What was the most significant cause of the 1867 Reform Act?

Question 1

What four factors need to be discussed?

Answer 1

1) Legacy of the 1832 reform act
2) Actions of the political parties
3) Role of Pressure groups
4) Riots and External Factors

Question 2

What did Lord Russell propose in 1852?

Answer 2

The borough qualification should be reduced from £10/year to £6/year

Question 3

In what year’s were Lord Russell’s 1852 reforms rejected?

Answer 3

1854 and 1860

Question 4

What did Lord Russell’s reforms being rejected in 1854 and 1860 demonstrate?

Answer 4

Whilst this demonstrated that there was a significant movement for reform to the voting system, the opposition was based on partisan politics and a fear of the working classes. The sceptics remained after the act had been passed, which suggests that that they were not a significant impediment.

Question 5

When did the Liberals return to power?

Answer 5

1859

Question 6

Under whom didi the Liberals return to power under in 1859?

Answer 6

Lord Palmerston

Question 7

When did Lord Palmerston die?

Answer 7

1865

Question 8

Who was Lord Palmerston replaced by?

Answer 8

Earl Russel

Question 9

Why did Earl Russell’s appointment help the 1867?

Answer 9

The helped to cause the 1867 act because he was determined to enact reform, yet previously whilst Lord Palmerston was PM there was never really any social change.

Question 10

How were Earl Russell’s endeavours supported by Gladstone?

Answer 10

Gladstone’s 1864 announcements that he thought that the working class had proven themselves and should be allowed to vote.

Question 11

What didi the 1861 American civil war mean for Britain?

Answer 11

The cotton supply to the UK was cut off, known as the cotton famine, upon which relied thousands of British jobs.

Question 12

When was the Hyde Park Riot?

Answer 12

23rd July 1866

Question 13

Who led the Hyde Park Riots?

Answer 13

John Bedford Leno

Question 14

What were the Hyde Park Riots prompted by?

Answer 14

The failing of the first Liberal Bill

Question 15

Who declared the Hyde Park meeting illegal?

Answer 15

Tory Home Secretary Spencer Walpole

Question 16

Why did the police call in in military support for the Hyde Park Riots?

Answer 16

The police called in military support due to a crowd of about 200 000.

Question 17

What did John Bedford Leno also announce?

Answer 17

John Bedford Leno announced another rally in Trafalgar Square the following evening which also ended peacefully

Question 18

What happened in 1864?

Answer 18

In 1864 the National reform Union was established

Question 19

What did the NRU want?

Answer 19

Which wanted to extend the franchise to all male ratepayers, distribute seats evenly across the country and establish a secret ballot.

Question 20

Out of the Reform League and the National Reform Union, which can be described as suffragists and which can be described at suffragettes?

Answer 20

Reform league suffragettes but not as violent

Nation Reform Union Suffragists

Question 21

How is a major consequence of the 1832 reform act demonstrated by the newly enfranchised exercising their right to vote?

Answer 21

The Reform League

Question 22

What about the reform league meant that government would have to take notice of them if they wanted to stay in office?

Answer 22

they were middle class voters

Question 23

How had the 1832 reform act impacted how parties saw reform?

Answer 23

Of the twenty years between 1832 and 1852, the Tories and Conservatives were in power for just 7 years. The 1832 reform act had given the Whigs great credit for its passage, when Disraeli passed the 1867 reform act, he was thinking of his own party’s success, though this did not ultimately come to fruition

Question 24

What happened in 1852 that suggests that reform passed due to the actions of the Tories and whigs?

Answer 24

1852 Lord Russel proposed that the property qualification in boroughs be reduce? from £10/year to £6/year.

Question 25

What happened to Russell’s 1852 proposal that the property qualification in boroughs be reduced from £10/year to £6/year?

Answer 25

Rejected in 1854 and 1860

Question 26

The fact that Russell’s act’s sceptics from the 1852 proposal remained after the 1867 reform act suggests what?

Answer 26

That they weren’t the reason that reform took so long

Question 27

When did the liberals return to power and under who did they do this?

Answer 27

1859 the Liberals returned to power under Lord Palmerston

Question 28

When did Russell come to power, who did he replace and why did he replace him?

Answer 28

1865 replacing Palmerston because Palmerston died

Question 29

Why did the replacing of Palmerston with Russell create the 1867 reform act?

Answer 29

The helped to cause the 1867 act because he was determined to enact reform, yet whilst Lord Palmerston was PM there was never really any social change.

Question 30

Palmertson’s 1865 death changed what in the House of Commons?

Answer 30

The nature of debate

Question 31

After Palmerston’s 1865 death, how was the nature of debate changed in the house of commons?

Answer 31

Many started to believe that increased working class voting would favour their ‘natural masters’ rather than specifically create class conflict.

Question 32

Earl Russell’s endeavours where supported by whose announcements and when were these?

Answer 32

1864 Gladstone announced that he thought that the working class had proven themselves and should be allowed to vote

Question 33

Why did Gladstone announce in 1864 that he felt that the working classes had proven themselves?

Answer 33

witnessed their maturity in regard to the American Civil War

Question 34

Who launched an impassioned speech making campaign, where was this and when was this?

Answer 34

Liberal MP John Bright in Birmingham to campaign for parliamentary reform at the end of 1858

Question 35

What did Bright’s role morph into, when was this and whose support could he manage?

Answer 35

By the second half of 1866 Bright found himself the the hero and chief mouthpiece of the reformers, accepted by both those who demanded universal suffrage and those who wanted more limited reform

Question 36

Which two MPs served as the parliamentary face of the reform movement?

Answer 36

Gladstone and John Bright

Question 37

What had Bright long been?

Answer 37

A moderniser

Question 38

What shows Bright to be a long running progressive moderniser?

Answer 38

founding the Anti-Corn law league in 1839 and had opposed Britain’s involvement in the Crimean War

Question 39

When did the Conservatives come to power and under whom did they come to power?

Answer 39

June 1866 Benjamin Disraeli

Question 40

What were Disraeli’s two motives for passing the bill in 1867?

Answer 40

1) Getting support for the conservatives

2) taking support away from Gladstone

Question 41

Disraeli’s 1867 act passed with a larger what than it started with and why was this?

Answer 41

Franchise and this was due to amendments being proposed

Question 42

Disraeli’s plan was so radical that which three members of the cabinet resigned following its passage?

Answer 42

Cranbourne, Peel (jnr) and Carnarvon

Question 43

What does the Historian Bentley say about Disraeli’s passage of the 1867 reform act?

Answer 43

“turned a political crisis into a personal opportunity”

Question 44

What are the three pressure groups that need to be discussed?

Answer 44

1) Reform union
2) National reform league
3) Chartists

Question 45

When was the NRU established?

Answer 45

1864

Question 46

What did the NRU want to do?

Answer 46

extend the franchise to all male ratepayers,
distribute seats evenly across the country
establish a secret ballot

Question 47

What did the NRU’s members bring in?

Answer 47

The intelligentsia behind the reform movement

Question 48

What were the NRU members mostly?

Answer 48

. Members of the NRU were mostly liberal-minded employers

Question 49

Give an example with detail of a prominent member of the NRU?

Answer 49

Samuel Morley, a wool manufacturer from Nottingham who was elected as MP for the city in 1865

Question 50

What did Samuel Morely believe about giving the working classes the vote?

Answer 50

It would empower them and advance society

Question 51

Why did the government find the NRU so hard to ignore?

Answer 51

Because they were the middle classes exercising their power gained in 1832

Question 52

When was the reform league set up?

Answer 52

1864

Question 53

what did the Reform League campaign for?

Answer 53

universal males suffrage and a secret ballot

Question 54

The 1864 Reform League was much more radical than the NRU, yet it was still what?

Answer 54

relatively moderate

Question 55

How does the leadership show the Reform League to be, despite being more radical than the NRU, relatively moderate?

Answer 55

Its President was a barrister called Edmond Beales

Question 56

How does the membership criteria show the Reform League to be, despite being more radical than the NRU, relatively moderate?

Answer 56

Radical trade unionists were disallowed from joining

Question 57

What respectable method of pressuring did the NRU use, seen as respectable as long as they remained non-violent?

Answer 57

demonstrations

Question 58

Why were the Reform League careful not to turn to out and out violence?

Answer 58

This would create an unconstructive atmosphere with government

Question 59

Instead of resorting to violence which would compromise their relationship with government, what did the Reform League instead want to do?

Answer 59

promote public discussion and take advantage of a political climate in which governments were willing to listen

Question 60

At the time, what about the work of the NRU and more radical Reform League appealed to government?

Answer 60

Politicians at the time were able to gain considerable support by promising to extend the franchise

Question 61

Compare the public support and funding of the NRU and Reform League?

Answer 61

The NRU had more money but the Reform league had more public support

Question 62

With more public support than the NRu but less money, which two types of people did the Reform League notably attract?

Answer 62

trade unionists and ex-chartists

Question 63

Name all the demonstrations of the Reform League in 1866

Answer 63

1866: Hyde Park Riots, Birmingham Reform Demonstrations (August) Chiswick demonstration (December)

Question 64

Name all the demonstrations of the Reform League in 1867

Answer 64

Agricultural Hall meeting in Islington February 1867 and the Hyde Park demonstrations May 1867

Question 65

Though chartism failed, assess its value?

Answer 65

Though none of the Chartist’s 6 points were achieved and Chartism failed within its own lifetime, it did keep radical ideas alive until a time when they found a more appreciative ear after 1852.

Question 66

The chartists’ goal of obtaining universal franchise was taken on by which influential group?

Answer 66

New Model Unions form 1851, and so carried the support of many skilled workers

Question 67

What three things belong in the ‘Riots and External Factors’ factor?

Answer 67

1) Hyde Park Riots
2) American Civil war 1861
3) Population changes

Question 68

Who declared Bedford-Leno’s 1866 Hyde Park Riot illegal?

Answer 68

Tory Home Secretary Spencer Walpole

Question 69

Though the gates to Hyde park were shut, how did protesters gain entrance in 1866?

Answer 69

people climbed and swung on the railings until they collapsed to get into the park

Question 70

How many people at the Hyde Park Riots 1866?

Answer 70

200 000

Question 71

Due to the crowd of 200 000 at the Hyde Park riots, what did the police call in?

Answer 71

military support

Question 72

After the peaceful end of the hyde park riots, what did Bedford Leno announce?

Answer 72

A second Rally in Trafalgar Square the following day, which also ended peacefully

Question 73

When were the Hyde Park Riots?

Answer 73

23rd July 1866

Question 74

When was the American cicivl war?

Answer 74

1861 - 65

Question 75

What did the American civil war of 1861 mean for the British economy?

Answer 75

meant that the cotton supply to the UK was cut off, known as the cotton famine, upon which relied thousands of British jobs

Question 76

Why was the American Civil war of 1861 significant for the 867 reform act?

Answer 76

This was a significant cause of the 1867 reform act as whilst thousands of workers became redundant, they still supported the anti-slavery cause in the USA. This prompted Gladstone to take a greater interest in the north, and come and visit. Witnessing their maturity, he became convinced they were ready for suffrage.

Question 77

Gladstone’s acceptance that the working class were ready for suffrage was contrary to what?

Answer 77

This was also contrary to the view that the working classes were apathetic and did not have the capacity to vote rationally. The government had traditionally viewed the workers to be violent and ignorant and this alleviated this.

Question 78

Complete the sentence about Population changes: As Britain underwent fundamental structural and demographic changes it became….

Answer 78

…necessary for the political system to mirror such a transformation

Question 79

Between 1821 and 1861, the population in Britain rose from what to what?

Answer 79

rose from just over 24 million to more than 31 million

Question 80

The majority of the growing population fell where and what did this mean for the franchise?

Answer 80

The majority of this growing population resided in ever-developing towns and cities, so falling under the 1832 £10 borough franchise.

Question 81

The majority of the growing population were in the towns and cities, so what did this mean for the electoral Map?

Answer 81

This meant that having re-drawn the electoral map in 1832, this new map was again out of date. A growing majority of people in these boroughs did not have the right to vote.