The repeal of the corn laws Flashcards
1
Q
Why was the main focus of most conservative MPs agriculture?
A
They held county seats or were members for small market towns
2
Q
How had the conservatives managed to win the 1841 election?
A
It had been fought and won in the shires based on the question of agricultural protection, which was under threat from the whigs
3
Q
Why did the majority of Peel’s MPs disagree with his decision to lower the sliding scale?
A
Because they thought it might lead to the repeal of the corn laws and the loss of agricultural protection altogether, which they saw as a right
4
Q
Why did they think that the repeal would be so negative?
A
- They thought that it would open the floodgates to cheap foreign corn, which would undercut and ruin them
- They also thought that it would lead to the unemployment of thousands of agricultural labourers, who would fill towns and create further problems
- They argued that it was against the interests of the nation to be dependent on foreign corn, in case there was a war
5
Q
Why were middle class manufacturers actually in support of repeal?
A
Because it would keep their workers’ wages low
6
Q
Give an example of a farmer who was actually in support of repeal?
A
George Hope
7
Q
What does Hope think motivated Peel’s decision to repeal?
A
He stressed the pressure placed on the government by the anti corn law league rather than the potato famine, which he pays little attention to
8
Q
What was the consequence for Peel?
A
He was faced with fierce opposition and resigned in Dec 1845
9
Q
Why was this resignation short lived?
A
Lord John Russell failed to form a government and Peel returned as PM after months of bitter arguement with his party
10
Q
What happened after he returned to the position?
A
The repeal passed through the commons in May 1846, with the support of the whigs. The loyalty of Wellington then allowed it to pass through the commons
11
Q
Give a statistic to show how many people died due to the Irish famine?
A
The population went from 9 million in 1841 to 6.5 million in 1851
12
Q
How many Irish died as a result of starvation?
A
An estimated 1 million
13
Q
How did the situation get worse in 1849?
A
A cholera outbreak wiped out even more of a population already weakened by malnutrition
14
Q
How many Irish emigrated?
A
1.5 million by 1851, mostly to the USA and Canada
15
Q
What was the political impact of the famine in Ireland?
A
It increased resentment against British dominance and allowed for the emergence of a new nationalist movement in the 1860s
16
Q
Why did the repeal of the corn laws do little to help the Irish?
A
It happened to slowly, being phased in over three years
17
Q
What happened in 1846 to make matters worse?
A
The potato blight continued, bringing even more misery
18
Q
When was their some economic recovery for Ireland?
A
In 1850, in line with the agricultural boom across the rest of Britain
19
Q
Why did the repeal of the corn laws not have the effect that many thought it would?
A
There was no sudden fall in the price of corn, British farmers did not face ruin and the price of bread did not fall
20
Q
Why was the repeal of some benefit to the poor?
A
It stopped the price of bread rising
21
Q
Why were the 1850s such a period of prosperity for farming?
A
Because many of the agricultural improvements that were in progress in the 1840s became financially profitable, and the growing population stimulated agriculture, creating extra demand for food
22
Q
What concept was the repeal a great victory for?
A
Free trade
23
Q
Why was it important that the manufacturers arguement had been right and the landowners’ had been wrong?
A
It validated their growing influence in British politics
24
Q
What was the consequence of Peel’s decision for the conservative party?
A
It split the party and they would not win a majority in parliament for over 30 years
25
Why did Boyd Hilton think this split was inevitable even before 1846?
Because Peel had been elected on a lie in 184, having 'not made clear his intentions' regarding the corn laws
26
Peel's commitment to what caused him to bring down the party?
Free trade ideas and policies
27
What does Hilton call Peel's repeal of the corn laws?
The climax of his economic strategy
28
How did Peel get around the fact that he could not commit to repeal in 1841 according to Hilton?
He left his speeches sufficiently vague to leave the door open
29
What does Hilton think that Peel's spontaneous reaction to the Irish famine shows?
That he had been waiting for an opportunity to repeal
30
Why does Hilton think that Peel did not repeal just to help the Irish?
Because if he really was doing it to alleviate the famine, he should have suspended them immediately instead of phasing them out over three years
31
What does Gaunt say influenced Peel's decision to enact repeal?
His growing respect for Ireland, the success of his tariff reform policy and the ready availability of income tax as a means of securing government revenue
32
What can we not be certain of in terms of Peel and his relation with repeal?
When it was that he became convinced that they would have to be repealed altogether
33
When is it likely that Peel would have become convinced that the corn laws needed to be repealed altogether?
At some point in the early 1840s
34
What did Peel recognise had happened to Britain by 1845?
It had nearly become a free trade nation
35
Why can we conclude that Peel's free trade policies were working?
Because economic recovery was underway and there was less distress and disorder
36
What had Peel's free trade measures and their success done to the corn laws?
Made them stand out even more starkly as an economic oddity that were becoming harder to justify
37
What were the two longer term issues that pushed Peel towards repeal?
Shortage of food and the threat of the anti-corn law league
38
How did shortage of food push Peel towards repeal?
Between 1815 and the 1840s, Britain's population had risen by nearly 50% and the food supply was barely able to keep up. Europe's food supply was also overstretched under the strain of population growth. The opening of Britain's ports to foreign wheat might stimulate further continental production and lead to the opening of new sources of supply
39
How did the anti-corn law league push Peel towards repeal?
The League had potential to overthrow government by the landed classes. Peel knew that the corn laws were a powerful and hated symbol of aristocratic power. Therefore repeal would remove what Peel feared most of all...
40
Give a quote from Peel in which he explains what he feared most of all if the corn laws were not repealed?
'A war between the manufacturers, the hungry and the poor against the landowners and aristocracy, which can only end in the ruin of the latter'
41
What gave Peel a time constraint that urged him to quickly diffuse the class struggle that Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League were waging?
The fact that there was a GE coming up in a couple of years
42
Why would repeal destroy the class war that the league were waging?
Because the league would no longer have a reason to exist
43
How would repeal nullify the chartist threat?
Because it would show that a parliament dominated by the landed interest was capable of passing legislation in the interests of the nation as a whole
44
Why did Peel think it was important that he and parliament took control of passing repeal?
Because the government did not want to be seen as giving into the league or the chartists, as this would undermine their authority
45
What was Peel's biggest challenge in getting repeal done?
Convincing his cabinet and then parliament
46
Why would convincing his cabinet and parliament to support repeal be particularly difficult for Peel?
Because the majority of tories were keen supporters of agricultural protection
47
What forced the pace of repeal to speed up?
External events
48
What two letters did Peel receive on the 26th August 1845 that pushed him towards repeal?
- The first letter was from Britain's representative in Prussia. It said that if Britain kept the corn laws, Prussia would not sell any grain to Britain, even when the price of domestic price was high enough that imports were allowed. This was a serious threat to Britain's food supply
- The second letter was from Ireland and told of the likely failure of the potato harvest. A potato blight had reached Ireland and was likely to lead to starvation for millions, many of whom were completely dependent upon the potato
49
What did the anti corn law league call the corn laws?
The bread tax
50
What happened in Ireland in the five years following the failed 1845 potato harvest?
More than 2 million people either died of starvation of emigrated
51
What was Peel's justification for repeal?
To allow food from Europe to reach Ireland
52
What would have been a better way for Peel to help Ireland?
Suspending the corn laws temporarily
53
Why would suspending the corn laws temporarily arguably have been a better solution to the famine in Ireland?
Because it would have been able to happen more quickly and would have prevented the splitting of his party
54
Why did repealing the corn laws not actually help the starving Irish that much?
Because there was no source of additional food from Europe, and most of the Irish would have been too poor to afford it anyway
55
What does it seem certain that Peel had already decided before the famine in Ireland?
That the corn laws needed to be repealed, with the famine just determining the timing of the repeal
56
Why did Peel know that the continuation of the corn laws in the face of the Irish famine would have been a politically bad move?
Because it would have seemed heartless to let the Irish starve so that the landowners could be protected. This would hand a propaganda gift to the anti corn law league and give a huge boost to their campaign outside of parliament
57
What did Peel realise he needed to do if he wanted to preserve government by the landed classes?
Repeal the corn laws
58
What was the majority of the Tory party's reaction to Peel's decision to repeal?
They disagreed
59
What two great principles did conservative party members believe the party stood for?
Defence of the CoE and the landed interest
60
How had the party won the 1841 election?
Due to its pledges to protect the church and maintain the corn laws
61
Why did many party members see the decision to repeal as unconservative?
Because it abandoned one of the party's two great principles, protection of the landed interest
62
Why did most tories see the corn laws as more than just tariffs protecting agriculture?
They also saw them as a symbol of aristocratic, landed rule and were part of what made Britain great
63
What did many members of his party's members see Peel as?
A traitor
64
What had Peel managed to do by Dec 1845?
Win over most of his cabinet
65
How many members of his cabinet still opposed repeal in Dec 1845?
2
66
What was Peel's original plan for getting around the fact that his party did not support repeal?
Knowing that the whigs were all in favour of repeal he resigned, expecting the whigs to form a government and carry through repeal
67
Why was Peel's original plan of getting the whigs to carry out reform for him beneficial politically?
Because it would have prevented a split in the tory party
68
Why did Peel's plan to get the whigs to carry out reform for him not happen?
Because the whig leader, Lord John Russel, failed to form a government
69
What happened after the whigs failed to form a government following Peel's resignation?
Peel returned to power, now determined to push ahead with repeal
70
Who made savage attacks on Peel in parliament during the repeal process?
The protectionist tories
71
What did the protectionist tories do to Peel in parliament during the repeal process?
They tore into him in debate knowing that they had considerable support in the countryside
72
Who led the protectionist tories that were attacking Peel?
Future PM Benjamin Disraeli
73
What was the motivation behind the protectionist tories attacking Peel?
They did it only to destroy Peel, as they knew that they could not stop repeal, as it had the support of the cabinet, the whigs and a third of the tory party
74
When was the repeal bill finally passed?
July 1846
75
How did repeal lead to the end of the Peel government?
Because just a month after the repeal bill was passed, 69 of the most bitter tories joined with the radical, whig and Irish MPs to defeat the government on another issue
76
For how long would the tories remain out of power after the defeat of the Peel government?
For almost all of the next 30 years
77
What happened to Peel after the defeat of his government?
His political career was ended and he died 4 years later in a riding accident
78
How did the repeal of the corn laws help Peel leave a positive legacy behind?
To hundreds of thousands of working people he was a hero, the man who had given them cheap bread
79
How did the chartists express their gratitude to Peel for repealing the corn laws?
70,000 subscribed to a memorial of him in 1850
80
Give a quote from Disraeli when talking about Peel in the commons in May 1846?
I am bound to say that Peel may congratulate himself on successfully deceiving his entire party. He has became accused of foregone treachery - of long meditated deception - of a desire entirely unworthy of a great stateman, even if an unprincipled one - of always intending to abandon the opinions by professing which he rose to power. When I examine the career of Peel I find that between 1830-40 that he traded on the ideas and intelligence of others. His life has been one great appropriation clause, there is no statesman who has committed political petty larceny on so great a scale
81
What did an 1841 petition about the corn laws from the citizens of Cadbury say?
They said that repealing the corn laws would have dangerous consequences for the nation and that it was delusion to think that a lowering in the price of bread would not come with a corresponding lowering of wages. They said that it is the first duty of parliament to ensure a regular and sufficient supply of wheat for consumption by the people and that the corn laws help to do this. They said that previous dependence upon other countries for the supply of wheat instead of relying on domestic sources has proved ruinous. They said that dependence upon foreign wheat threw British labourers out of work and posed the risk of a future famine
82
What did an 1841 petition about the corn laws by the Congregation of Protestant Dissenters say?
It said that they are apprehensive about the continuation of the corn laws, which they say were designed to restrict basic necessities for life and to greatly increase their cost. The results of these laws manifested themselves in the extreme suffering of those classes that give the nation its strength, in the depression of manufacturors and their export to foreign countries, and the miserable and inadequate wages in both agriculture and industry, alarming levels of unemployment. They see the corn laws as being a crime against God
83
How did Peel initially respond to the potato blight in Ireland?
He arranged for £160,000 worth of maize to be imported from the USA and to be a sold at 1d an lb to the Irish. It was soon used up, making a strange tasting bread
84
What was the maize imported from the USA to help in Ireland called due to the strange taste?
Peel's brimstone
85
Why did English agricultural events also help prompt the repeal?
Because the 1845 wheat harvest was poor
86
What did Peel say to his cabinet in a series of meetings following the blight outbreak in Ireland?
He said that the repeal of the corn laws was the only way to get cheap food in Ireland
87
Who were the only three cabinet members to initially support Peel's idea to suspend the corn laws to get cheap food into Ireland?
Lord Aberdeen, Sidney Herbert and Sir James Graham
88
How did Lord John Russell aid repeal?
He advised his Edinburgh constituents to undergo every lawful method of agitation to compel the government to repeal
89
Why is it a misconception to say that Peel had convinced his cabinet to support repeal by Dec 1845?
Lord Stanley and the Duke of Buccleuch still didn't support and he didn't even feel like he could completely rely on the rest
90
What did the times announce on 4th Dec 1845?
That the government was planning to repeal
91
What did Peel do on 6th Dec 1845?
Offered his resignation to the Queen
92
What happened on the 20th Dec 1845?
Peel was recalled by the Queen and within three days reformed his cabinet
93
How was the repeal process aided on 19th Jan 1846?
The Queen's speech was read out to parliament, which included a comprohensive plan for the repeal of the corn laws among a long list of tariff reforms. The proposal would phase out the corn laws over three years along with some other reforms to lighten the financial burden on landowners
94
How was the process aided on the 27th Feb 1846?
The commons passed the second reading of the Corn Bill by 337-240
95
How was the process aided on 15 May 1846?
The bill passed its third commons reading by 327-229
96
How did the Corn Bill get through the lords?
Lord Wellington's support allowed the bill to be passed relatively easy at 211-164
97
How was the repeal process over in June 1846?
The Corn Bill received Royal Assent and the corn laws were finally repealed
98
What did Peel say when responding to demands to repeal the corn laws in 1841?
He said that if repeal was the genuine remedy to a major problem then he would advise the landowners that it was in their best interests to learn to live with any subsequent price decrease. But he said that he could not convince himself that the corn laws would ever be the source of such distress, or that repealing them would be its cure, that he wishes to continue to maintain them
99
What did Peel say to the commons when asking them to repeal the corn laws in 1845?
He says that the corn laws should be repealed as it would increase the comforts, improve the condition and elevate the social character of the millions who subsist by manual labour
100
