issues with pre 1832 and the lead up to 1832

the secert ballot

• when elections took place there was a lack of a secert ballot

• this made the practise if intimidation particuarly effective espeically when the voter relied upon the landowner and employer who was standing for election

• gentry were able to apply pressure onto tennants

• this led to many boroughs being directly controlled by local landowner or government themselves

pocket boroughs

• money which could be paid in order to buy your seat in parliment e.g gratton bought for £90,000 at auction in 1801

• led to wealth land owners being amoung those whom controlled parliment meaning the maintance of the system which they benefiited from occured

• it did not adqueatly relfect the different interests in the country

rotten boroughs

• issues with the system, since many began to see it as being completely out of date - created in the medevil period where the distrobution of seats had been based on the importance of the constituancey at the time of creation

• old sarum still had 2 MP’S and dunchwich only had 32 people living there are still 2 MP’s as well

• in contrast, new industrial cities like manchester which has 182,000 by 1831 and birmingham which has 144,000 had no repressentation at all

gordon riots 1780 + attempts at early reform

• there were serval attempts to promote reform to parliament

• london based society for consitutional information which emerged in 1780 which sought to promote public awareness of the need of reform through panhelptering

• the gordon riots in 1780 however undermined the early action that campaingers took, this is because is scared propertiered classes and turned them away from political change

• 1785 pitt proposed disenfrancshing 36 of the worst boroughs but it was defeted

• reform was not a popular issuse during the 1780’s and very few mp’s were really motoviated to change a system which they ultimately had benefited greatly from

the French Revolution 1789

• lead to critiscms occuring over the british model, its legtimacey was questioned since many were unhappy about the ‘rule by the rich’

• Thomas pain published rights of man which eloquently condemmed inequalities and it had sold 200,000 copies by 1793. it called for radical reform and inspired many to take up early action

• however government and upper class officals attempted to subdue the criticsms of the british system, burke wrote the reflections of the revolution in france, which rather proposed that a slow and adaptive movement towards change and enfrachisement should rather occur

impact of french revolution on campaigning groups

• sheffiled society for the constitutional information formed in 1791 + london corresponding society

• they raised public awareness by writting political phanplets and took more assertive methods such as the demonstration at the copenhagen fields in october 1795

• this showed how reform was a pressing issuse for the country

• but this was overshadowed by the outbreak of the napolenic wars in 1793, which increased patrisim to the british system

• under such pressure reform movements began to decrease and there would be no sustianed parliamentary reform movement till after the wars in1815

end of the nap wars

• 1815 → 40,000 soliders return to an econmoically depressed england (link to the swing riots)

• 1816 there was mass harvest failures, which coupled with the declining wages highlighted the ineqaulities between the rich and the poor that refocused attentiion upon the political aristocratic regmine

• active reform press which churned out political articles and phanphelts, such as cobbetts political register which only cost 2d and wooler black dwarf

• such activites ensured that there was political awareness spread across the country

• marching and attempts at rebellion also occured - spa fileds 1816, although it was broken up it heraled a wave of more threating political action that sought to rock up the establishment

• although not a direct causer towards parlimentary reform it showed the socio-econimcal instabilitly within england by highlightning the larger divisions between the poor and ther rich

peeter loo massacre 1819

• manchester a fields a family peaceful campagain over the working class having a poltical envolvement

• radical speaker henry hunt attracked up to 60,000 people to go to the event

• the government were fearful of riots occuring and local magistrates orderd the meeting to be disbanded

• the contextual fear of revolution led to an overreaction from authorties with yeomary being relaised killing 18 and injuring 400 more

IMPACT

• the immediate outcome was further repression by the 6 acts which banned things such as public meeting of more than 50 people

• the aftermath of the massacre suggests that the government was fearful of a violent reprisal and that they wanted to crush any kind of discontent

• shock anf brutalitly of the event drove many middle class to alline themselves with the reformers

• the massacre stirred up a greater determination - as seen through the cato street conspircay in 1820 - but this was very much a minorty acting upon personal motives rather than an altrusitic community spirit

• violent aggitation would decline after the 1820’s mainly due to the economny becoming stronger

the middle class desire for reform

• self made men had a commerical drive that would translate into a political appietite big enough to consume the unreformed model of goverance

• they had their own political opinons and began to assert them particuarly in an economical sense as there was an ineffeicencey of the political stucture

• the practise of patronage ensured that the sucess of individuals was found by the rich backers rather than their own talents

• aristotcratic favourtisim showed how there was a blatant unrperessentive distrobution of seats in parliament

• the urban middle class provided both employment and much of britians resources, so in their eyes it was logical for them to have a share in the political bounty

economic and social distress

• the corns laws → stark example of how the government was looking after its own and protising land owners

• between 1821 and 1829 the gross national product grew by 16%, this prospeirty led to a relaxation of government policy and made them more progressive with their attutides

• but reform wasnt still occuring, in 1822 whig lord john russell put forward a bill for the disenfrachisement of 100 rotten boroughs however it got no support

• towards the end of the decade however there was a sharpe economic decline due to poor harvests in 1828+29

• by 1830 there were 200 peitions sent to parliament from rural areas demanding change and when conditions failed to improve riots broke out such as the swing riots

• they were not directly motoviated by reform however the alarmed land owners who were motoviated by self preservation and began to see reform as a means to appease the discontent

the birmingham poltical union 1829

• founded by mc thomas attwood whom discussed the idea of wider enfranchisement in a repsectable and peaceful manner whilst cultivating a more ideological sense towards reform

• believed that financal reforms could only occur once political reform was firstly secured

• with poltical affilation due to francis burdett mp

• singifacnt by its nature creating a model for other simialr start ups but also through its role in brining attention towards the cause, 12,-000 people turning up to speeches and 8,000 signing a petition for government

• became the model for other political unions and they began to yield some postive results

• however, the cause lacked forcefulness in return for its more respectable manner meaning the government had less intresets and could reject its means without fears

• nonetheless, still signifacnt towards the public to push the idea of reform

decline in tory power

• since 1812 there had been no change in the leadership, which made it very difficult for the whig opposition to gain power

• however they were showing signs of divisoon over the issuse of catholic immancipation in irealnd

• robert peel was agaisnt but george channing was for, this created polarisation and the whigs saw this as a chance to break to tory power

• it was only lord liverpool who was keeping the party together

lord liverpool and the tory crisis

• lord liverpool resigns 1827

• this created a power vaccum and the sudden vunriablitly of the government created the opportuinity for divisions to occur

• leads to them splitting thus further declining their power and influence in parliment only 42 mps

• in the space oif just 3 months they had 11 different leaders

• signifacant in the growth of liberals within parliment whom were pushing towards enfranchisement occuring and ultras who rejected such ideas

• the tories were unable to maintain and effective government leading them to step aside and instead the whig administration come in

• first bill introduced in 1831 however tories were still able to repress

the middle class

• middle class wanted enfranchisement → because they were so important often econmically to britian and had grown in both their relative size and strength they felt as if they also desevred a say

• formed pressure groups both peaceful and more radical to persuse their cause into the mindest of wide society which overall aided pressure on parliment

• due to the middle classes importance, the government was also more likely to listen to them out of their own interests

first and second bills

• march 1831 the first bill was passed, but it was by no means a radical measure it only called for 100 boroughs to be disenfranchished

• it was closely scruintised and earl grey asked the king to dissolve parliament so that he could go and gain more support, the whigs retuned with nearly 140

• however when the second bill was put forward it was blocked by the tory dominated house of loeds

bristol riots

• 1831 riots due to a visit from the mp whom blocked the bill

• repressented the desire for reform too occur amoungst the population and the outrange in which bills rejection led to

• saw 3 days of intesnive fightning and rioting that led to 130 people being killed

• violence → started off with a poltical angenda but ended up resulting in mainly chaos leading to repression from government as seen through the use of special constumbles to appease the crowd

• similar riots also took place in derby and nottingham but due to the economic signficance of britstol it caused fears and prompted a 3rd bill to be released that year

3rd reform bill

• context of riots led to a reconsdieration due to public backslash given

• removed loosing 2mps to just loosing 1mp instead, all of this was aimed at achieving an easier passage

• tory concerns due to an increase in riot behaviour which quickly blocked any further passage of such bills

• made people think that the wc were not ready for the vote

• earl grey requested 50 new whig mp’s however the king did not enable him to do so, which lead him to resign from office

the days of may

• 3rd reform bill is rejected by governement and earl grey resigns

• mc anger results in a protest occuring → begin withdrawing investments from banking £1.8 million

• this put pressure on government to pass the bill over the consquences that this economical backlash could have

• although not physically threating, the extened period that the reform crisis had been operating over created a sense that if countined any longer frustration would boil over into something far more dangerous

passage of the reform act

• the tory leader, wellington, found it difficult to form a new government as polersation meant that many did not want to sit with him in the new government

• he had to inform the king that he would be unable to form a parliament and grey was requested to come back into power which he agreed to so long as he was given his 50 peers

provisons of the 1832 great reform act

• passed 106-22

• 56 boroughs disenfranchised

• vote = £10 owned or rened

• regesteration of voting required

significance of the GRA

• it acted as a first step towards the increase in enfranchisement - enabling later reforms to occur

• only 18% of the population could vote however, not a large increase from the 11% before, showing how to governmwnt only engranchised those whom had threatened their stabilitly and were also deemed as far more respectable

• it did not create democracy, but simply removed the obvious injustices with the old system

• but long term arguable that a stabilitly and maintaince of the old systen is also maintained, those in power still wanted to conserve and remain as much contuinity as possible and only change enough to really appease public clamour

• signifacnt in increasing the repressentation in boroughs e.g bham and manny both had 2 mps thus signifacnt

• the middle class buinsess owners who were enfranchised however were not representive of the wider public

• still very much favoured the rural counties with 370 mps coming from the south and 120 from the north

• very little had ultimately reallty changed as power still remained in the hands of the aristocratic land owners - where reform had occured it was only with the new buiness group that had its own vested interests to maintain

• overall → in terms of an indivual repressentation there was only lmited and conseravtive reform provided. however in a more collective sense there was more puplic influence on gov.