The Great Reform Act Flashcards
What year was the Great Reform Act?
1832
What did Earl Grey’s Whig government try to pass laws for?
A reform act.
How many times did Grey try to get the reform act through?
3 times
Why did the House of Lords not want to pass the reform act?
They did not want to pass an act that would give more power to the ordinary people by having them represented in parliament.
What did Earl Grey do on the third attempt?
He went to the king and requested the lord who were appointed were Whigs or at least sympathetic to reform.
Why did the lord pass the Reform Act in 1832?
They were horrified at the idea of lords appointed bring Whigs, because it would mean that Tory lords would lose some of their power to the Whigs.
What happened to merchants and industrialists after the Great Reform Act?
They gained more representation and were happier that their interests were being considered.
What happened to rotten boroughs after the Great Reform Act?
They were removed.
Why were the working class unhappy about the Reform Act being called ‘Great’?
They had not been given the vote, and most only earned around £50 a year.
What year was no secret ballot removed?
1872.
The act meant that how many men in how many could vote?
Only one in seven men could vote.
What did the number of voters go to after the Great Reform Act?
They increased from 435,000 to 652,000.
People had to earn more than what to be able to vote?
People who earned more than £150 a year could vote.
What happened to large towns and cities such a London after the Great Reform Act?
They were given more MPs.
