[Marx]

Hi

I'm studying Higher History Option C - Later Modern History.
My teacher has been out of school this week and has basically left us to do our own work unassisted. I'm worried that I haven't really grasped the important parts that I'm meant to learn, our resources are extremely limited. Could any teacher please check to see if I'm missing anything glaringly obvious ?


1832 Reform Act

* The act allowed around 200,000 more men to vote, women were denied the vote which they previously had.
* The only people who were allowed to vote were people that owned or rented more than £10 of land, which meant that not many of the population were able to vote.
* There was no secret ballot, voting took place in public - bribery and corruption flourished and votes were often bought and sold between candidates. Candidates had to own over £610 in land to stand for election, so politics was really only available to the rich.
* Rotten Boroughs were tiny villages which had very few villagers, however they were rich so they were able to send 2-3 MP's to parliament (e.g Old Sarum) whereas huge cities like Manchester didn't send any MP's because nobody could afford to be one.

Reasons for Parliamentary Reform

* The American and French Civil wars renewed discussion for political reforms.
* An improvement in communication and education meant more people became interested in politics. The growing urban bourgeoisie demanded reform.
* Labour organisations wanted to protect their workers and influence the government.
* The 1864 reform league ( Is this Chartism ? ) campaigned for a secret ballot, equal distribution of seats ( is this proportional representation ? :S ) and general elections every year.
* The Crimean War - Britain was sending soldiers to essentially fight for democracy, the soldiers returned home to find they were unable to vote and that Britain was not fully democratic.

The Inadequacy of the 1832 Act

* Not all rotten boroughs were fixed.
* Due to the wording of the act, all women lost the vote.
* No secret ballot was introduced, corruption and bribery continued.

The problem is, I have pages and pages on the first two parts and I have about a paragraph on the inadequacy of the act. Our teacher will be back on Monday, but I really want to grasp the subject properly and I'd appreciate any help or website links. Our main textbooks only start at 1850, which is a bit useless :/.

Thanks a lot

[MrJohnDClare]

Almost this same question was asked in 2003; you might be interested in the replies at that time.

You might also be interested in this thread and this thread.

This Victorian Web topic page contains many more links.

PS: on the inadequcy of the Act, chase numbers enfranchised - a pathetic number of new voters was added.

[glitterglitter]

Hi,

I did this topic! I take it you didn't do any of this at Standard Grade?

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The 1864 reform league ( Is this Chartism ? )

No, the Chartists were a separate movement. If there's nothing in your book the Wikipedia page is very readable. The Chartists are good to know cos they had a nice list of six points which you can compare the growth of democracy to.

Quote

campaigned for a secret ballot, equal distribution of seats ( is this proportional representation ? :S ) and general elections every year.

I don't think it meant PR, I think it just meant in terms of population etc. There were really only two parties then (I think) so I don't think that PR would have been an issue!!

Good luck!!!!!!!!

[Marx]

Thanks Mr Clare and glitter.

glitter - I done Int2 last year so I'm completely new to this topic.

Thanks a lot