Week 3 Flashcards
What does the term Bloody Code refer to?
- The Draconian British law code of the period
- Many crimes have the death penalty (many property rights crimes)
What punishments existed apart from the death penalty?
- Stocks
- Penitentiary
- Transportation (i.e. to a penal colony)
What was the 1718 Transportation Act?
- Declares that criminals are to be brought to overseas territories
- The sentence is usually for 4–17 years
- But, by the time the sentence term is over, many of the prisoners cannot afford to return to Britain
What were prison hulks?
- Old, rotting ships that would be moored in the Thames
- Prisoners would serve terms here
- Brutal conditions
In what year is the slave trade outlawed in Britain?
1807
In what year is the act of slavery itself outlawed in Britain?
1833
What was the 1781 Zong Case?
- A slave ship named the Zong
- Many of the slaves got sick, so the captain threw many of them overboard
- After selling the slaves who hadn’t been sick in Jamaica, the captain filed for an insurance claim upon returning to London
- The insurance company refused to pay the claims, so the shipowner took them to court
- The jury goes in favor of the shipowner, and the insurance company is forced to pay insurance
Why is the 1781 Zong Case important?
- It exposed to the British public the inhumanity of the commercialization of slavery
Which English king lost the American colonies?
George III
Which English king becomes the symbol for royal tyranny?
George III
Why did George III need a regency from 1811-1820?
Because of his mental difficulties
Who is the first British-born Hanoverian dynasty monarch?
George III
Who was George IIIs PM, who was his childhood tutor?
The Earl of Bute
Why did people dislike the Earl of Bute?
- He was Scottish
- He didn’t have any qualifications to be PM
Define: Boroughs
- Boroughs were administrative units in urban areas that elected an MP
What was a Rotten Borough?
- A borough that contained so few people that it shouldn’t be able to elect an MP
What was a notable example of a Rotten Borough?
Auld Saram
What was a Pocket Borough?
A borough that was fully controlled by a landowning family (ex. whoever the landowning family voted for, the borough followed suit)
What was the Catholic Relief Act, 1793
-Irish parliament partially lifts some of the restrictions on Catholics
Who was the Earl of Bute’s most notable critic, famous for his political attacks?
John Wilkes
What is Parliamentary Privilege?
- The loosened restrictions on freedom of speech within parliament
True or False: John Wilkes was brought to court many times for directly slandering the King
TRUE
By which century does an attempt at British (ie Anglo-Scottish) unity and identity emerge?
19th century
What is central to the Anglo-Scottish British unity?
Not being French
___________ is seen as a weak point, that could host a French invasion force.
Ireland
What did the 1801 Union create?
The Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Why is the 1801 Union of Great Britain and Ireland important?
- Because it secured Ireland from foreign invasion
What were Irish Protestants upset about at the English?
- The lack of power in their own parliaments
What is the great limitation of Irish Parliament in the period?
- Irish Parliament is not allowed to make any legislation without the consent of British Parliament
What sparks the British creation of Irish Militias?
- The transferring of British troops in Ireland to America
What were the Irish Militias known as?
“Volunteers”
What is notable about the British created Irish Militias?
They are Protestants
What were the Catholic Relief Acts, 1790s?
- Allowed wealthy Irish Catholics to vote
- Lifts further penal laws
In what year can Catholics finally become MP?
1829
Who formed the United Irishmen?
Theobald Wolfe Tone
Who were the United Irishmen?
- A nationalist group wanting more independence for Ireland
True or False: The United Irishmen wanted Catholics AND Protestants in their ranks
TRUE
Why did the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland fail?
- Poor coordination
- The French don’t manage to land in substantial number because of the weather
What forces England to make a union with Ireland?
The 1798 Rebellion in Ireland
True or False: England retains a Lord Lieutenant in Ireland despite the Act of Union in 1801.
TRUE
What was the limitation for the Anglican Church during the Industrial Revolution?
- The Anglican Church could not keep up with the droves of people moving into urban centres
Who founded the Methodist Church?
John Wesley
How did Wesley preach his new Methodist doctrine?
By galloping on a horse and preaching in public spaces
Why did the Anglicans despise the Methodists?
- Because the Methodists were often composed of lower born working class families
What were the Gordon Riots 1780?
- Anti-Catholic riots in London
- Named after the pro-Protestant Lord Gordon
- Gordon demanded parliament not to issue any more Catholic relief acts
- 300–700 Catholics are killed in mob violence
Why are the Gordon Riots significant?
- Shows lasting Anti-Catholic sentiment in England
Who famously predicted that the French Revolution would only end in violence?
Edmund Burke
Who is an opponent of a revolution, and helps form ideas of the British opposition to the revolution?
Edmund Burke
By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, what portion of Navy sailors had been impressed?
3/4
What was impressment in the British Navy?
- The British Navy did not have enough personnel
- So, they turned to sending recruiters with mobs of men to forcibly enlist captured sailors and drunk bar-goers
How did the British respond to Napoleon’s continental system?
- British started to board and search French and Neutral ships and seize any goods
By which treaty was the “Concert of Europe” meant to be restored?
Congress of Vienna, 1814
What caused the War of 1812?
- Caused mostly by British disrupting of American trade, and impressing and boarding American ships for impressment
- American expansionism and ambitions for taking Canada
The Industrial Revolution marked a switch from ____________ to ______________.
Household economy to Machine industries
When did Victoria come to the throne?
1837
Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in Britain first?
- Britain had free trade
- Big labor pool: More people become available to work in factories, since farming machinery replaced their jobs, leaving them unemployed
- Fuel and Raw Materials present in England
- England had lots of rivers and canals
- More individuals do private investments
- State involvement→ Private property is most secured by law enforcement in Britain than any other nation
What is the punishment for trespassing in England?
Death
Why does cotton production increase at the onset of the Industrial Revolution?
- Inventions and cotton machines
–> Flying Shuttle
–> Cotton Gin
–> The Spinning Frame
Who is known as the father of the factory system?
Richard Arkwright
What is the initial source of power for the Industrial Revolution in England?
Water
Who invented the Steam Engine?
James Watt
What was the 1833 Factory Act?
- Stated that nobody could hire a child under the age of 9 at a factory
- Children 9-13 could only work max 9 hours a day
What was the 1847 Factory Act?
-Enforced a 10-hour work week for adults
Why are the Factory Acts important?
These acts show a greater government involvement
What was the “Victorian Compromise”?
- An unofficial understanding between the upper and middle classes that the power should be shared between them, being too radical to give it to the working class
What stance on progressivism did the political parties of the Victorian period take?
- Tories allow for progress
- Whigs allow for some minor progress
What was the Test Act of 1763?
- Made it mandatory that all Catholics and non-Anglicans to attend an Anglican mass each year
Which Irish lawyer was known as “The Liberator”? Why?
Daniel O’Connell
- He creates the “Catholic Association” in 1823
- The association is a grassroots program to influence change
- You had to pay a penny to get in
- O’Connell is elected MP, but unable to sit in the House of Commons, since he is Catholic
- The next election, he is voted in again
- The government starts to grow nervous, since it was clear the people really wanted “O’Connell in
- So, in 1829, Irish Catholics could sit in parliament, and all restrictions are removed from Catholics
What was the Great Reform Act (1832)?
- A change in law reforming the political abuses in the House of Commons
- Got rid of Rotten Boroughs
- They are increasing the numbers of eligible voters, but it is still related to property, and most men still can’t vote
- ## Working class men still can’t vote
Who passed the Great Reform Act of 1832?
- Whig PM 2nd Earl Grey
What is the Anti-Corn Law league?
- In 1815 the British enacted the Corn Laws which put tariffs on all grain coming in the country
- This only hurt the working class, by keeping prices high, but benefited landowners and farmers
- The Anti-Corn League protested this law
Who were the Chartists?
- They believed that the Great Reform Act didn’t go far enough, and didn’t truly help the working class
- They wanted to improve the House of Commons
- Get millions of signatures around the country on the People’s Charter
What is the largest mass political movement of the Victorian period?
Chartism
What were the 6 demands of the People’s Charter?
- Universal Manhood Suffrage
- Equal electoral districts
- No property qualification for those in parliament
- Pay for parliamentary members
- Mandatory elections every year
- Secret ballot to vote
Why does the Chartist Rally in London ultimately fail in 1848?
- Their demands are not met (until much later)
- Many people put false joking signatures on the People’s Charter, so the government claimed it invalid
How many people starved to death in the Irish Famine?
1 million
When was the Irish Famine?
1848-52
One average Irishman would eat up to __________ pounds of potatoes a day
12-15
The poor in England typically ate ___________ whilst the poor in Ireland relied on ___________
The poor in England ate bread, the poor in Ireland ate Potatoes
What initial measure did the British government do to solve the potato famine?
- They imported corn en masse from America to feed the Irish
- But, the Irish hated corn, and were not used to it, so many didn’t cook it right, and got digestion issues
Why did parliament choose to send corn from America to Ireland?
- Wheat would interfere with supply and demand in England (Because corn didn’t grow in England, and would thus not screw up the English agrarian economy)
Besides the sending corn, what did the government do as a relief measure for the starving Irish during the famine?
- They employed people to work on public works projects
What ended up being the most effective relief measure during the Irish Famine?
- Government sponsored soup kitchens
- But, they dropped this after a few months due to the cost
When did the government finally repeal the Corn Acts?
1847
Which British monarch brought about Tory resurgence?
George III
