payment for MPs
• annual parliaments

Question 23

Describe how the Chartists operated

Answer 23

• few sympathetic MPs repeatedly raised the issue in parliament
• huge mass meetings and demonstrations held throughout the country
• hijacked Anti-Corn Law League meetings
• Chartist newspapers published widely and cheaply, read out to those who couldn’t buy them
• subscriptions, branches, monthly meetings, newsletters and a list of approved Chartist speakers
• petitions

Question 24

Describe an example of a Chartist demonstration

Answer 24

• May 1838
• Glasgow
• 150,000 people

Question 25

Describe Feargus O’Connor

Answer 25

• published the Northern Star (Chartist newspaper)

* devised a Land Plan where unemployed workers drew lots to be resettled on smallholdings

Question 26

Describe the petitions of the Chartists

Answer 26

• 1839 - 1,280,000 signatures- 235 votes to 46
• 1842 - 3,317,752 signatures
• 1848 - over 5 million signatures (claimed many were forgeries)
• huge petitions collected and presented to Parliament
• all decisively rejected

Question 27

Describe Thomas Attwood

Answer 27

• 1783-1859
• Birmingham
• banker and economist
• one of Birmingham’s first two MPs after Great Reform Act
• 1835- revived the Birmingham Political Union
• moderate Chartist
• 1838- drafted the People’s Charter along with the London Working Men’s Association
• 1839- presented the first Chartist petition to Parliament
• resigned- scared of Chartists’ fervour

Question 28

Describe the actions of radical Chartists

Answer 28

• drilled on the moors
• made pikes and other weapons, waiting for a violent uprising
• marches

Question 29

Describe the Newport Rising

Answer 29

• 1839
• 5,000 marchers wanted to free Chartist prisoners from custody
• 20 Chartists were shot by soldiers
• 6 men were transported to Australia

Question 30

Describe the government response to Chartism

Answer 30

• repression and no concessions
• careful to try not to make an martyrs
• penal code was harsh
• 1839- 11 men transported to Australia (6 from
Newport Rising)
• 1842- strikes and unrest after failed petition caused 54 to be transported
• 1848- more transportations
• 102 people transported in total
• many arrested and sent to prison on charges of riot, arson and drilling under arms

Question 31

Describe the short-term significance of Chartism

Answer 31

• next 50 years- 5/6 points were achieved (not annual parliaments)
• 1867, 1872, 1884- more men given voting rights

Question 32

Describe the long-term significance of Chartism

Answer 32

• influenced the Reform Movement of 1866
• means of political education for the working class
• established idea of political parties (aims, organisation, methods)