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Paper 3 Protest, Agitation and Parliamentary Reform > UNIT 1-Lesson 1: What was voting like in the 1780s? > Flashcards

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

1
Q

Electoral system

A

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.

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2
Q

Political system

A

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

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3
Q

Give examples of political systems.

A

Democracy
Republics
Monarchies
Communism
Dictatorships

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4
Q

Aristocracy

A

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

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5
Q

Nonconformists

A

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

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6
Q

Examples of nonconformists

A

Baptists
Quakers
Presbyterians
Methodists

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7
Q

French Revolution

A

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

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8
Q

Pocket borough

A

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

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9
Q

Who were majority of the pocket boroughs controlled by?

A

Tories

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10
Q

Rotten Borough

A

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

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11
Q

Deferential

A

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

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12
Q

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

A

Industrial Revolution

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13
Q

King in 1780

A

George III

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14
Q

Who was government and Parliament dominated by?

A

Landowning classes

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15
Q

Why did the monarch have to listen to Parliament?

A

Needed to influence policies and get them to agree to taxes

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16
Q

Who were the most important landowning families?

A

Members of the aristocracy

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17
Q

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

A

Hereditary

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18
Q

Where else did landowning classes hold the highest positions?

A

Church
Armed services
Judiciary
Civil service
Local government

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19
Q

What type of men could vote?

A

Those who had their money in trade or industry

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20
Q

What 2 parties did majority of the MPs belong to?

A

Tories
Whigs

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21
Q

What powers did the monarch have?

A

Could appoint and dismiss prime ministers

22
Q

How many MPs were there in 1780?

A

658

23
Q

How many MPs are there now?

A

650

24
Q

What was the country divided up into?

A

Constituencies

25
Q

How many MPs did most constituencies return?

A

2

26
Q

What 2 types of constituencies where there?

A

County seats
Borough seats

27
Q

How many county seats where there in England?

A

82

28
Q

How many borough seats where there in England?

A

403

29
Q

How many seats did Oxford and Cambridge universities have each?

A

2

30
Q

Where were the counties mainly?

A

Rural areas

31
Q

Where were the borough mainly?

A

Large rural towns and ports

32
Q

UK population in 1780

A

14 million

33
Q

How many men had the right to vote?

A

Less than half a million

34
Q

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

A

5%

35
Q

In counties, which men could vote?

A

‘Forty-shilling freeholders.’

36
Q

Who were the ‘Forty-shilling freeholders.’?

A

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

37
Q

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

A

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

38
Q

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

A

10-20

39
Q

How were rotten boroughs created?

A

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

40
Q

How many constituencies had fewer than 50 votes each?

A

Over 50

41
Q

What could happen with rotten boroughs?

A

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

42
Q

Why did elections last several days?

A

To allow everyone time to get to the polling station.

43
Q

There was a secret ballot.
True or false?

A

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

44
Q

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

A

25%

45
Q

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

A

Bribe with:
Food
Drink
Entertainment
Transport

46
Q

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

A

Would be ‘cooped’.

47
Q

‘Cooped’ meaning

A

Being kidnapped and kept drunk until the elections were over.

48
Q

Reasons why elections where not challenged or opposed to.

A
  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
49
Q

What areas of England were over-represented?

A

`Rural south

50
Q

What areas of England were under-represented?

A

Urban North and Midlands

51
Q

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

A

Over 200

52
Q

Points to support old system.

A
  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

  1. Pocket and rotten boroughs allowed young talented men to rise to top whilst still young.
  2. Lasted hundreds of years-served Britain well since Britain was the most advanced industrial nation, with a huge overseas empire.
  3. Britain had avoided violence and killings of revolutionary France, so why challenge the stability

Paper 3 Protest, Agitation and Parliamentary Reform (2 decks)

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