Growth of Parliamentary Democracy Flashcards
What were voting stations like in 1780?
No secret ballots and voting took place on a platform (Hustings) with a carnival atmosphere
How long did elections take to complete in 1780?
Several weeks up to 2 months
What was ‘treating’?
Where candidates would pay for their supporters food, drink and accommodation during the election
Who were ‘lambs’?
Armed thugs who intimidated voters and used ‘cooping’ which was the kidnapping of rival supporters
% of people who could vote?
5%
Why could so few people vote?
Franchise was based upon property
How many men could vote out of what population in 1831?
400 000 out of a 13.89 million population
How many MPs did Manchester have for its population?
0 MPs for a population of 182 000
How many MPs did Dunwich have for its population?
2 MPs for a population of 240
What % of the population can now vote in Britain?
70%
How many constituencies of equal size are there in Britain now?
650
Why did the unreformed political system continue at this time?
-Many involved in corruption and bribery benefitted through money and wine
-Kept wealth and power in the upper classes -consistency
-Candidates easily elected and they were uncontested
-Most uneducated so never understood politics
What was the political system at the time nicknamed as?
Old Corruption
How much did you have to earn to be able to elected as an MP?
Dependent on occupying a freehold piece of land whose rental value was 40 shillings per year
What were rotten boroughs?
Ancient constituencies so depopulated that MPs were selected and elected by a small number of people
Example of a rotten borough?
Old Sarum
What were pocket boroughs?
Wealthy landowners owned all the land and buildings which allowed occupiers to vote. Landowners nominated candidates and bribed voters
What were scot and lot boroughs?
All men who paid local taxes like the poor rate could vote
Example of a scot and lot?
Preston, Lancashire
What was a potwalloper borough?
Men qualified to vote if they occupied a house which a large enough fireplace to boil a pot
Example of a potwalloper?
Taunton, Somerset
What was a corporation borough?
Only members of the local town council could vote
% of corporation boroughs with fewer than 50 voters?
90%
What were freeman boroughs?
All men who had acquired the title of ‘freeman’ through apprenticeships in a craft guild qualified to vote
How many boroughs had fewer than how many voters but still had 2 MPs?
50 boroughs had less than 40 voters
What was Lancashire’s population and how many MPs by 1831?
1.3 million people
14 MPs
What was Cornwall’s population and how many MPs by 1831?
300 000 people
42 MPs
Fraction of elections uncontested?
2/3
When was the French revolution?
1789
What was the name of Edmund Burke’s book? When was it published?
‘Reflections on the Revolutions in France’
1790
What did Burke argue?
Moderate reform could lead to violent revolution
Who wrote a book in response to Burke? What was it called? What year?
Thomas Paine
The Rights of Man
1791
What did Paine argue?
Rejected the idea that societies develop organically from their past and stated that each age has the right to establish a new political system
-Questioned the monarchy, nobility and established church
How many copies of ‘The Rights of Man’ sold by what year?
200 000 copies
1793
When was Paine charged with treason? What happened? Why?
1792
Fled to France
Seen as too radical even for the radical societies
What increased allowing the spread of political ideas?
Newspapers
How many newspapers did London have by the 1780s?
13 daily and 10 tri-weekly
How many newspapers outside of London?
50 provincial newspapers
Who proposed to disenfranchise how many of the worst boroughs and redistribute there seats to larger counties?
William Pitt
36 of the worst boroughs
How many votes was Pitt defeated by for his reform to redistribute seats?
74
Who set up the Yorkshire Association? When was it formed?
Reverend Christopher Wyvill
1780
Who set up the Society for Constitutional Information? When?
Major John Cartwright
1780
Where did these 2 societies gain membership from?
Respectable classes - merchants, professionals and gentry
Who made a name for himself for asserting the rights of voters to chose MPs?
John Wilkes
What did Wilkes encourage which was controversial and when?
Universal male suffrage
1776
What did the Society for Constitutional Information support?
-Universal suffrage and annual parliaments
-Aimed to educate people about the need for reform through distributing pamphlets
Cost to join The Society for Constitutional Information?
1-5 guineas a year to join
How many pennies in a guinea?
252 pennies
What did the Yorkshire Association support?
-Forum through which country gentlemen could petition parliament against corruption and call for greater accountability for government actions
-Supported moderate reform
When was the Roman Catholic Relief Bill?
1778
What event occurred as a result of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill? When?
Gordon Riots
1780
Open display of religious intolerance
When was the RC Relief Bill due to be extended, and to where?
1779
Scotland
Which group protested to the expansion of the bill?
George Gordon’s Protestant Association
When did Lord Liverpool hold the position of PM?
1812-27
When was there repression and economic reform under Lord Liverpool?
1815-22 = repression
1822-27 - economic reform
Who formed the London Corresponding Society? When?
Thomas Hardy
1792
How many supposed members in the LCS by early 1790s? What was it closer to?
5000 supposedly
More likely 1000
Cost to join LCS? Who was it open to?
Penny a week
Open to all
Who mostly made up membership in the LCS?
Artisans, tradesmen, booksellers, printer and authors
When and where did an open demonstration occur under the LCS? How many attended?
October 1795
Copenhagen Fields
100 000 people
Who did the LCS distance themselves from?
Paine and any violence
When was the Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information set up?
1791
How many signatures did the SSCI gain for male suffrage? When?
10 000 signatures
May 1792
Who were the government losing support from and why?
Middle class industrialists
Didn’t have the vote and workers were challenging government industrial centres
Name 4 industrial centres in Britain?
Manchester, Stockport, Bolton and Leeds
How much was a bushel of corn under the 1815 Corn Law?
10 shillings
When was Income Tax abolished?
1816
What did the government do in response to ending income tax?
Increased indirect tax such as beer, tea and sugar
How much did indirect tax rise by, between which years?
From £16-17 million in the 1790s to £50-60 million after 1816
When did Napoleon blockade Britain and America declare war?
1806 = Napoleon
1812 = War with America
How much did national debt increase by?
£238 million to £902 million
How many soldiers returned home after the American war?
400 000 soldiers
How many ironworkers lost their jobs after the war as they were no longer needed?
7000 workers
How much did poor relief increase by between 1775-1817?
£2 million to £8 million
% of Britons aged under 15 and in industrial towns by 1821?
48%
Who republished the leading article of ‘Weekly Political Register’? How much and when?
November 1816
William Cobbett
2d pamphlet
Who set up the Hampden Clubs?
Major John Cartwright
How many miles and towns did Cartwright travel, in how many days? How many signatures did he gain from how many petitions?
900 miles in 29 days to 34 towns
130 000 signatures for 430 petitions
How many Hampden clubs and Union Societies by 1824?
150
What term was given to William Pitt’s counter to the terror taking place in France, to crush radicals?
‘Reign of Terror’
What was set up in 1793 to infiltrate radical societies?
Alien Section and Secret Service
Which prominent radical wanted an elected assembly in Edinburgh? What was it called and what happened to them?
Thomas Muir
National Convention
Charged with sedition and sentenced to 14 years transportation
Which Reverend was sentenced for encouraging people to read what?
Reverend Thomas Palmer
Encouraged reading of ‘The Rights of Man’
7 years transportation
When and what was suspended allowing political prisoners to be held indefinitely?
Habeas Corpus
1794
What two acts were passed in December 1795?
Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act
What did the ‘Two Acts’ do?
Broadened law of treason and Seditious Meetings Act, which banned meetings of over 50 people
What conservative publications were printed in the 1790s to support government actions?
The Oracle, The Sun and the True Briton
What was the APLP?
Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers
When was the APLP set up and by whom?
1792
John Reeves
How many branches of the APLP?
2000 nationwide
How many members in the APLP by when?
450 000 members by 1804
What cost for a quarter of a tonne of grain under the Corn Law?
80 shillings