Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Peel and the Conservative Party, c.1830-1850
- Background: The 'Liberal Tory' tradition, c.1812-1830:
- This was a retrenchment rather than reform, was focused
upon fixing issues rather than a set of beliefs (evidence for this
was Catholic emancipation) and it was consentual not partisain
- There was an evolution on tariff and agricultural protection
- After Reform: Remaking the
Conservative Party, c
1832-1841
- Liberal Toryism wast enough to
stop the parliamentary reform,
as there were much more Whigs
(in 1832)
- Named: Opponents of reform
call themselves 'Tory' from 1831,
however by the mid 1830s, they
were 'conservative'
- Organised: Carlton Club (1832),
there was a strong leadership
and Peel threatened to resin,
however there was national
electioneering at the 1834
Tamworth Manifesto
- Moderate: 'Liberal
Conservative' rather than 'Ultra
Tory', there was focus upon
agricultural, Anglican and
properties interests
- Revived: in 1835 conservative
MPs were not the majority, the
liberals and others were,
however the Tories won 85% of
English country seats
- National Crisis and the 'Condition
of England Question': Britain in 1841
- Chartism petition included 1/3rd of
Britain's adult population, and was
3.5 times the size of the electorate
- There was a war with China and
Afghanistan and dispute with US, the
Anti-Corn Law League (1839) and O'Connell
revived agitation for repeal of the Union.
- There was an unstable population that
was increasing by 15% each decade, an
economic depression (1837-42), financial
crisis, and an insolvent government,
where Whigs abolished the House tax
and increased gov budget deficit
- 1842: The Great
Budget:
- There was a
new source of
revenue, the
income tax (Not
an easy or new
solution) but it
raised revenue
substantially,
levied on the
rich and allowed
for tariff reform
(which was
further reduced
in 1845), which
still left a budget
surplus
- Rethinking the Corn Laws
- They were socially
divisive (aristocratic
and agricultural)
and inefficient
(misallocation of
capital) as well as
immoral (as free
trade would cause
peace)
- Those who supported conservatives believed
they provided balance b/w economic sectors and
the agriculture was less prone to fluctuations,
and sustained the domestic demand
- The protectionist
political party was a
central conservative
belief in the 1830s
- Conservative
leadership wanted to
reduce the corn law, the
anti-corn law league
was strong by 1845
- The great famine
allowed peel a pretext
to abolish the corn law,
however it wasn't the
sole reason
- Grassroots conservatives
were betrayed and corn
law was gradually phased
out with the approval of
the liberals
- The Other
Repeal
Movement:
Irish
Seperatism:
- 1841: O'Connel revived
reppeal movement of
the Unions, with mass
public meetings,
(including Aug 1843
Tara meeting with over
1 million attendees
- Peel was sumpathetic and wanted
to detatch catholic church and Irish
middle class from nationalism
- Solution: Catholic
education was
improved by increasing
'Maynooth Grant'
- Maynooth Grant: 1845, very
controversial as it allowed growth of
anti-catholicism since percieved
failed cathlic emancipation (thought
to quell seperatism), there was
growing dissent and evangelicalism
(Chapels Act of 1844). Maynooth
was greatly opposed by
conservative party and failed in
Ireland
- Conclusion: The Consequences of Repeal and Maynooth
- Consistent with Peel's liberal tory
principles developed during the 1820s,
however there was a new type of
conservatism emerging not consistent
with the old type, causing split party,
and free-traders joining the liberals.
- Economic
consequences: they
were questionable,
as USA and
Germany overtook
Britain in the 1870s