19 th Century England

1. 19th Century England “An Era of Reform”

2. Civil Unrest Absent • While most European nations faced civil unrest in the mid-19th century (Rev. of 1848), England solved her problems with reform efforts.

3. Why Reform? • England was not without social problems, BUT: • English aristocrats accepted reform • Industrialization had created a strong, wealthy middle class determined to gain corresponding political power • Early reforms often dealt with matters of interest to the middle class • Victorian compromise • Workers were excluded from the political process and were often cruelly exploited.

4. Background • Tory administration (Castlereagh) responsible for defeat of Napoleon • Conservative policies favored the aristocrats and angered the common citizens. • Serious economic problems due to huge military expenditures made during the wars and large-scale postwar industrial unemployment.

5. Corn Laws: 1815 • English farmers faced disaster due to cheap, continental imported grains. • Hurt the landed aristocracy (already threatened by the growing econ. clout of the middle class factory owners) • The poor loved the cheap prices • Tory Parliament passed the corn laws, putting an import tariff on foreign grains

6. Responses • The poor rioted against the higher prices and the middle class formed the Anti-Corn Law League SO: • Coercion Acts of 1817 • suspended “habeas corpus,” providing for arbitrary arrest and punishment • Drastically curtailed freedom of the press and public mass meetings

7. Peterloo Massacre: 1819 • Public continued to protest • Peaceful public meeting in Hyde Park broken up by the police • 4 killed and hundreds wounded • Public (poor and middle class) was outraged!!!

8. Six Acts: 1819 • In response to public protest Parliament passed the 6 Acts. • Revoked freedom of the press, speech and assembly • Strengthened police powers and police brutality ok’d • Flimsy arrests became the norm.

9. 1820 • Cato Street Conspiracy • Extremists plotted to blow up the entire British cabinet • Elections of 1820 • Younger more liberal Tories and some Liberal reps won Parliamentary seats • Even English aristocrats were frightened by the loss of their civil liberties • This led to an era of reforms

10. Victorian Era (1837-1901) • Queen V succeeded her uncle King William IV at age 18 and married her cousin, Prince Albert. • Encouraged reforms • Accepted by the aristocrats because together with the middle class, they all preserved their own interests at the expense of the poor • Middle class controlled the House of Commons and the aristocracy controlled the army, House of Lords, and the Church of England

11. Great Reform Bill of 1832 • Annulled the Enclosure Acts • No more new enclosures • Redistricting • No more rotten boroughs • Suffrage for factory owners & those paying large rents, as well as the traditional aristocratic voters • ***Ended the era of squirearchy*** • ***Major shift in political power***

12. Reform Legislation • Slave Act of 1833 • Factory Act of 1831 (Age 9) • New Poor Law of 1834 (workhouses) • Municipal Reform Law of 1835 (officials to reside in the city limits for at least 5 years prior to their election to the city councils) • Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 • Due to fear of revolution

13. Chartism • Workers were astounded that all of these reforms failed to bring them prosperity and political power. • Chartism became their solution • Linked the solution of their economic plight to a program of political reform • Petitioned Parliament to adopt the 6 points of their “Great Charter”

14. Chartism • Demands included: • Universal Male Suffrage • Secret ballot for voting • Elimination of property qualifications for members of Parliament • Salaries for MP’s • Annual elections for Parliament • Redistricting to create equal electoral districts • Demands were perceived as dangerously radical for their day

15. Failure of Chartism • Chartism as a whole failed • Supporters were split between those who favored violence and those that advocated peaceful tactics • The return of prosperity and lower food prices coupled with slow but steady wage increases in the 1850’s and 1860’s robbed the movement of momentum

16. Lord Palmerston • Dominant political power in England from 1850-65 • Variety of positions included Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, and Prime Minister • Preoccupied with colonial problems in China and India and British interests in the Am. Civil War • Sepoy Rebellion • 2nd Opium War • Little Attention to domestic affairs

17. Realignment of British Political Parties • Tired of Palmerston’s blunders, the Whigs and Tories reorganized to defeat him. • Tories became the Conservative Party • Whigs became the Liberal Party

18. Reform Prime Ministers • Palmerston died in 1865 • Disraeli (Tory) and Gladstone (Whig) alternated with one another, sharing power for most of the rest of the century • Both were reformers

19. Gladstone (1809 – 1898) • Budget Expert (orig. Chancellor of the Exchequer) • Supported free trade and fiscal responsibility • Supported Irish Home Rule • Wanted extension of democratic principles to include a greater % of the British population

20. Disraeli (1804 – 1881) • Wanted an aggressive foreign policy • Favored the expansion of the British Empire, particularly in Africa • Supported the extension of the franchise to include the working class

21. Great Reform Bill of 1867 • Promoted by Disraeli • Redistribution of Parliamentary seats to provide more equitable representation • Extended the vote to include all adult male citizens who paid 10 pounds or more rent annually. • ***Almost all men over 21 could now vote*** • 1868: Liberal majority elected by new electorate—lasted for next four terms.

22. Liberal Reforms • Ballot Act of 1872 (secret ballot) • Civil Services Reform Act of 1870 (civil service exams) • Education Act of 1870 ($$ for schools all over England, even in poor areas) • University Act of 1870 (no religious tests for admission) • Representation of the People Act of 1884 (all males over 21 could vote; redistricting created 1 rep per 50,000 citizens

23. Disraeli’s Reforms • Food and Drug Act (regulated sale and quality of food and drugs) • Public Health Act (gov’t standards for sanitation)

24. Who’s Left Out??? • Women!!! Particularly after the 1867 great reform bill.