The Growth of Parliamentary Democracy c.1785-c.1870 - Topic 1

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  • Created by: Hannah274
  • Created on: 23-04-17 12:24
What were the main problem of enfranchisement in the counties before 1832?
The fact that no matter how big population size of a county was the number of MP's it sent to Parliament (2) was the same.
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What were the 6 ways that you could be enfranchised as in a borough?
Corporation, freeman, Scot and lot, Burgage, potwalloper, Freeholder.
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What were pocket boroughs?
Where a borough could be bought to further the political interests of the wealthy landed gentry, or the government themselves could take control.
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What were the ways that a person standing for election could rig the election?
Bribery, intimidation due to a lack of a secret ballot, getting the rival candidate drunk, killing the rival candidate, or just simply buying the borough from the government.
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What were rotten boroughs?
Where the borough had been important at the time of it's creation but now the borough had lost it's importance. Therefore it is over represented in Parliament.
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What was the impact of the French revolution on the British public's perception of the British government?
They increasingly saw it as rule by the rich system. Causing more class consciousness and roar for reform.
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Who was the famous Tory politician who defended the British constitution in the wake of the French Revolutions?
Edmund Burke, who wrote 'Reflections on the revolutions in France'.
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What famous book was written in response to the Tory MP?
Thomas Paine, 'The Rights of Man'
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How many book copies were sold of 'The Rights of Man'?
200,000 copies in 1793 alone.
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What organisations sprung up due to Thomas Paine's book?
The Sheffield Society for Constitutional information in 1791, and the London Corresponding Society in 1792.
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What act was passed due to the War with France in 1793?
The Treason Act of 1795, allowing the death penalty in the event of any treasonable act including political meetings, and spreading of 'seditious' (rebellious) material.
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What ended in 1815?
The war with France, allowing for more discussion of Parliamentary reform.
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Which three major people were creating material for reform just 1815?
William Cobbett, Thomas Wooler, and Henry Hunt.
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What were the corn laws of 1815?
Parliament put a high tariff on grain imports. This meant that food prices were kept high, even though in 1816 there were poor harvests causing many to starve. Increasing the agitation for reform.
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What was the March of the Blanketeers?
This was when weavers in Manchester organised an armed march to London in 1817. It was broken up by yeomanry. It demonstrated that the Government were losing control of it's citizens.
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When was the Peterloo massacre?
1819
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What was the Peterloo massacre?
60,000 people went to St Peter's field in Manchester to listen to Henry Hunt's speech. When yeomanry were used to break up the gathering 18 people were killed and more than were 400 wounded.
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What did the Six Acts of 1819 do?
Stopping any form of military drillings, gave magistrates more powers to search for weapons, banned meetings of more than 50 people, protected magistrates for deaths occurring from breaking up illegal meetings, and more.
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Why did the newly forming middle class push for more reform of the voting system?
Because they had to increase wages to their workforce due to the rising bread prices caused by the corn laws.
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What did the poor harvests of 1828 and 29 lead to?
An increase of discontent - more than 200 petitions were sent to Parliament demanding that tax was to be reduced in rural areas.
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What were 'The Swing Riots'?
When much of the South-East was set ablaze by peasants who could not afford to pad the amount of tax set on them. It motivated many landowning politicians to reform to protect their positions.
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When was the Birmingham Political Union (BPU) established?
1829
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Why was the BPU successful in it's goals to reform parliament?
Because it worked as a respectable lobbying group, which pressurized government due to the restrictions on economic prosperity the landowning protectionism that was already in place.
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What were the reasons for the passing of the Great Reform Act?
Declining Tory dominance, the resignation of Liverpool and Tory crisis, Middle -class pressure, riots, The 'Days of may' and 3 reform bills put to parliament.
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What was going to destroy the unionism in the Tory party in 1826?
Catholic emancipation
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When did the Whigs finally have an administration since 1807?
1830
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Why were the Whig party threatened by the middle-class?
Because they were wealthy, well-educated and could put together a very good argument for universal suffrage.
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What were the recommendations of the first and second reform bills?
To disenfranchise 100 rotten and pocket boroughs and redistribute the seats to the new cities.
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What was the largest riots to effect England after the first and second reform bills were blocked by the House of Lords?
Bristol, there were 3 days or rioting and there were 130 people killed or wounded.
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What did the third reform bill aim to do?
To reduce 30 boroughs which had 2 MPs to 1 MP. And ten new boroughs to be created.
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What did the British public do in response to the King wanting to form a Tory Government?
They withdrew their finances to bring the country to a standstill. In ten day over £1.8 million was withdrawn.
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What were the changes to the counties and boroughs of the 1832 Great Reform Act?
56 boroughs in England and Wales were disenfranchised completely with another 30 losing 1 out of their 2 MP's. 42 new borough constituencies were created. Scotland received 8 and seats and Ireland 5.
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What were the changes to the franchise in the 1832 Great Reform Act of 1832?
In the counties the vote was given to adult males who own land worth £10 a year, or rent £50 a year. In the boroughs the vote was made uniform and now given to adult males who either owned or rented land worth £10 a year. Voters must be registered.
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What did the electorate rise to after the Great Reform Act of 1832?
18%
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What were the problems of the Great Reform Act of 1832?
It did not create a secret ballot, so intimidation was still rampant, the rural areas were still favored in Parliament, the new voters were mainly the middle-class who did not represent all the population and the percentage of voters was only 18%.
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What were the Chartist demands?
Equal representation, universal manhood suffrage, annual parliaments, the removal property qualifications for MP's, a secret ballot and payment of MPs.
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Which class was the most prolific in the membership of the Chartist movement?
Working class.
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What was the major problem with the Chartists?
That their membership focused on economic prosperity, therefore when economic prosperity increased membership declined. Therefore the movement was unstable.
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What were the two approaches that the Chartist movement had under O'Connor and Lovett.
Moral force and physical force
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What was the 'sacred month'?
When the physical side of the Chartist movement held general strikes and protest meetings which turned into many fights with the local authorities.
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What were the Newport uprisings?
It was an attempted uprising in Newport. 5,000miners clashed with troops outside a hotel. 20 people were left dead.
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How many signitures did the first Chartist petition gain?
1,280,958
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How many signitures did the third Chartist petition gain?
5 million (however it was said that less than half were genuine.
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What was the Kennington Common rally for?
The arrival of the third Chartist petition. Working class people showed up in their Sunday best and the petition was given to Parliment in a carriage. It was still rejected however.
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Why did the Chartist movement fail?
Hunger politics, no effective leadership, their ideas were too ahead of their time.
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What is hunger politics?
When the need for change depends on the economic prosperity of the country.
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Why was their leadership uneffective?
Because there were two opposing factors in the movement that were competing with one another for leadership, therefore there was too much infighting for it to be an effective movement.
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What were the acts of government legistlation that undermined the Chartist movement?
The 1847 Ten hours act and the corn laws being repealed in 1846.
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What did the Ten Hours Act of 1847 do?
Limited the working day of factory workers to ten hours a day.
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What did the repealing of the Corn Laws do to the price of bread?
Reduced it, making the working classes more content.
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What made it easier for the Government to subdue any Chartist uprising with force?
The railways.
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Why was the use of soldiers by the Government against the Chartists interesting?
It demonstrates the power of the Government in preseving the status quo.
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Why are the 1830's not seen to be very progressive for Democracy?
By enfranchising the upper middle class the Government were only protecting itself from the very worse of reform. Therefore they could stay in power for longer.
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Why was registering to vote important for politics?
As it formed clubs that tried to promot voter registration for their political party, therefore politics became more professional. Therefore the ideologies of the parties became more distinct, creating a true two - party system.
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Why was the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 important?
As it abolished the independent Corporations, and established elected councils, which were elected by all male ratepayers. Therefore it was more responsive to the electorate.
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Between 1821 and 1861 the population Britain rose from over 24 million to...
31 million
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Why did this massive increase in poluation increase the pressure for more reform?
Because most working men now lived in the boroughs, where they were not enfranchised.
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What did the reform bill proposed by Lord Russell in 1852 aim to do?
Reduce the existing borough qualifaction down to £6 a year.
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Why wasn't it approved by the Conservative party?
Because both parties knew that reform allowed the newly enfranchised to vote for that party.
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Who was John Bright?
A Birmingham MP who founded the Anti-Corn Law League in 1839.
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Why did the American Civil War create more pressure for reform?
Because the working class still fought for American independence, even though it harmed themselves economically. Therefore they gained the respect of many men in Government.
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What was the National Reform Union?
Set up in 1864, it aimed to extended the franchise to include all male rate payers , promote an equal distribution of seats, and establish a secret ballot. It was a respectable lobby group.
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What was The Reform League?
A group set up 1865 which aimed to have universial sufferage and a secret ballot. Methods included demonstrations and discussions about the 1832 Great Reform Act.
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What were the aims of Gladstone's Reform Bill of 1866?
Reduce the borough franchise to £7 a year, and reduce the renting requirments to £14 in the counties.
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What were the Adullamites?
This was the label of Liberals who disliked the reform proposals of Gladstone.
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Why was there popular pressure to reform in 1866?
The Hyde Park riots - there was going to be a meeting by the Reform League about the failure of Gladstone's bill, when the police declared the meeting to be illegal the large crowd that had assembled for the meeting clashed with police.
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Who was the next politician after Gladstone to introduce a new Reform Bill?
Disraeli
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Why did he do this?
To gain more support for his party.
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Why was this bill passed?
Because it was from a Conservative member, but he worked with Radical Liberals to make sure that it passed.
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What were the changes in the distribution of seats of the Second Reform Act of 1867?
45 seats were taken from boroughs with less than 10,000 people. 7 were completely disenfranchised. 25 of these seats went to the counties, 20 went to new boroughs, 6 existing boroughs gained an extra seat, 1 went to the Uni of London.
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What were the changes to the franchise due to the Second Reform Act of 1867?
In the boroughs all male householders provided that they had lived there for a year and lodgers who occupied property worth at least £10 for a year. In the counties all owners or leasholders of land woth £5 a year.
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What was the impact of the Second Reform Act of 1867?
Disraeli lost the election, 1 million of the working class were enfranchised, there was now 2.46 million voters and therefore using corrupt means could not be done, campaigning was the way forward therefore the parties had to be more represetantive.
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Why were the Liberals favoured more by the electorate?
They were much more engaged with the electorate, they campaigned better than the Conservatives.
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What was the percentage of adult males in the UK that could vote after 1867?
33%
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What were the problems of the 1867 Reform Act?
To vote you still had to own property, the north and midlands were underrepresented, owning property for 1 year stopped 30% of the working class from voting, and people who had a house in both a county and a borough could vote twice.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What were the 6 ways that you could be enfranchised as in a borough?

Back

Corporation, freeman, Scot and lot, Burgage, potwalloper, Freeholder.

Card 3

Front

What were pocket boroughs?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What were the ways that a person standing for election could rig the election?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What were rotten boroughs?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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