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35 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What was a major turning point in the revival of the Chartist Movement? |
The foundation of the National Charter Association in 1940. Local Chartist groups and other working men's clubs were absorbed into the NCA. |
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What was the supposed membership of the NCA? |
13000 in 1841; 50000 in 1842; these statistics were likely exaggerated. |
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What was the role of Feargus O'Connor in the early 1840s? |
He had influenced policy while in gaol through letters and his column in the Northern Star. When he was released from prison in August 1841, he dominated the Movement. Along with a deepening of the economic depression, O'Connor's popularity was a possible reason for the NCA's popularity. |
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What did the NCA look like as an organisation? |
It had a full, written constitution; its members paid subscription fees and it was them who elected the members to the new Chartist Convention |
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What was one of the first things that the NCA organised? How did it go? |
They agreed to organise the Second Petition in 1841.
It was better organised than the First Petition and was presented to Parliament with over 3 million signatures. However, MPs votes 287 to 49 against even accepting the Petition, let alone debating the Charter. |
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What proposal did William Lovett devise while in prison? |
He and another Chartist, John Collins, wrote the book "Chartism: A New Organisation for the People" in which they proposed a national education system funded by a penny tax on the signatories of the Chartist Position. They believed in residing the working classes through education to make them respectable and worthy of the vote in the eyes of the middle classes. Lovett was released in 1840 and began to promote his education proposals as part of the "National Association for the Moral, Social and Political Improvement of the People". |
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How did O'Connor react to Lovett's education proposals? |
He was angry and saw them as damaging the unity of the Movement. He denounced them in the Northern Star and used his position in the NCA to stir up opposition to the ideas, which succeeded. Eg in northern industrial towns, Lovett and Collins's work was condemned as moving Chartism away from its main objectives. As such, from 1841, Lovett focused on education and left O'Connor to the NCA and aggressive ideology. |
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What event followed the rejection of the Second Petition? |
The Plug Plots, August - September 1842. They were protests and strikes against wage cuts in mines and mills as well as other trades. Delegates met in Manchester to appeal for calm and at the same time endorse the Charter. Unrest continued to spread across the North through September before being stopped in October with around 1500 arrests and stricter police and military control. |
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Where did the Plug Plots get their name from? |
Some workers removed the plugs from factory boilers, putting out the furnaces. This was effective because it prevented strikebreakers from being brought in by employers. |
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How involved were the Chartists with the Plug Plots? |
The NCA had nothing to do with starting the riots, though many of the strikers were Chartists. The NCA Executive happened to be meeting in Manchester at the same time as the trade representatives (in order to unveil a statue of Henry Hunt) and they did discuss the Riots. Not all agreed with the motion by Peter Murray McDouall to officially support the action, but the majority agreed with O'Connor that it was an excellent opportunity to show solidarity with the working people and their trade delegates. |
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How did the authorities react to the Plug Plots? |
1500 arrests were made and many leaders, including O'Connor, were tried in 1843, though there weren't required to serve sentences as the state was using leniency to avoid a public backlash. Overall, the state used their power to overcome the strikers; they would be able to last longer than them. |
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What happened after 1842 to affect the Movement's popularity? |
The 1842-43 harvest was good and the economic conditions began to improve leading to a fall in the following of the Movement. |
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What did Feargus O'Connor begin to focus on after the rejection of the Second Petition? |
From 1843, he began talking about the Chartist Land Plan, a desire to establish communities of Chartist campaigners as well as get people out of the workhouses. |
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When did the Land Plan officially get underway? |
The Convention backed it in 1843 but the Chartist Land Cooperative Society was not established until 1845. |
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What was the first Chartist colony established under the Land Plan? |
O'Connorville (or Herringsgate) in Hertfordshire was established in 1847. |
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How did the Land Plan work? |
Shares would be sold to members, the money would be used to buy land which would then be given out to certain members in a lottery (each would get 2-3 acres each). |
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How successful was the Land Plan? What we're its flaws? |
Not very; O'Connorville only got 250 smallholders; the Plan was seen as utopian; it would disappoint the majority of members who wouldn't win land; it was seen to direct attention away from Chartism's main objectives. |
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How could the Land Plan be said to be successful? |
It kept alive the enthusiasm of the Movement after the failure of the Second Petition and during the lull caused by the economic improvement. |
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What was the fate of the Land Plan? |
In 1951, it collapsed due to a lack of a proper legal basis and arguments over its finances. |
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What was the spark for the revival of Chartism in the late 1840s? |
The economic downtown in 1847. |
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What was the planned Chartist action in the late 1840s? |
In 1848, the Convention agreed to present a Third Petition to Parliament on 10th April following a mass meeting at Kennington Common. |
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What was significant about the timing of the planned meeting at Kennington Common? |
The plans were widely publicised in the newspaper, which led to fears that the events would go similarly to the recent revolutions across Europe which had been triggered by protests in capital cities. |
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How did the authorities respond to the planned 1848 meeting? |
The Queen was moved to the Isle of Wight (despite Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston's concerns that it was not adequately defended) and the Duke of Wellington was called in to organise London's defences.
8000 soldiers, 1500 Chelsea Pensioners (ex-soldiers) and 10000 special constables were called up for security of the capital. |
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How many people were present at Kennington Common? |
O'Connor claimed 500000, which is unlikely as that many people couldn't fit in the Common. The Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, claimed 12000 to 15000, which was probably an understatement.
The likely figure was around 20000. |
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How did the Kennington Common meeting go down? |
O'Connor (who had been elected MP for Nottingham in 1847) agreed to the police's request to present the Petition to Parliament alone rather than as part of a mass procession.
There was no violence and, once O'Connor had finished speaking, the crowd peaceful dispersed. The petition was taken to the House of Commons in three cabs while O'Connor took another to assure Home Secretary Sir George Grey that all was well. |
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What happened to the Third Petition? |
Unlike its predecessors, it was read and the signatures were counted. O'Connor has claimed that there were 6 million; there were actually just under 2 million. Many were discounted for being fictitious ("Victoria Rex" or "Duke of Wellington") or part of a group written by the same person.
The lack of valid signatures made it easy for the Government to the Petition, and the Chartist Movement, into a laughing stock. This broke the confidence of the Chartists. Following this, Chartist activity only decreased. |
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Why may it be unfair to discount so many signatures? |
It was common for people to sign under other names for fear of retribution.
As many people couldn't write, they would often get people who could to sign on their behalf. |
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What are the main reasons given for the failure of Chartism to achieve the 6 Points of the People's Charter? |
Leadership (specifically O'Connor's leadership) Tactics The power of the state |
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Why could O'Connor's leadership be blamed for Chartism's failure? |
O'Connor was seen as indecisive and cowardly. Lovett and Gammage saw him as attention seeking and self-important (though this could in part be down to the fact that Lovett was jealous considering how his style failed to engage people like O'Connor's did).
Perceived evidence of the flaws in O'Connor's leadership include: - supporting the Sacred Month in 1839 then abandoning it - only halfheartedly supporting the 1842 Plug Plots, calling them a middle-class plot - bowing to the government's ban on a procession from Kennington Common in 1848 |
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How can O'Connor's leadership be defended? |
- He backed away from the Sacred Month after consulting with local associations and realising that it was impractical, therefore acted to stop an ill-judged policy. - His doubts over the NCA taking control over a diverse range of economic protests were probably well-founded. - Kennington Common saw the Chartists greatly outnumbered, therefore allowing them to become violent would be stupid. Also, protestors had already peacefully marched to Kennington Common, and the meeting was far from any significant location, therefore it was unlikely that they intended a violent uprising at all. |
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How could tactics have led to Chartism's failure? |
The Movement was divided between those advocating moral force Chartism and those supporting physical force Chartism. This split meant that the Movement going it difficult to unite and work effectively. |
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How can the moral force/physical force split be challenged? |
Though many physical force Chartists, likes O'Connor, would use violent language, they didn't actually want there to be a violent revolution, therefore should the split be valid? |
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How did the power of the state contribute to the failure of Chartism? |
Regardless of the tactics used my by Chartists, the state was always able to resist them, such as by direct confrontation (as at Newport) or indirect undermining of their actions (like at Kennington Common). Key aspects of the state's power were:
- knowing how to deal with riots eg not making martyrs and arresting Chartists only for short periods of time. - the development of professional police forces which began in London in 1829 and ready in the counties from 1839 - these were used to control demonstrations - new railways (1500 miles by 1840, 6000 miles by 1848) linked up Britain and enabled people like General Napier and his soldiers to be quickly sent anywhere in the country. - the government had many more men at their disposal than the Chartists did, especially special constables, middle class men dedicated to upholding the law when they were needed. - the 1832 Reform Act had largely satisfied the middle classes, this broke their dangerous alliance with the working classes. Therefore the state did not need to worry about the middle classes supporting the Chartists. |
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How did the government undermine Chartism in a way that wasn't repressive? |
Chartism said that only getting working class people into Parliament would make government care about the working classes. However, Peel's 1841-46 Tory government and Lord John Russell's 1846-52 government passed reforms like the Factory Acts of 1844 and 1847, the Mines Act of 1842 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, which showed the government looking out for other people than the landed classes. |
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What did Chartism achieve? |
- It built working-class consciousness and solidarity: it, for the first time, made wiring class people feel like that they could make a difference, gave them a sense of purpose, and united them against common enemies like the Great Reform Act and the Poor Law Amendment Act. - It gave working-class people experience of organisation: involvement in Chartism, writing leaflets and banners, protesting and the like gave them experience that would prove useful in later activism like trade unions. - Chartist groups set up schools: many were night and Sunday schools because many Chartists worked, but the Movement would often step in where a school was unsatisfactory. Examples of Chartist schools include the day school and Sunday school in the People's Institute at Stalybridge or the extensive school network set up in Leicester by Thomas Cooper. - many Chartists promoted Christianity without the authority of the Church, which led to the foundation of many Chartist churches in the 1840s that taught the word of Christ above obedience to the Church. - the Land Plan, popular though unsuccessful as it was, gave many working class people their first experience of landownership. |
