Power And The People Events Flashcards
Simon De Montfort
Causes
- Taxes
- War
- Politics
- Personal Disagreements
- Religion
Event
- The Battle of Lewes 1264
Consequence
- Simon and his son Henry were killed
Magna Carta, June 15th 1215
Causes
- War
- Economy
- Religion
- Role of the Government
- Role of the individual
- Ideas / Political demands
Event
- The Barnes put together an army with Robert Fitzwalter as the leader. Robert sent the army to occupy London; the barons we’re ready to fight the King! if John wanted to gather an army of his own, he would need the baron’s support. John therefore had no choice but to negotiate with them. On 15 June 1215 king John met the barons at the Runnemede, near Windsor.
Consequence
- Civil war
- In October 1216, John died
- John’s son Henry became King and 9 years old, but the barons would rule England until he was old enough to rule by himself
- Some parts of the Magna Carta are still relevant to the English Law today
- sometimes regarded as the foundation of democracy in England
- The vast majority of its clauses have now been repealed (reversed)
- Retains symbolic power as an ancient defense against tyrannical rules, and as a guarantee of individual freedom
Peasants Revolt, 1381
Causes
- The Black Death 1348
- Peasants ask for more pay
- Statute of Labourers
- Richard fights the French in the 100 years war
- Poll tax demanded by the King
Event
- John Ball preaches against the feudal system and pull tax and that everyone should be equal
- John Ball goes to prison
- John Brampton asks the peasants for poll tax, and they say no
- The rebels arrive in London burn down the buildings, and kill the Archbishop of Canterbury
- Richard meets the rebels, and Wat Tyler and gives the peasants ‘Royal Pardon’, and makes them ‘Free Men’
- Wat Tyler is killed
Consequences
- Peasants had forced the king into agreeing to their demands.
- Richard went back on his word, and then executed the rebel leaders.
- Nothing really changed because of the revolt although…
• Gradually peasants became independent
• Within 100 years the peasants were freemen
• The first time commoners rather than nobles the had rebelled against royal power - this scared the king and the nobles
• The rebellion failed
• The leaders of the revolt were hanged
• John Ball’s body was cut into pieces, and his head was stuck on a spike of London Bridge
- Richard did stop the poll tax. It was not repeated until 1989/1990.
•Although there were similar charges, and taxes were never as high again
…it was the first time that ordinary people had revolted, and within 100 years villein were freemen (but not because of the revolt)
• workers wages began to rise o Parliament stopped trying to control
the workers’ wages
• peasants were able to buy there own land because there was so much land
unused after the Black Death
• The ideas of John Ball which had inspired the rebels were picked up again in later centuries by different groups such
as the levellers of the 17th century, and the socialists of the early 19th century. 600 years later in the Poll Tax riots of 1989 the protesters chose their route through London to follow that of the
Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536
Causes
• Henry VIII broke the power of the Catholic Church in England. He became Head of the Church and took over the powers previously held by the Pope.
• People disliked the changes made to the Church. Henry dissolved the monasteries and sold off the land and assets to make himself rich. The monasteries had provided education and alms, and were the centre of people’s lives.
• Henry’s religious changes caused political problems - many prominent nobles lost influence. They fell out of favour because they were Catholics. They disliked Cromwell, the creator of the new religious policies who was the son of a blacksmith.
• People were protesting because of economic hardship - poor harvests in 1535 and 1536 raised food prices and caused inflation which meant prices went up. At the same time Henry raised taxes, so people felt threatened by poverty.
Events
• In 1536 an uprising broke out in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire against the changes to the Church, led by a lawyer Robert Aske.
• The protestors called it the Pilgrimage of grace to show their peaceful intentions.
• 8000 pilgrims captured towns in the north
• Henry VIII sent the Duke of Norfolk, a Catholic, to negotiate with them, and the rebels went home. They believed their demands had been granted, such as no more monasteries would be closed down and there would be a Parliament at York. And that all rebels would be pardoned.
• In January 1537 the revolt broke out again and rebels attacked castles in the north. Henry VIII used this as an excuse to take back his pardon and concessions. He decided to crush the North, executing 216 people including 38 monks and 16 parish priests. Robert Ask was hanged in chains in York in July 1537.
The significance of the Pilgrimage of Grace
• It had been a serious threat to Henry VIl’s rule, as most levels of society were involved - lords, knights, gentry and commoners. For a time there were 50,000 armed men in the north of England involved.
• It was a total failure. The rebels accelerated the changes they had tried to stop.
• No more religious rebellions took place in England during Henry VIll’s reign. Henry had total control of the country and ended the power of the Catholic Church in England. Henry’s position was stronger. Henry dissolved the rest of the monasteries in 1539.
The Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries 1534 -1536
Cause
• Henry Vll was a devout Catholic but he was unhappy with the wealth and the power of the Church.
• Henry saw the Pope as a competing power. People would take direction from the Pope as the head of the Church, but Henry wanted the people of England to listen to him only.
• He was not a supporter of Luther and the new Protestant religion, but he used these new ideas to go against the Pope and, most importantly, to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
Event
• The Pope refused to give Henry a divorce, so Henry made himself the head of the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy, 1534.
• This gave him full control and he no longer had to pay taxes to the Pope in Rome.
• Many people refused to recognise Henry as the head of the Church; most famously his Lord Chancellor, Thomas More.
• Henry had created a law, with the help of Thomas Cromwell, to make it treason not to accept Henry as the head of the Church.
• Before he was beheaded, More said that he died ‘as the king’s good servant, but God’s first’.
• Henry’s divorce was not the only problem he had.
• Although he had made himself head of the Church of England and had stopped sending taxes to the Pope, he was still spending far too much money.
• His conflict with the Pope had angered Catholics in other European countries, and he began to worry about invasion by these foreign Catholics.
• He therefore made sure every change he wanted was made through parliament. This way, he could blame his government for the changes.
The dissolution of the monasteries
• Cromwell promised Henry that he would make him the richest king in Europe. One way to do this would be to take the money from the monasteries: these actions became known as the dissolution of the monasteries.
• The monasteries controlled a quarter of all the land in England and had a combined annual income of £200,000. This was nearly double that of the king.
• In 1536, parliament passed an act closing all small monasteries that had an annual income of less than £200.
• Cromwell then set up Valor Ecclesiasticus, which was an evaluation of monastery finances.
• He sent inspectors to the monasteries to see what they were spending their money on. If they were seen not to be run properly they would be closed down and the Crown would take the finances.
• Reports were sent to Cromwell, and if they were positive they were sent back to be rewritten in a way that showed them in a less positive light.
Consequences
• Not everyone was happy with the changes Henry made.
• The people of England were used to their king increasing taxes.
• They were used to quarrels with the Pope.
• They did not, however, support a complete break with Rome, leaving the king in full control.
• Rising prices - prices normally stayed the same every year, but they continued to rise under Henry. People blamed his advisers.
• Changes to religion - many people disliked the changes made to the Church. They wanted the monasteries back and the Pope as head of the Church.
• Landowners lost influence - many landowners who had been
advisers to the king fell out of favour after the divorce. They had been supporters of Catherine and felt pushed out. They blamed Cromwell.
• Cromwell’s power - Cromwell was seen as the creator of the new religious policies and he had helped Henry get a divorce from Catherine. Many of the landowners disliked him, as he was the son of a blacksmith and therefore seen as not good enough to advise the king.
The English Revolution and Civil War
Causes
• James I & VI
When Elizabeth died in 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England and, for the first time, Scotland and England shared the same monarch. James was an extravagant king who spent money unwisely, and this led to tension with parliament when they refused to give him any more money or raise it through taxes. They knew James would give the funds to his favourites at court. However, one area that James succeeded at was religion. He managed to keep the majority of Catholics and Protestants content throughout his reign.
• Charles I
When Charles I became king in 1625 he was keen to keep order in his court. He believed in the divine right of kings and felt that the royal court should be removed from everyday life. He believed he had been appointed by God and did not want many people involved in the decisions about the country. Where his father had been open and had many in his court, Charles closed the doors to allow only a privileged few. He wanted to make decisions that suited him without being challenged. He made the Duke of Buckingham a favourite (he had also been a favourite of James), which alarmed parliament because of the influence Buckingham had over the king. Charles responded by simply dissolving parliament in 1629, and did not call it for another 11 years. Some people refer to this as the period of personal rule but others call it the ‘Eleven Years’ Tyranny’.
• Foreign policy and the economy
King Charles, like King James before him, had a persistent problem: money. They both needed lots of it from parliament to fight wars, specifically with Spain. James was refused this money as he spent much of it on gifts for his favourites. Charles was refused it because parliament felt they couldn’t trust him. There were concerns about the sincerity of his religious tendencies; not helped by his marriage to a Catholic. There was also a fear that he would use the money to become independent from parliament.
Charles, who believed it was his divine right to have the money, introduced a tax known as ‘Ship Money’ in 1637. This was a tax that was normally paid by those in coastal towns as a means of raising money to build the navy. Charles made everyone pay the tax. Parliament was concerned about Ship Money because it could make Charles financially independent and therefore able to make decisions without consulting parliament.
People refused to pay Ship Money. One Member of Parliament, John Hampden, refused and was taken to court. He was narrowly convicted, and the case publicised the opposition towards Charles and his personal rule.
• Tensions over religion
After Henry VIII’s changes to the Church, England had gradually become more Protestant. However, there were still many Catholics in England - many of them worshipping in secret - and some Protestants regarded them as a threat. After all, there were Catholic plots against Queen Elizabeth, and the famous Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a Catholic attempt to kill Charles’ father, James. Religion was a contentious issue in the seventeenth century.
Charles was not Catholic but he did marry a Catholic princess from France, Henrietta Maria. When Buckingham was killed in 1628, she became Charles’ closest adviser. The people of England were scared of her influence and what this could mean for their Church. The person who went on to have the most influence over religion in England was William Laud. He was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 and felt the same as Charles about bringing conformity back to the Church. Laud was not Catholic, but he was Arminian, which meant he thought people should worship in a similar way to Catholics. For example, he wanted the church clergy to be more separate from the congregation and to be dressed in robes that showed their importance; he also wanted churches to be more decorated, with candles, crosses, statues and paintings. Laud’s changes met so much opposition because many Puritans - who were Protestants who wanted the king to reverse the Laudian reforms - had become prominent in parliament. They were vocal in their opposition. One famous case of opposition was from three men: Prynne, Bastwick and Burton, who wrote a pamphlet criticising the Church. The men were tried in the Star Chamber, which had become a substitute for parliament during Charles’ personal rule. It was used against anyone who spoke out against the king and Laud, and was known for being corrupt because it always came down on the side of the king. Prynne, Bastwick and Burton were punished as thieves would be: pilloried, their faces branded, and their ears cut off. What Laud and Charles had not expected was the widespread support for the men. When they were released from prison they were met by a large cheering crowd, and when their ears were cut off people crammed to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood. These men were seen as heroes.
• The Scottish rebellion and the Covenanters
Charles’ changes in religion also caused unrest in Scotland. The Scots had always had their own Church which by this time was Presbyterian, which is a type of Protestantism. However, in 1637, the king insisted that everyone in Scotland should use the new Laudian prayer book. This relied on the catechism - religious instruction from the priest - and moved away from the Protestant method of personal worship. There were riots in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh: the Scots would not be told how to worship. In 1638, they signed an agreement called a covenant, saying they would not accept the changes. The people who signed it and its supporters became known as the Covenanters.
When Charles sent an army to Scotland in 1639, the Covenanters defeated it. They then invaded England.
• The Short Parliament and continued opposition
Charles needed more money if he was going to defeat the Scots. Eleven years after he had dissolved parliament, he needed to ask it to meet again, in April 1640. Parliament agreed to provide Charles with funds to fight the Scots, but only with conditions. He had to promise not to pass laws without parliament’s agreement, not to raise unpopular taxes, and to stop Laud’s religious changes. This parliament was called the Short Parliament as it lasted only a month.
Charles would not give in to parliament’s demands.
• The Earl of Strafford
One of Charles’ favourites was Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Strafford. He had been sent to Ireland to keep control. There was tension in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants in social and political life. Many of the Protestants were from Scotland and England, and had been originally sent to Ireland by James and Charles to keep order and prevent any rebellions; these postings were known as plantations.
Parliament was not happy about Strafford’s control in Ireland. He had a strong and loyal army and parliament was concerned that Charles would try to bring this army to England and use it against the English. When parliament refused to give Charles the funds to fight the Scots, Strafford encouraged Charles to rule England on his own, without parliament.
• The Long Parliament
Another parliament was called by Charles in November 1640. Charles was running out of options and was keen to defeat the Scots and restore order. He knew he needed parliament. Many people were convinced that the agreements would mark an end to the unrest. However, in August 1642 the English Civil War began. What led to this?
• Rebellion in Ireland
When Strafford returned to England in 1640, riots broke out in Ireland.
Thousands of Protestants were killed by Catholics. Many people in England thought that Charles supported the rebellion: they saw it as a Catholic plot. Parliament was willing to give money to suppress the Irish rebellion but it did not want Charles in charge of the army. Despite Charles’ response to parliament of, ‘By God! Not for an hour!’, parliament took control of the army. The king was furious.
• 1642 and the Five Members
By 1642, relations had deteriorated again between the king and parliament. John Pym, a leading opponent of the king, presented the Grand Remonstrance This was a list of grievances towards Charles, and was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Charles would not be made a fool of by parliament. He raised an army and marched to parliament to arrest the five men - the Five Members - who led the opposition. They had already escaped but now everyone knew how far Charles would go to protect himself. This was even more proof that he was a tyrant who would not listen to the people.
Event
• Who fought whom?
The war was fought on two sides: the Roundheads (parliament) against the Cavaliers (royalists). It is generally agreed that people’s social class affected who they supported. The wealthy landowners supported the king, as a way to show personal loyalty and to keep in place the social structure they benefited from.
The middle classes and peasant workers supported parliament, as there was a less rigid social hierarchy in parliament. There were also clear geographical allegiances. The king’s support was mostly from the north, and parliament had support in the south and in London.
This was partially due to a merchant class (traders and business men, for example) who were not happy about the taxes Charles had been imposing. Religious and political reforms brought in by Charles gave many people good reason to go against him and support parliament. Furthermore, many people simply felt that Charles’ personality did not make him a good king. There were reports that some families divided their loyalties so that no matter who won, they would be on a winning side. Many poorer people were forced to support whoever their lord supported.
• Propaganda as a tactic
The first battle of the war, the Battle of Edgehillin 1642, had no clear winner. The king tried to take London but failed, and withdrew to Oxford. Both sides fought using cavalry and infantry, and used tactics that had been seen in many battles before. The king’s nephew, Prince Rupert, was one of the most prominent royalist commanders. He led successful campaigns against parliamentary forces and this earned him a bad reputation among the Roundheads. To combat his successes, parliamentary forces created propaganda against Rupert and his trusty dog, Boy, who would accompany him into battle. Propaganda is still used today; it is designed to wear the opponent down and make people turn against them. In the case of Rupert, as it made people think he was weak; it created the idea that the king was weak. Look at the following examples of ropaganda and consider why they would have been created.
• The New Model Army and Naseby, 1645
It is important to remember that not all parliamentarians wanted the full removal of the monarchy. They just wanted the removal of royal reforms. This attitude angered Oliver Cromwell. He was the Member of Parliament for Cornwall and had been leading the Roundheads against the Cavaliers, with Thomas Fairfax. Fairfax was a lord who had once worked with Charles to fight the Scots; he joined the parliamentary forces in 1642. Cromwell was committed to removing the king. He knew that the Battle of Marston Moor could have been a defeat for his side and he did not want that to be the case again. He trained a new army which would be known as the New Model Army. He recruited men based on their ability, rather than their privilege. The army was disciplined and lived by a strict religious and moral code. The men were not allowed to drink or swear. This army was used for the first time at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. The New Model Army, with 14,000 men, outnumbered the king, with 9000 men. They defeated the royalist cavalry by slowly approaching, rather than charging. They overcame the royalist infantry by manoeuvring behind them and attacking from the rear. Naseby was the end of the king’s last great army.
The New Model Army, under Cromwell, went on to capture Bristol and then Oxford in 1646. There was now little doubt about who would win the war.
Consequences
• Second Civil War
While Charles was imprisoned he was keen to negotiate with parliament to secure a peaceful end to their disagreements. However, at the same time, he was writing to the Scottish parliament to convince them to raise arms against the English parliament and the New Model Army. He promised them a Presbyterian Church in England. The Scots did raise an army against Cromwell and so the Second Civil War began. The two sides met at the Battle of Preston, 1648. The Scots were defeated and Charles had proved he could not be trusted.
• The Rump Parliament
In December 1648, the regiment of Colonel Thomas Pride surrounded the Houses of Parliament and refused entry to Members of Parliament who were known to support negotiations with the king. Thomas Pride was a soldier in the civil war and had fought with Cromwell against the Scots. His actions became known as ‘Pride’s Purge’, and meant the king would stand trial with no supporters.
The remaining members formed a parliament that was known as the Rump Parliament.
• The trial of Charles I
Charles was called before parliament where a special commission had been put in place to try him for treason. However, out of the 135 commissioners due to attend, only 68 turned up. They were scared, as they had openly fought against him; this was not the way society worked. Even Thomas Fairfax did not attend. His wife did, and is reported to have supported the king. For many people things had gone too far. However this was not the case for Oliver Cromwell. When Charles walked into court Cromwell said, ‘I tell you we will cut his head off with the crown upon it.’ Another problem parliament encountered was that Charles refused to give a plea - he would not say whether he was guilty or not guilty. He said parliament had no right to act as judge and jury. They could not try the king for treason. On the second day, the court president, John Bradshaw, allowed the king to speak. They exchanged angry words and Bradshaw ordered the king to be removed. Bradshaw must have known that there was a chance that proceedings would get heated as he wore a specially made bulletproof hat! With no progress yet made, on 24-27 January witness statements were heard - none in support of Charles. The court heard that Charles:
was guilty of starting the war by trying to raise an army in Nottingham, approved of the ill-treatment of parliamentary forces during the war - calling his own subiects enemies, was plotting with his son to start another war while negotiating with parliament.
On 27 January 1649, parliament found King Charles I guilty of treason and sentenced him to death. Bradshaw justifed this by saying that Charles had not done his duty by calling regular parliaments, attacking the basic liberties of the country. Charles would be beheaded.
• Execution
At 10:00am on 30 January 1649, the king was taken to Whitehall to be executed. Parliament made Charles wait hours. This was partly down to the executioners not turning up - they were too scared to be the one to kill the king - and partly down to legislation. Parliament had to secure a law that said no new monarch could be installed on the king’s death. The axe fell and the English Revolution was over.
• Was Charles a danger to democracy?
People were motivated by many factors to support the execution of the king. There were religious, political and moral objections to the way Charles had been ruling. The soldiers saw Charles’ defeat in battle as a sign that God was against him.
Other people wanted an end to the taxes they had endured under his reign. The system of taxation was reorganised to make it more efficient for everyone after the king’s execution. Many enjoyed the new sense of freedom; society became more equal and ordered because of Puritanism. Furthermore, Jews, who had been expelled in 1290 as a result of religious intolerance, were invited back to Britain. Cromwell described the king’s execution as a cruel necessity.
• Cromwell and the Commonwealth
Positive views of Cromwell’s rule?
There were many reasons people supported Cromwell. For example, he won wars against the Dutch and the Spanish and restored England’s reputation abroad, and he introduced the Navigation Act in 1651, which stated that any ship coming into or leaving England had to be English. People were free to worship in any way they liked, and many ordinary people felt that Cromwell was on their side.
Negative views of Cromwell’s rule?
Cromwell didn’t please everyone. He appointed Major Generals to the 11 districts he created. People resented their presence because they kept such strict control on many aspects of life: they even tried to stop Christmas celebrations. The Levellers, a religious group who believed in equality, were imprisoned by Cromwell, and their leaders were killed. In Ireland, Cromwell laid siege to the town of Drogheda, and even when the townspeople surrendered he killed them
- women and children included. Land was taken from Catholics in Ireland and given to Protestants, so England would always have allies in Ireland.
Positive or negative views of
Cromwell’s rule?
Some aspects of Cromwell’s rule can be viewed as positive or negative! For example, Cromwell ended up with more power than Charles, and he secured his son as his successor. He felt that his victories since Naseby meant it was God’s providence that he should be in charge, and sinful activities were banned to ensure that the Commonwealth was Godly.
• Challenges to the Commonwealth
There were many challenges to Cromwell’s Protectorate and from this emerged a political and religious radicalism that had never existed before. The civil war saw the development of many Protestant groups, which would challenge Cromwell’s authority. The biggest challenge came, however, from a political group. This group was the Levellers. They wanted a reform to political representation for the men who had fought in the New Model Army. Cromwell met with them and their leader, John Lilburne, during the Putney Debates in 1647 where their demands were heard. Support for them soon decreased and Lilburne was imprisoned. Cromwell was able to rule for 10 years.
• The end of Cromwell and the Commonwealth
When Cromwell died in 1658 his son, Richard, took over the role. However, Richard was not interested in politics and resigned in 1659. In 1660, Charles II rode into London and was crowned king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell’s body was dug up from its grave and hung in Tyburn. His head was placed on a spike where it stayed for decades. Most people were happy to have a king back on the throne.
The American Revolution
Causes
• Long-term causes of the American Revolution
• In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, groups of European settlers began to occupy land in North America
- land owned by indigenous Americans (also known as Native Americans).
• After the British defeated the French and used their colonies there to make money, growing crops like cotton, tobacco and sugar to sell all over the world - often relying on indentured servants and, later, enslaved people (slaves).
• By the early 1700s, there were 13 separate English colonies in North America, and by 1775 the population of settlers and enslaved people was around 2.5 million.
• Countries such as Britain wanted empires because they could tax the people who lived in the colonies, and ensure that they bought British goods.
• However, many of the colonists in America, despite being of British descent, now considered themselves American
The American colonists started to resent the economic support they had to give to Britain.
• The British felt it was acceptable to tax the Americans to pay for the army, as the army ‘protected’ the colonists from other foreign powers, but the colonists objected.
• They were also unhappy about the Stamp Tax of 1765 (a tax on documents such as legal papers and newspapers), and responded by rioting.
• Throughout the 1760s, the colonists were also forced to comply with Navigation Acts, which ensured that only British goods were imported into America.
• There could be no trading with other countries. If Britain produced something, the colonists could not buy it from another country.
• In addition, the colonists felt bossed about by the British because they were given boundaries on the land that they could not cross.
• The British had made these agreements with the indigenous Americans without consulting the colonists.
• These boundaries stopped them accessing good farmland: the colonists wanted to have more of a say.
• No taxation without representation: short-term causes of the revolution
• The American colonists were ruled directly from Britain yet they had no representatives in parliament in London.
• So they felt there was no one to speak up for them. Throughout this thematic study, from the barons to the working class, this is a common thread - the desire for representation.
• People wanted a voice in what was done to them and for them, especially if they were expected to pay forit through taxes!
• So the colonists, who had started to identify as American rather than as British, stated.
• No taxation without representation!
Event
• One key event considered the spark of the fight against the British was the Boston Massacre of 1770.
• When some anti-British colonists jeered, and threw snowballs and sticks at the British army on 5 March, the army opened fire and killed some of them.
• Unrest in Boston continued to grow when some of the colonists, unhappy with the heavily taxed British tea they were forced to buy, boarded a ship and poured the tea out into the harbour.
• This became known as the Boston Tea Party. This act of defiance scared the British and in retaliation they closed the port of Boston.
• By 1775, anti-British feeling was so strong that when the British army tried to seize a supply of gunpowder in Concord they were fired on by 20,000 ‘minutemen’.
• These men were local farmers, clerks and ploughboys who had had enough of British rule.
• This became known as the Lexington incident and marked the start of the revolution against the British.
• Declaration of Independence
• The Americans were quick to organise themselves. They met in Congress to decide what to do, and by 1775 they had made George Washington the leader of their army.
• In 1776, Congress had a meeting in Philadelphia where a Declaration of Independence was issued.
• This stated that the 13 colonies were free and that all control from Britain had ended. This was the easy step; the hard part would come in making the declaration a reality.
• There would be seven years of fighting before the colonists were victorious and an independent America was a reality.
• It would be astonishing if one of the biggest and best trained armies in the world were to be defeated by a group of American farmers and clerks.
• How could this happen, and if it did, what would it mean for Britain’s imperial power?
• Yorktown and the defeat of the British
• The British had won most of the battles during the American War of Independence.
• They had a world-class army that was well trained and well supplied. However, many of the battles took place in forest and mountain areas, in land the British did not know well.
• The decisive battle of the war was at Yorktown in 1781.
• The American troops, who were perceived to be weak, had reinforced themselves with 3000 extra men.
• Added to this they had the support of the French, who had secured control of the waters around Yorktown.
• This was important as the British needed to get their supplies in from the sea.
• The British commander, Charles
Cornwallis, unwittingly helped the Americans by moving his troops onto a peninsula as they awaited supplies.
• They were now cut off and in a weak position. George Washington, sensing the advantage he could have, attacked the British.
• With few weapons and no supplies the British were forced to surrender.
• The battle at Yorktown saw the immediate defeat of the British and the end of the War of Independence.
• America was now an independent country, and proclaimed itself the ‘land of the free’. This was an unprecedented victory.
• It showed what could be achieved with a clear cause against an opponent that underestimated your ability.
Consequences
• Consequences for America
• The Americans were delighted with their victory.
• Using their determination they had defeated the most powerful country in the world.
• However, not all of the people in America were happy with the outcome, and many moved north to Canada, which was still under the control of Britain.
• The Americans set up their own system of government with a written set of rules (called a constitution), a parliament (Congress) and a President.
• This system still exists today.
• Americans now had the representation they desired. By the early twentieth century, America had developed into the most powerful independent country in the world.
• However, the ‘land of the free’ was not perfect. Many poor farmers, who could not afford to buy their land, could not vote.
• Neither could African-Americans, indigenous Americans or women.
• Rich, white men were represented, but no one else.
• Slavery still existed and indigenous Americans were widely discriminated against, losing more land to the colonists: this was not equality.
• Consequences for Britain
• Britain had spent a lot of money on the war and had best a lot of men.
• The involvement of France on the side of the revolution had worsened relations between the two powers, Britain was able to use the strength of its navy to make up for the loss of America by colonising other parts of the world.
• America had been used as a penal colony, where criminals were sent to work on the plantations alongside enslaved people and indentured servants who worked to pay off the cost of their passape across the Atlantic, Britain now turned its focus to Australia and New Zealand as a place to send convicts,
Relations with Arnerica improved as the years went by and the two countries started to trade with each other.
• The loss of America was not an issue by the late nineteenth century because by then Britain had a colony in every time zone of the world, The sun never set on the British Empire.
• And although America had once been considered the most important of the colonies it was soon replaced by India: the ‘jewel in the crown’. The main problem for Britain’s leaders was that the idea of overthrowing authority was one that might spread to Britain itself.
• With a growing working-class population this was possible.
• Consequences for the world
• The success of America and its fight against British authority inspired one of the most important events in European history.
• The French were fed up with their king, Louis XVI.
• People were starving while he and his wife ate lavish breakfasts and lived in luxurious palaces. The French people decided to take action, and the French Revolution began.
• There were many long-term factors that caused this revolution but the success of the American Revolution acted as a spark for the people of France to remove the autocratic rule of their king, Louis.
• This would go on to inspire the working class in Britain when it came to their voting rights and representation in parliament.
The Peterloo Massacre
Causes
• The problem with who could vote In the early nineteenth century, the king and those who owned land and titles were the people who controlled the country.
• They made decisions about how the country should be run and what should happen to everyone else in society.
• This became a problem when the population increased during the Industrial Revolution.
• Many factory owners became very wealthy - but they, and their workers, had no political power.
• One of the main complaints was about the so-called rotten boroughs.
• These were areas that sent two Members of Parliament (MPs) to parliament even though no one lived there.
• In one case there was a mound of grass, called Old Sarum, where a village used to be: still, two MPs went to parliament to represent it!
• Birmingham, on the other hand, was one of the largest and fastest growing towns, yet it had no MPs to represent its people in parliament.
• Pocket boroughs were also an issue.
• These were boroughs that were controlled by rich individuals who did not represent the needs of everyone.
• When people did go to vote there was no secret ballot.
• This meant that people had to say in public who they were voting for.
• Therefore, they could be easily bribed, and in some cases people were sacked if they did not vote for the ‘right’ candidate.
• This was not true representation, as the same corrupt people continued to hold the power.
• Unfairly, some people were allowed to vote purely because they had a fireplace and a locked door!
• These were called potwalloper boroughs because in order to prove their assets, the men would rattle their keys in a large cooking pot.
• On top of all of this, women did not have the vote.
• Despite how much money, how many fireplaces and how many locked doors they had!
• Radical protest
• In Britain, both rich and poor alike noted the effect of the French Revolution, an event in which the ordinary people of France rebelled violently against the ruling class.
• This coincided with the end of the Battle of Waterloo, when many soldiers were returning home and needed work.
• The introduction of Corn Laws and a poor harvest meant people were starving.
• People were now no longer in a position to wait for change - they needed representation in parliament, and radical speakers started to demand it.
Event
• Case Study: Peterloo
• In 1819, there was a gathering in St Peter’s Fields, in Manchester, of people who were demanding the vote.
• This was a peaceful protest where the 60,000 protestors listened to speeches by radicals such as Henry Hunt.
• Hunt inspired the crowds with his speech that called for the reform of parliament.
• The local magistrate panicked when he heard how many people had gathered, and called the local militia in.
• It is reported that they were drunk, and so events escalated quickly. Within ten minutes, 600 people had been wounded and 15 had been killed.
• These figures included women and children. Working-class people making clear demands had scared the authorities into responding with violence.
Consequences
• After the event, which became known as the Peterloo Massacre, the government introduced the Six Acts.
• These stated that any meeting of more than 50 people for radical reform was an act of treason.
• Anyone doing this was now breaking the law.
The Great Reform Act
Cause
• So far, nothing had changed for working-class people, or for the middle classes.
• They still needed change, but instead of protesting they now tried to convince the government to change things and extend the franchise (give more people the vote) through legislation.
• Who was in charge?
• The political party that had been in charge at the beginning of the nineteenth century was the Tory party, who were against reform.
• They were voted out of government in 1830 and replaced by the Whig party, led by Earl Grey.
• This coincided with the death of King George IV.
• He had been considered insane and had not been running the country well: he was extravagant and was not interested in making life better for ordinary people.
• George was replaced by King William IV in 1830, who was more open to reform and improving society.
• How did people try to convince the king?
• The government had cracked down on public gatherings and protests for change.
• However, a Birmingham man called Thomas Attwood formed the Birmingham Political Union of the Lower and Middle Classes of People in 1829.
• Attwood, along with 8000 others, sent a petition to parliament for reform.
• They wanted shorter parliaments, the end of property qualifications and a vote for all men who contributed to local or national taxes.
• However, the petition was rejected.
• By the end of 1829, the union was renamed the Birmingham Political Union (BPU).
• The group vowed to cooperate with the law - this would make it harder for the BPU to be banned - and it was agreed that the lower and middle classes would unite for the cause.
• The BPU model was copied around the country, so when Attwood called for people not to pay their taxes, the king and the government started to worry.
Event
• The Great Reform Act, 1832
• Earl Grey’s Whig government tried to pass laws for a reform act.
• In fact they tried three times to get a reform act through!
• This is how the system works: when the government wants to pass a law, they have to send it through the House of Lords.
• The House of Lords is the part of parliament that is not elected.
• In the first parliament - the Great Council - they were the barons and nobles.
• So, can you see the problem?
• The House of Lords did not want to pass an act that would give more power to the ordinary people by having them represented in parliament.
• On the third attempt, Earl Grey went to the king and requested that lords be appointed who were Whigs, or at least sympathetic to reform.
• The existing lords were horrified at the idea, because it would mean that Tory lords would lose some of their power to the Whigs, so they passed the Reform Act in 1832.
• It had been such a fight to get the act passed that it was called the Great Reform Act.
Consequences
• How great was the Great
Reform Act?
• The middle class did well out of the Great Reform Act.
• Merchants and industrialists gained more representation and were happier that their interests were being considered.
• Rotten boroughs were removed and new towns, such as Birmingham, were allowed to elect MPs.
• The working class, however, were unhappy about the Reform Act being called ‘Great’.
• They had not been given the vote, as most only earned around £50 a year. There was no secret ballot until 1872, so the lucky few working-class people who could actually vote were effectively forced to vote for their factory or landowner, rather than their chosen candidate.
• The act meant that only one in seven men could vote; this didn’t represent the people of Britain.
• The Reform Act did not change things for working-class people in the short term.
• However, it had been proven that change was possible, and over the next decades the call for further parliamentary reform continued.
• Furthermore, the Reform Act reduced the power of the king and landowners.
• The middle class had joined the electorate: they now had influence and this could only mean more change.
What were the terms in the Great Reform Act?
• 56 very small locations lose the right to elect their own MPs
• 30 other smaller towns lose one MP
• London and other large towns and cities are given more MPs
• People who earn £150 a year can vote
• Voters increase from 435,000 to 652,000
Chartism
Causes:
• Working class and living and working conditions
• Machines were doing the work that people could do
Event:
• In 1836, William Lovett started a campaign
• This led to the national Chartist convention being held in Birmingham in 1839
• This was a peaceful movement, due to Lovett’s Christian faith, and organised the mass signing of petitions to be sent to parliament
• The demands were: votes for all men, equal-sized constituencies, voting in secret, wages for MPs, no property qualifications to be able to vote, an election every year
• This was rejected
Consequences:
• March on Newport in November 1839
• Another petition sent to parliament
• O’Connor called for a general strike of all workers
• A third petition signed
• Chartism failed
Anti Corn Law league
Causes:
• In 1835, the government passed the Corn Laws. These were designed to keep the price of wheat high. If the price fell to low, imports of wheat would be stopped. This kept the wealthy landowners in farmers happy, but with the manufacturers in work as happy?
Events:
• There were many riots down the country because people are unhappy with the Corn Laws and the impact on the price of bread. The Anti Corn Law league was mostly made up of middle-class men who felt that the restrictions were unfair to the poor and the manufacturing middle-class.
• Richard Cobden and John Bright
Consequences:
• In 1846, Robert Peel repealed the Corn Laws
• Wheat returned to normal prices
Anti Slavery Movement
Causes:
• Britain was involved in the slave trade
• Life as an enslaved person was really bad
• William Wilberforce
• Olaudah Equiano
• Thomas Clarkson
• Granville Sharp
Event:
• The abolition movement
• Many working- class people supported the movement, with workers in Manchester singing a petition to parliament
Consequences:
• There were some anti-abolitionists
• Women also got involved
• There was some resistance by enslaved people
• Smuggling enslaved people became a problem, and the conditions were worse
The Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 only instantly freed enslaved people under the age of six
• In the long term it was a success
Factory and social reform
Causes:
Factory conditions were very bad
Mine conditions were also bad; even children worked
When people heard about this, they wanted reform of working conditions
MP Michael Sadler
Lord Shaftesbury
The Mines Act of 1842
Some people were against reform because of laissez-faire politics
Manu workers did not support the factory reform acts as they limited the amount of money coming into a household
This led to the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834
Event:
Robert Owen and New Lamark - 10 hour day campaign
Edwin Chadwick - the reform of the Poor Law
Elizabeth Fry - reform of the conditions in Newgate Prison
Josephine Butler - campaigned for the repeal of the 1869 Contagious Disease Act
Development of Trade Unionism
Cause:
Since Medieval times there had been worker’s guilds that controlled prices and wages
Luddites broke machinery hoping they would stop using them
Swing Rioters set fire to farms and damaged the machines
Combination Act of 1825
Event:
Robert Owen set up the GNCTU in 1834
In 1837, the Scottish Friendly Association of Cotton Spinners took strike action
In 1851, a new type of union was set up: the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE); very successful
Consequences:
Only benefited the more affluent skilled workers
Match Girls strike of 1888
Docker’s strike of 1889
Led to the creation of the Independent Labour Party
Tolpuddle Martyrs
Causes:
Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs?
In a small village in Dorset called Tolpuddle, farm labourers had formed a union to try to negotiate better pay and conditions. The new farm machinery that had been invented meant fewer labourers were needed.
Furthermore, anyone could operate the machines and no special training was needed, so wages dropped.
Being part of a trade union had been made legal so the men were not breaking any laws. They met under a sycamore tree in the village, or in a room in one of the members’ cottages. Their leader was George Loveless. In February 1834, Loveless left for work and would not see his family again for years. He had been arrested.
Event:
The ‘crime’
The men had not broken the law by being part of a trade union. However, part of the act to legalise unionism had stated that no secret oaths were to be taken. The men had all taken an oath to keep their union a secret, and so they had, in fact, broken this law.
The local landowner heard about this and was worried that the men had formed a union in the first place.
Because of the French Revolution (a time when ordinary French citizens rebelled violently against their rulers), landowners and the government were scared that the ideas of equality and freedom would spread through Britain’s working-class population. The Luddites and the Swing Rioters had not helped to ease their worries.
Luckily for the Tolpuddle landowner, and those in power who were also against trade unions, the six men could be arrested. The exact crime was, in a way, irrelevant. The message to the working class was clear - no unions!
Consequences:
The punishment
The men were found guilty of making an unlawful oath, and were sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia. There they would endure hard labour.
Public reaction and consequences
Word spread quickly about the sentences the men had received. Soon there were various organisations and groups who were committed to overturning the decision made about the group, now named the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Robert Owen called a meeting of the GNCTU;
10,000 people arrived to attend.
The march at Copenhagen Fields was attended by thousands of working-class supporters, and many prominent individuals such as William Cobbett and Robert Owen. The supporters gathered petitions and demanded that the Tolpuddle Martyrs be returned to England.
The government was originally reluctant to reverse the decision made, but eventually the persistent campaigning paid off. On 14 March 1836, all six of the men were given a full and free pardon. The trade unions had won.
Many of the people involved in the movement to free the Tolpuddle Martyrs also got involved in Chartism and cooperative societies, as a way to make the lives of all working ordinary people better.
