Parliamentary Reform

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How did King George III use patronage during the War of American Independence?
He created sinecures (people doing useless jobs) in order to gain parliamentary support
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Who were the main parties and what are some characteristics of them?
Tories: protect established institutions; dominated Lords; did not question monarchy. Whigs: more likely to include commercial men; aristocratic; likely to question the monarchy; supportive of religious non-conformists.
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What are rotten and pocket boroughs?
Rotten borough: an area with a small constituency (example is Old Sarum). Pocket borough: an area owned by an aristocrat, i.e. in the pockets of an aristocrat (example is the Peels' Tamworth seat)
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What was the voting qualification before 1832?
County = 40-shilling freeholders. Borough = varies on type of borough.
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What proportion of seats were contested before and after 1832?
Before = 30%. In the thirty years after the Great Reform Act, this increased to 50%.
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Give me an example of a northern city under-represented by the parliamentary system before 1832.
Manchester was under-represented as it had a population of 180,000, yet no MP. Whereas, rural Cornwall had 21 borough seats.
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How did events in 1829-30 make reform probable?
The Catholic Emancipation Act split the Tories and Duke of Wellington could not form a government; Tory-supporting George IV died and was replaced by the more neutral William IV; political unions such as the BPU sprung into existence.
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What were Earl Grey's thoughts on a reform bill?
He believed that introducing one reform act for the middle-class would unite them with the upper-class and therefore there would be no need for any further reform.
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How many bills did it take to get the Act passed?
4. The first was rejected by the House of Lords Committee, as were the next 2. By the 4th bill, the King had instructed the Lords to drop their opposition because of the threat of Civil War in the May Days.
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What was the proportion of men enfranchised by the Great Reform Act?
20%. It had been just 5% before the Reform Act. It mostly enfranchised middle-class people.
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Why did Parliament decide the time might be right to enfranchise the respectable working-class?
Because they had shown themselves to be respectable. By 1867, the working class agitation via Chartism and radical reform campaigns had calmed down, which made the government respect them all the more. In addition, Samuel Smiles' book helped.
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What happened to the Liberals' Bill of 1866?
It suggested lowering the qualification in boroughs from £10 to £7, but it caused a split in the Party due to opposition from the old aristocratic Whigs in the Party.
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So, what did Disraeli and Derby do?
They seized the opportunity to regain real power for the first time in two decades by introducing their own Reform Bill. Their Bill of 1867 seemed to offer more than the Liberals' had by enfranchising all borough seats.
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What did the second Reform Act increase the franchise to?
The 1867 Reform Act increased the borough franchise to 33% of men.
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What did the 1884-5 Reform Act do?
The Third Reform Act aimed to enfranchise the county seats. The franchise increased to 60% as a result, and the Liberals ensured Conservative support by adding a Redistribution Act. The Redistribution Act ensured more suburban seats.
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Explain the Constitutional Crisis.
The Lords rejected DLG's radical People's Budget, which suggested taxing the rich and a tax on unearned interest of landed property. The Lords rejected it (which they never do) and saw it as an attack. So, the Liberals introduced the Parliament Act.
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What did the Parliament Act of 1911 do?
It limited the power of the Lords so that they could no longer reject money bills. It also introduced salaries for MPs, thus making it easier for working-class people to be elected MPs.
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Why were all men enfranchised in 1918?
This came from a patriotic consensus that those who had fought in the war deserved to be able to vote.
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What about the women?
Some women were enfranchised by the 1918 Act, but this was the middle-class women aged over 30 - so not the women who'd worked during the war. It was a consequence of men getting the vote.
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So, when were all women enfranchised?
1928 as part of the Equal Franchise Act.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Who were the main parties and what are some characteristics of them?

Back

Tories: protect established institutions; dominated Lords; did not question monarchy. Whigs: more likely to include commercial men; aristocratic; likely to question the monarchy; supportive of religious non-conformists.

Card 3

Front

What are rotten and pocket boroughs?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What was the voting qualification before 1832?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What proportion of seats were contested before and after 1832?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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