Victorian Political History Flashcards
What was the 1832 Great Reform Act?
1) Created uniform borough franchise; those owning or occupying £10 rental value were enfranchise.
2) Disenfranchised a lot of ‘rotten boroughs’
3) Enfranchised industrial cities
4) Created expectation that parliament would be more representative.
What proportion of the adult male population could vote after 1832?
18.4%
up from 12.4%: impact of Act limited in scope, but created expectation
What was the 1867 Second Reform Act?
Introduced ‘household suffrage’ in the boroughs.
Set county franchise set at £12
What was the Franchise Act 1884?
Introduced household suffrage for the counties -> enfranchised agricultural labourers -> increased British electorate by two thirds.
What was the 1885 Redistribution Act?
Introduced single member constituencies and ended small boroughs.
What was the impact of 1832 on Ireland?
After 1832 only 60,000 people registered to vote. This was exacerbated by the Great Famine: the total number of voters fell to 45,000 in 1849-50.
1850 Irish Franchise Act increased electorate to 116,546: 13.4% of the adult male population.
What was the impact of the 1832 Reform Act on women?
Women’s exclusion from the franchise was formalised.
What was Mill’s amendment to the 1867 Reform Bill?
Proposed a women’s suffrage amendment, that prompted the creation of the organised women’s suffrage campaign.
When did the two party system break down?
1840s
1846: Conservative Party split in 1846 over the Corn Laws
1847-52: Coalition between Whigs and Radicals began to break down in the ministry of Lord John Russell.
When did the two-party system emerge/re-emerge?
1) 1832 Reform Act polarised politics into the Conservatives on one side and whigs, radicals, and reformers on the other (who described themselves as liberals by 1847.)
2) Broke down 1840s, re-emerged in 1859 as Palmerston reunited the Liberals.
Who was the dominant figure of the conservative party 1800-1850?
Sir Robert Peel: PM 1835, 1841-46. Son of a manufacturer, with a double first at Oxford.
Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto 1835 offered a vision of a pragmatic, reformist Conservatism, but for most of the century the party’s main appeal was the defence of the Church and opposition to Whig Reform.
What were the Corn Laws?
1815, 1823 and 1839: protected British farmers from cheap imports by banning the import of corn until the price reached a certain threshold.
+ for farmers and landowners, - for consumers.
When was the Anti-Corn Law League founded?
Established 1838. Dominant figure was Richard Cobden.
When, why and how did the Conservative Party split?
1846
Main body under Derby, aided by Disraeli; split group of Peelites. Peel died in 1850. Peelites formed a coalition government with the Whigs in 1852, but were discredited by the Crimean War.
Some Peelites joined the Liberals in 1859, most notably Gladstone.
Derby formed a minority governments in 1852, 1858-9 and 1866-8 but was unable to win a majority.
What was a Whig?
Aristocratic leadership to provide educated rational response to public demands.
Interested in creating national institutions, eg. parliament, church, binding different interest groups together
The power of the state should be used to promote moral progress. A broad church approach that sought to find common ground with a range of Christian views.
What was a radical?
Suspicious of the state and aristocratic privilege-> wanted low taxes, laissez faire and free trade.
Wanted a more democratic electoral system (male householders)
What was influence of religion on radical politicians?
Radicals were often protestant nonconformists, and therefore opposed any state interference in religion. Supported disestablishment of the Church of England.
How were the radicals divided by the 1832 Reform Act
Respectable radicals were enfranchised -> Anti-Corn Law League
Poorer radicals left without the vote -> Chartism
What were the 6 points of Chartism
1) Universal adult male suffrage
2) The secret ballot
3) Annual parliaments
4) Constituencies of equal size
5) Payment of MPs
6) Abolition of property qualification for MPs
When did Chartism decline?
1848; revived with the Reform League in the 1860s.
Why were radicals hostile to Lord John Russell’s ministry 1846-52?
1) Too aristocratic and exclusive
2) Social reforms too interventionist
3) religious policies antagonised nonconformists
4) Irish and colonial policy seemed to interventionist
5) Taxes too high
What was the impact of the Crimean War?
- Government seen as ineffective
- Revived radical criticisms of aristocratic government
- Formation of the Administrative Reform Association 1855
What characterised the 1850s?
A struggle between Russell and Palmerston for leadership of Liberals.
In the context of invasion scares Russell seemed weak on defence. Palmerston was able to reunite Liberal coalition around robust and patriotic foreign policy.
Benefitted from economic upswing and post 1848 complacency about the merits of the British constitution.
What happened after the death of Palmerston?
Russell became PM, but Reform bill split Libs -> Derby forms ministry and with Disraeli, passes 2nd Reform Act
