UNIT 1-Lesson 1: What was voting like in the 1780s?

Question 1

Electoral system

Answer 1

Consists of set of rules which must be followed for a vote to be considered valid.
How votes are counted and aggregated to yield a final result.

Question 2

Political system

Answer 2

Set of formal legal institutions that constitute a “government” or a “state”

Question 3

Give examples of political systems.

Answer 3

Democracy
Republics
Monarchies
Communism
Dictatorships

Question 4

Aristocracy

Answer 4

Nobles, or peers, who inherited land titles which gave them the right to sit in the House of Lords

Question 5

Nonconformists

Answer 5

People who were protestant but not members of the Church of England

Question 6

Examples of nonconformists

Answer 6

Baptists
Quakers
Presbyterians
Methodists

Question 7

French Revolution

Answer 7

Series of events, starting in 1789, which led to the fall of the monarchy and the end of the aristocracy in France

Question 8

Pocket borough

Answer 8

Borough constituency that was in control, hence in the pocket, of a particular patron, usually a large landowner

Question 9

Who were majority of the pocket boroughs controlled by?

Answer 9

Tories

Question 10

Rotten Borough

Answer 10

Borough with few or no constituents yet which returned at least 1 MP to Parliament

Question 11

Deferential

Answer 11

Showing respect for people, in this case for those of a ‘higher’ class

Question 12

Why was Britain undergoing sweeping economic and social changes in 1780?

Answer 12

Industrial Revolution

Question 13

King in 1780

Answer 13

George III

Question 14

Who was government and Parliament dominated by?

Answer 14

Landowning classes

Question 15

Why did the monarch have to listen to Parliament?

Answer 15

Needed to influence policies and get them to agree to taxes

Question 16

Who were the most important landowning families?

Answer 16

Members of the aristocracy

Question 17

Through what right, did the aristocracy gain seats in the House of Lords?

Answer 17

Hereditary

Question 18

Where else did landowning classes hold the highest positions?

Answer 18

Church
Armed services
Judiciary
Civil service
Local government

Question 19

What type of men could vote?

Answer 19

Those who had their money in trade or industry

Question 20

What 2 parties did majority of the MPs belong to?

Answer 20

Tories
Whigs

Question 21

What powers did the monarch have?

Answer 21

Could appoint and dismiss prime ministers

Question 22

How many MPs were there in 1780?

Answer 22

658

Question 23

How many MPs are there now?

Answer 23

650

Question 24

What was the country divided up into?

Answer 24

Constituencies

Question 25

How many MPs did most constituencies return?

Answer 25

2

Question 26

What 2 types of constituencies where there?

Answer 26

County seats Borough seats

Question 27

How many county seats where there in England?

Answer 27

82

Question 28

How many borough seats where there in England?

Answer 28

403

Question 29

How many seats did Oxford and Cambridge universities have each?

Answer 29

2

Question 30

Where were the counties mainly?

Answer 30

Rural areas

Question 31

Where were the borough mainly?

Answer 31

Large rural towns and ports

Question 32

UK population in 1780

Answer 32

14 million

Question 33

How many men had the right to vote?

Answer 33

Less than half a million

Question 34

What percentage of the total population had the right to vote?

Answer 34

5%

Question 35

In counties, which men could vote?

Answer 35

'Forty-shilling freeholders.'

Question 36

Who were the 'Forty-shilling freeholders.'?

Answer 36

All men who owned freehold (owned it) property worth 40 shillings a year could vote

Question 37

Why may voters have voted for the biggest landowner in pocket boroughs?

Answer 37

They were his tenants They wanted to stay on the right side of the local magistrate (the MP). They sold their votes

Question 38

In extreme cases, what was the lowest amount of voters in a borough?

Answer 38

10-20

Question 39

How were rotten boroughs created?

Answer 39

What had been a town in the Middle Ages had now been abandoned

Question 40

How many constituencies had fewer than 50 votes each?

Answer 40

Over 50

Question 41

What could happen with rotten boroughs?

Answer 41

Could be bought and sold. Became someone's property.

Question 42

Why did elections last several days?

Answer 42

To allow everyone time to get to the polling station.

Question 43

There was a secret ballot. True or false?

Answer 43

False-voting was in the open. Electors voted by show of hands

Question 44

What percentage of county electors came under the influence of their landlords?

Answer 44

25%

Question 45

If landlords could not influence electors, what could they do?

Answer 45

Bribe with: Food Drink Entertainment Transport

Question 46

What would landlords do if voters could not completely be relied to vote in the desired way?

Answer 46

Would be 'cooped'.

Question 47

'Cooped' meaning

Answer 47

Being kidnapped and kept drunk until the elections were over.

Question 48

Reasons why elections where not challenged or opposed to.

Answer 48

1. Patron of a pocket borough had no opponents and both seats went to his nominee. 2. Deals were done between leading families so each took a seat in Parliament

Question 49

What areas of England were over-represented?

Answer 49

`Rural south

Question 50

What areas of England were under-represented?

Answer 50

Urban North and Midlands

Question 51

How many seats in the HoC were controlled by aristocrats i.e., members of the House of Lords?

Answer 51

Over 200

Question 52

Points to support old system.

Answer 52

1. Different types of voting qualifications gave a wide variety of people the vote. 2, Different interest were represented e.g., tenants' interests represented by their landowners 3, Deferential society: many voted out of respect for local leader since it was in their best interests/ looked up to local leader 4. Pocket and rotten boroughs allowed young talented men to rise to top whilst still young. 5. Lasted hundreds of years-served Britain well since Britain was the most advanced industrial nation, with a huge overseas empire. 6. Britain had avoided violence and killings of revolutionary France, so why challenge the stability