The Failures of Chartism 03/03/2023

Question 1

What are the 4 Main factors for Chartisms Failures?

Answer 1

Use of Petitions
Use of Violence
Other areas of activity
Political Organisations

Question 2

What were the problems were there in use of Petitions?

Answer 2

1st and 2nd Petitions outright failed
3rd petition had 3.7 million fake signatures

Question 2

Details of the 1st Petition

Answer 2

1.2 Million Signatures, 6000 troops sent by the government.
Rejected 235 -> 46

Question 3

Details of the 2nd Petition

Answer 3

Many leaders had been arrested
Major economic recession in 1841-42
3.3 Million Signatures
Rejected 287 -> 49

Question 4

When was the Newport Rising?

Answer 4

November 1839

Question 5

What happened with the Newport Rising?

Answer 5

Thousands of armed iron-workers marched
20 killed 50 injured
O’Connor imprisoned

Question 6

When were the Plug Riots?

Answer 6

August 1842

Question 7

What happened during the Plug Riots?

Answer 7

500,000 workers went on strike
15 Counties were affected
Though it wasn’t Chartist organised, 1,000 chartists were arrested

Question 8

What were the main alternative Political Organisations to the Chartists?

Answer 8

The NCA - The National Charter Association
The CSU - The Complete Suffrage Union

Question 9

Details of the NCA

Answer 9

The backbone to the Chartists after July 1840, financed by subscriptions.

401 branches, 50,000 members
By the end of 1842 there were 70,000 members, it failed due to lack of money and divided the chartists into further sub-groups

Question 10

Details of the CSU

Answer 10

Tried to make the Chartists and Anti-Corn League co-operate, worked though strained.
Collapsed in 1842

Question 11

What was the Chartists role in Education?

Answer 11

The “new move”, they attempted to open schools for the working class.
Covett - who started this campaign - was kicked out of the Chartists

Question 12

What was the Chartists Land Plan?

Answer 12

Made to ease unemployment,
70,000 subscriptions, only 250 people actually gained land, most settlements failed.
Lead O’Connor to getting investigated for fraud.

Question 13

What was Christian Chartism?

Answer 13

Promoted Chartism ideas in Local Government, stressing the link between God and Religious Freedom

Question 14

How did the Petitions cause Chartist Failures?

Answer 14

The failures of petitions lead to Chartists giving up and many members getting divided and their members moving to Political Organisations

Question 15

How did the Use of Violence cause Chartist Failures?

Answer 15

The use of Violence undermined the peaceful use of Petitions. This was seen to prove that the working class were the “Swinish Multitude”

Question 16

How did Political Organisations cause Chartist Failures?

Answer 16

The Chartists were divided further, decreasing their effectiveness.

Question 17

How did Other Areas of Activity cause the Chartists Failures?

Answer 17

It lead to a lack of trust in Chartists, and O’Connor caused many issues for the Organisation.