Growing demands for reform

What were the three long-term causes of reform?

Enlightenment; Industrial Revolution; Development of an oppositional culture

What was the Enlightenment and what three ideas did it emphasise?

Intellectual and cultural movement emphasising reason; progress; liberty and rights

How did the Enlightenment contribute to reform?

Attacked aristocratic privilege; encouraged belief in political progress; inspired revolutions

Give two reasons the Industrial Revolution contributed to reform.

Growth of towns needing representation; Emerging middle class with economic but not political power

Give three political campaigns in the 1760s/70s that helped develop an oppositional culture.

Religious toleration; Abolition of slavery; Wilkes Affair; Yorkshire Association; Society for Constitutional Information

Which two events are often seen as the climax of the Enlightenment?

American Revolution; French Revolution

Give two key reasons why the American Revolution increased demands for reform.

Criticised Parliament as corrupt; Criticism of government’s conduct of war and patronage

What type of reform was put forward in 1780 and what did it aim to do?

Economical reform; Reduce royal power and government expenditure

Which Prime Minister introduced a reform bill in 1785?

William Pitt the Younger

What did this reform bill propose?

Remove 36 rotten boroughs and redistribute 72 MPs

What happened to this bill and why?

Defeated due to opposition over compensation and property rights

What year did the French Revolution begin?

1789

How did Whigs initially respond to the French Revolution and why?

Supported it due to ideas of democracy and freedom

Why did the French Revolution ultimately make many British people oppose radical reform?

Increasing violence and Terror; Patriotism during war with France

Give three reasons why many people in the 1810s increasingly saw Parliament as corrupt.

Radical politicisation; Harsh repression e.g. Peterloo; Class legislation like Corn Laws; Regency inequality; Royal scandal