Pressure for change 1832-46: Chartism

Question 1

When was the chartist movement formed?

Answer 1

1838

Question 2

What was it set up to do?

Answer 2

Support working class political activity and agitate for political reform that would extend the franchise to working men, involve them in government and give them a platform to air their grievances

Question 3

List the 6 main working class disappointments that led to the rise of the movement

Answer 3

• The fact that the GRA did not contain working class suffrage
• The fact that the factory act brought about no improvement in adult working conditions
• Anger at the imposition of the workhouse system through the poor law amendment act
• 1836-7 bad harvests led to a rise in the price of bread
• An economic slump meant that unemployment rose among the working class
• Frustration at TU’s and government’s treatment of the Toppuddle Martyrs

Question 4

What had the working class become disillusioned with?

Answer 4

Government reforms, as they had failed to bring about improvement to their living or working conditions or their political status

Question 5

What was their greatest disappointment?

Answer 5

The GRA excluding them from the franchise

Question 6

Why did they resent the poor law amendment?

Answer 6

Because it humiliated them and made their plight worse

Question 7

What became apparent to the working class after the poor law amendment act came into force in the industrial north in 1839?

Answer 7

That they were politically powerless to improve their conditions

Question 8

What were the working class frustrated by the failure of?

Answer 8

Robert Owen’s Grand National Consolidated Trades Union in 1835 (GNCTU)

Question 9

What did this failure thwart?

Answer 9

It ended hopes of labouring men organising themselves legally to negotiate better working conditions

Question 10

Why had the Factory Act actually been counterproductive for adults?

Answer 10

Because it had led to an increase in their hours

Question 11

Who influenced the chartist movement?

Answer 11

Middle class supporters like Fielden and Oastler and other radicals disenchanted with the limited nature of government reform

Question 12

What did they convince the working class they should do?

Answer 12

Organise themselves to fight for their political rights

Question 13

What was established in June 1836?

Answer 13

The London Working Men’s Association, with a reformist political programme

Question 14

Who were the two key figures within the LWMA?

Answer 14

The secretary, William Lovett, and Francis Place

Question 15

What six main demands did the LWMA have?

Answer 15

• universal male suffrage
• equal electoral districts
• annual parliaments
• payment of MPs
• secret ballots
• no property qualifications for candidates

Question 16

How was the Chartist Movement established in 1838?

Answer 16

William Lovett called these six demands the ‘people’s charter’. This was endorsed at a BPU meeting and the movement was born

Question 17

Explain the composition of the movement

Answer 17

Varied, drawing support from several protest groups

Question 18

Why was strong singular leadership virtually impossible within the movement?

Answer 18

Because the movement contained such a wide variety of groups and aims

Question 19

How did the charter cause internal disagreement?

Answer 19

Because there were large differences on how these would be best achieved

Question 20

Who represented the moderate wing of the movement?

Answer 20

William Lovett and Thomas Attwood

Question 21

Explain the moderate view

Answer 21

Believed in persuasion rather than force. Lovett believed that education was vital in order to deal effectively with social and political problems. Attwood thought that petitioning parliament was the best way of achieving success

Question 22

Where did the more extreme chartists operate and why?

Answer 22

In the smaller northern industrial towns, as they had suffered in the greatest poverty since the wars

Question 23

Who was Feargus O’Connor and what did he threaten to do?

Answer 23

The editor of the Northern Star, an influential chartist newspaper in Leeds. He threatened to use physical force to achieve the chartist demands

Question 24

Explain the first unifying chartist event in 1839

Answer 24

A Chartist convention of 39 delegates met in London and drew up the people’s charter. The petition gained 1.25 million signatures and was presented to parliament but was overwhelmingly rejected by the whigs and tories

Question 25

What did this rejection mean within the movement?

Answer 25

It led to the first proper clash between the moderates and radicals

Question 26

What did O’Connor call for following the rejection?

Answer 26

He wanted to respond with threats of violence and intimidation, disturbing the moderates

Question 27

When did the Newport Rising take place?

Answer 27

Nov 1839

Question 28

What prompted the Newport Rising

Answer 28

Discontent at the appalling conditions in the coal mines and the iron foundries there

Question 29

How did the Whig government respond to the Newport Rising?

Answer 29

Hundreds of chartist supporters were beaten down by 30 armed soldiers, leaving 24 chartists dead. Chartist leaders were imprisoned and the movement seemed to lose impetus

Question 30

What did the Newport Rising confirm?

Answer 30

Middle class concerns about chartism

Question 31

Who was singled out as a consequence of the Newport Rising and what was the consequence of this?

Answer 31

Lovett was imprisoned for sedition and disorder, giving O’Connell an opportunity to promote his ideas and methods

Question 32

Explain how the movement lost its thrust in 1840

Answer 32

There was an economic revival, sapping the movements vitality, as the men who had supported so passionately faded into the background now they had food, wages and work

Question 33

What had happened within the movement by 1842?

Answer 33

Lovett lost ground as leader of the movement, allowing Feargus O’Connor to establish himself as the popular leader

Question 34

How was the movement reignited in 1842?

Answer 34

There was a slump in trade, wages fell and there was widespread unemployment and distress, which meant that working class agitation was back again

Question 35

What happened to the second petition?

Answer 35

It received 3 million signatures - it was ridiculed in parliament and dismissed

Question 36

What was the Plug Plot?

Answer 36

A strike at Ashton Under Lyne spread rapidly to other industrial towns, where the boiler plugs of steam engines were knocked out to prevent factories and other works from operating

Question 37

What was the reaction to the plug plot?

Answer 37

It was regarded by the government as subversive and conspiratorial, but it acted as a rallying call for the chartist supporters

Question 38

How did the Peel government respond and what did this mean for the movement?

Answer 38

They used the newly operational local police forces to deal firmly and quickly with the unrest. Many arrests and harsh sentences were handed out, meaning that chartist activity faded

Question 39

What happened to the chartist movement between 1842-6?

Answer 39

There was a period of economic recovery, a reduction in unemployment and a subsequent lessening in support for the movement

Question 40

How can O’Connell be seen as losing his nerve following the Plug Plot?

Answer 40

Because he denounced it in the Northern Star

Question 41

What happened as O’Connell’s influence waned?

Answer 41

Circulation of the Northern Star decreased

Question 42

Which organisations gained ground at the expense of the chartists?

Answer 42

The anti corn law league and the trade unions

Question 43

Why was there often political apathy from the working class?

Answer 43

Because they couldn’t see the connection between political reform and their conditions

Question 44

In what decade did chartism reach its peak?

Answer 44

The 1830s

Question 45

What was the main reason chartism died down?

Answer 45

Depression was giving way to a long period of prosperity and so the working class lost interest in the idea of political reform