Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Condition Of England
- Sir Robert Peel
and the repeal of
the corn laws.
- From debt and economic
depression there was surplus
and economic recovery through
income tax; cutting tarrifs
- This lead to relief of distress; dilution
of the Chartist threat; slowdown in
Anti-Corn Law league campaign
- Repealed the Corn laws due to shortage of food; to
remove the threat of the League and of class struggle;
the Irish Famine made maintenance of the Corn Laws
indefensible; to make Britain a free trade nation.
- The challenge of the
Anti-Corn Law League
- Formed 1838 by
Manchester
Factory owners
- Arguments for repeal
- To boost industry
- To provide cheap bread
- They did this by having meetings; fund-raising; pamphlets
and newspapers; lectures; getting free traders elected to
Parliament
- Chartism in the 1840's
- National Charter
Association and
mass membership
- The economic depression of 1842 lead to
a Chartist revival, their second petition
was made a rejected in May 1842; this
caused Plug Plots and violence which led
to mass arrests.
- 1848: Chartist meeting in London;
petition and rejected; end of
chartism as a mass movement
- The Charter, the petition and the
convention 1937-9
- Launch of the Peoples Charter, May 1838; there
were mass meetings to elect delefates to
national Conventio, Feb-Sept 1839; debate in
conventions 'moral force' 'physical force' caused
divisions
- The rejection of the Chartist petition by
parliament in July 1839 lead to the Newport
Rising in Nov, which caused government
repression
- The Origins of Chartism
- Attack on trade unions; 1834
- Reform Bill Campaign; 1831-2
- Factory Act; 1833
- Anti Poor Law Campaign; 1837-8
- War of the unstamped press
- Diseases and public health
- Overcrowding, disease and the
impact of cholera lead to; opposition
to public health reform (as little
was known about it, there was
resisitance from local gov and
property owners and they thought it
would cost too much)
- Chadwicks 1842 report linked poverty and
diseases and stressed the need for clean water
supplies and sewerage
- The 1848 Public Health Act was passed; general
Board of Health empowered local councils to
set up Health boards.
- Education for the poor
- The importance of church schools was
recognised; in 1833 the government first
gave an education grant which llead to
Monitorial schools
- This made people realiise
that the teaching was bad
(monitorial system) which
made the gov also support
teacher training
- Children and Factory Reform
- The people that supported reform
were the Ten Hours Movement of
factory workers; Tory radicals/evangelical
Tories
- The Royal
Commission
passed the
Factory Act 1833
- There were further acts in 1840's to
protect women and children; there was,
however, no restictions made on mens
hours
- The decline of the Whigs and the 1841 election
- Irish Church Reform led to
the split of the Whig cabinet
and the eventual resignation of
the gov in 1834
- in 1835 the Whigs returned to gov and conservatives accused
them of over-dependence on 'dangerous' Radicals and Irish MP's;
failure to deal with the Chartist Threat
- The 1841 election lead to a Whig
defeat and a Conservative victory
- Reform of Local Gov and Church
- Municiple Corporations Act was passes to abolsih old,
currupt corporations; have town councils elected by all
ratepayers; incorporate new towns
- Church reform was passed to set up the Ecclesiastical Commision;
redistribute money; allow catholics/nonconformists to get married in
their own churches; reduce financial burden on CoI and the Irish
People
- Poor Law Amendment Act 1834
- The new poor law was based on the
'workhouse test' 'less eligibility' and
centralisation; which resulted in poor law
costs being reduces, hard conditions in
the workhouses, anti poor law movement
in 'industrial north' and outdoor relief being
continued.
- The old Poor Law
- The majority of the population is poor and relied on relief at some time
- property owning ratepayers were alarmed at
the rising cost of poor relief and the immorality
of the system
- Pressures for Reform
- 'Laissez Faire: belief in
minimal gov interaction
- Pressures came from
- UTILITARIANS: emphasis on practical usefulness
of laws and institutions
- HUMANITARIANS: moral and religious responsibility to
help the poor
- Importance of the Reform Act
- Whig Motives: party political gain over the
Tories; fear of disorder/revoloution;
enthusiasm for reform
- Whig Achievements: restorded social and political order; settled a 'great
consitutional question' and laid a basis for future stability and prosperity
- The King, the Lords and the country 1831-2
- The Lords rejected the second Bill in Oct 1831; this caused widespread riots and the gov reacting harshly; it
caused alarm for political unions who wanted non violent mass movement too
- DAYS OF MAY 1832: Gov introduced 3rd bill and Lords rejected it; the Whig gov then resigned and Lord Wellington created a Tory
Gov. There was huge demonstrations by the unions and the possible threat of civil war - therefore the Whigs were recalled and
the Bill was passed to keep the peace
- Reform Bill 1830-1
- The Introduction of the
bill i March 1831 caused
different views on reform
- WHIG: preserve existing system; prevent revolution and be 'final'
- TORY: would be destructive; incite revolution and lead to more radical change.
- The defeat of the Bill and general election in
April/May 1831 lead to massive support for
reform and Whigs won election; the 2nd Bill
passes the commons and is sent to the
House of Lords
- Support for reform
- Growing demand for parliamentary reform
(more seats); middle classes wanted more
say (votes from property owners);
universal manhood suffrage.
- Economy and
society
1815/Industrial
Revolution
- Rise in population; more labour industry; improving agriculture; growing
towns/factories; improved transport; technological innovation (eg
steam power)
- The political system
- Price Regent (future George IV) acted as monarch on behalf of sick George III;
Landowning aristocray dominated parliament; magistrates (JP's) ran local govs
- Whigs and Tories were the
two main groups in
Parliament
- Effects of war with France
- Luddite risings and harsh gov responses
- Economic effects of war led to new taxes on everyday goods
- Questioning of the
Corn laws necessity
- Radical campaign and gov
responses 1815-20
- Radical agitation toward radical press,
political clubs and mass meetings
- Threatened by spa fields; march of
blanketeers; pentrich rising; peterloo
massacre
- Gov responded by the suspension of Habeas
Corpus; banning public meetings; the use of spies
(eg Oliver) and the Six Acts.
- Liberal Tories 1820-7
- Promotions to key posts 1822
(Peel; canning; Robinson;
Huskisson)
- Trade reform and the repeal of the combination acts 1824
- Break up of the Tory Gov
- There were many changes in PM, Lord Liverpool -> George Canning -> Viscount
Goderich -> Duke of Wellington
- Catholic Emancipation; splits the Tory party and brings Whigs to power Nov 1830
- George IV died June 1830 and William IV becomes king
- Whigs come to power 1830
- Earl Grey forms a cabinet dominated by aristocrats 1830
- New gov deals harshly with swing riots 1830-1
- Revival of political unions and demand for parliamentary reform
- What was the parliamentary
electoral system like?
- all counties returned 2 MP;s
- Only 11% of the adult men could
vote
- Boroughs: variety of voting qualifications so
that some had small electorates and some
large
- Over 200 seats in the H.O.C were
controlled by aristocrats i.e. members of
the House of Lords
- There was no secret ballot; influence and
bribery was common in elections
- The rural south of England was
over-represented and the more urban
areas eg North and Midlands were
under-represented