Compare the Peasants revolt with the Chartist movement

Created by: Thoms23
Created on: 25-03-19 21:39


	Compare the Peasants revolt with the Chartist movement
	Similarities Peasants had little power, e.g poll tax + already suffering from the Black Death. List Demands. Aimed to give the working class people more rights. List demands. Reform act/poor law vs statute of labourers. Violence - Newport risings and Breaking into the Tower of London Failures with long term impacts In Kent, a county in southeast England, the rebels chose Wat Tyler as their leader, and he led his growing “army” toward London, capturing the towns of Maidstone, Rochester, and Canterbury along the way. After he was denied a meeting with King Richard II, he led the rebels into London on June 13, 1381, burning and plundering the city. The next day, the 14-year-old king met with peasant leaders at Mile End and agreed to their demands to abolish serfdom and restrictions on the marketplace. However, fighting continued elsewhere at the same time, and Tyler led a peasant force against the Tower of London, capturing the fortress and executing the archbishop of Canterbury. A number of factors meant that both the Chartists and working classes in south Wales were particularly discontented at this time. The popular Chartist speaker and publisher of The Western Vindicator, Henry Vincent, had been arrested in May 1838 for making inflammatory speeches, and sentenced to 12 months in gaol. In addition, the Chartist petition that was presented to Parliament was rejected. Furthermore, many of the people of south Wales were living in poverty and the industrial areas had become the focus for a huge amount of public anger. In an attempt to avoid a revolt, the local Newport Chartist John Frost made speeches discouraging violence, but he did agree to join a protest march on Newport.The marchers had planned to travel in three groups and meet at a location outside of Newport before marching together, but there were delays and this had given the town's authorities time to prepare. The Chartists grouped outside the Westgate Hotel, but when they tried to enter, soldiers were lying in wait and fired shots, killing 22 marchers and wounding many more. The remaining Chartists then retreated. The leading Chartists present, including John Frost, were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, but after protests from all over the country, the sentence was reduced to transportation. role of ind. working-class frustration against the government continued to escalate. Finally, the government passed a new poll tax, which taxed the peasantry in order to pay for the government's wars in France. It was the final straw for a working class that was already being stretched thin. By 1381, all the people needed was a spark to ignite their fury after poll tax. According to tradition, that spark came in Kent, when a tax collector accosted and stripped Wat Tyler's 15-year old daughter to see if she was old enough to pay the new tax. Tyler attacked and killed the tax collector. That was all that the people of Kent needed to break into open rebellion. Tyler's killing of the tax collector, a government representative, became a symbol of popular discontent against the entire government. Feargus O'Connor called for violence after rejection of the 1842 petition. Encouraged workers to damage machinery. Called for strike.	Differences Abolish serfdom - social position of peasants, free villeins and poll tax/ bring in pay for Mps etc Working class/Mps Peasants were united wheras Chartists were divided into moral and physical force. working and living conditions rather than taxation. In 1837, Feargus O'Connor – an Irish lawyer living in Leeds – started publishing the Northern Star, a newspaper that campaigned for better wages and living standards. O'Connor supported Physical Force Chartism, which championed using violent means; over Moral Force Chartism, which opted for peaceful protest, as the only way to achieve reform. He felt that non-violence could be and was easily ignored, whereas violence forced the government to take some action. Even if the action was negative, it would at least create publicity and make people take notice. In the long-run, he hoped that this would force the government into taking positive action.
	Overall comparison Another similarity is that both movements took violent action against their opponents. For example, during the Peasants’ Revolt, the rebels broke in to the Tower of London and killed the Archbishop of Canterbury. Similarly, in the Newport Rising twenty Chartists were shot by soldiers after they tried to free Chartist prisoners. So, in both of the events, the tactics used were sometimes violent, even though the Chartists used non-violent tactics like mass meetings more often.Peasants revolt - first time working class people challenged authority.

Compare the Peasants revolt with the Chartist movement

Similarities

Peasants had little power, e.g poll tax + already suffering from the Black Death. List Demands.
Aimed to give the working class people more rights. List demands.
Reform act/poor law vs statute of labourers.
Violence - Newport risings and Breaking into the Tower of London
Failures with long term impacts
In Kent, a county in southeast England, the rebels chose Wat Tyler as their leader, and he led his growing “army” toward London, capturing the towns of Maidstone, Rochester, and Canterbury along the way. After he was denied a meeting with King Richard II, he led the rebels into London on June 13, 1381, burning and plundering the city. The next day, the 14-year-old king met with peasant leaders at Mile End and agreed to their demands to abolish serfdom and restrictions on the marketplace. However, fighting continued elsewhere at the same time, and Tyler led a peasant force against the Tower of London, capturing the fortress and executing the archbishop of Canterbury.
A number of factors meant that both the Chartists and working classes in south Wales were particularly discontented at this time. The popular Chartist speaker and publisher of The Western Vindicator, Henry Vincent, had been arrested in May 1838 for making inflammatory speeches, and sentenced to 12 months in gaol. In addition, the Chartist petition that was presented to Parliament was rejected. Furthermore, many of the people of south Wales were living in poverty and the industrial areas had become the focus for a huge amount of public anger. In an attempt to avoid a revolt, the local Newport Chartist John Frost made speeches discouraging violence, but he did agree to join a protest march on Newport.The marchers had planned to travel in three groups and meet at a location outside of Newport before marching together, but there were delays and this had given the town's authorities time to prepare. The Chartists grouped outside the Westgate Hotel, but when they tried to enter, soldiers were lying in wait and fired shots, killing 22 marchers and wounding many more. The remaining Chartists then retreated. The leading Chartists present, including John Frost, were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, but after protests from all over the country, the sentence was reduced to transportation.
role of ind. working-class frustration against the government continued to escalate. Finally, the government passed a new poll tax, which taxed the peasantry in order to pay for the government's wars in France. It was the final straw for a working class that was already being stretched thin. By 1381, all the people needed was a spark to ignite their fury after poll tax. According to tradition, that spark came in Kent, when a tax collector accosted and stripped Wat Tyler's 15-year old daughter to see if she was old enough to pay the new tax. Tyler attacked and killed the tax collector. That was all that the people of Kent needed to break into open rebellion. Tyler's killing of the tax collector, a government representative, became a symbol of popular discontent against the entire government.
Feargus O'Connor called for violence after rejection of the 1842 petition.
Encouraged workers to damage machinery.
Called for strike.

Differences

Abolish serfdom - social position of peasants, free villeins and poll tax/ bring in pay for Mps etc
Working class/Mps
Peasants were united wheras Chartists were divided into moral and physical force.
working and living conditions rather than taxation.
In 1837, Feargus O'Connor – an Irish lawyer living in Leeds – started publishing the Northern Star, a newspaper that campaigned for better wages and living standards. O'Connor supported Physical Force Chartism, which championed using violent means; over Moral Force Chartism, which opted for peaceful protest, as the only way to achieve reform. He felt that non-violence could be and was easily ignored, whereas violence forced the government to take some action. Even if the action was negative, it would at least create publicity and make people take notice. In the long-run, he hoped that this would force the government into taking positive action.

Overall comparison

Another similarity is that both movements took violent action against their opponents. For example, during the Peasants’ Revolt, the rebels broke in to the Tower of London and killed the Archbishop of Canterbury. Similarly, in the Newport Rising twenty Chartists were shot by soldiers after they tried to free Chartist prisoners. So, in both of the events, the tactics used were sometimes violent, even though the Chartists used non-violent tactics like mass meetings more often.Peasants revolt - first time working class people challenged authority.

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Compare the Peasants revolt with the Chartist movement