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56 Cards in this Set
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The steady incursions of the market economy into eighteenth-century traditional society led both to frequent riots and to a hardening of attitudes to the poor. Explain.
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Moral economy (paternalistic code, subsitence), Riots (smuggling and anti-revenue riots, Turnpike Disturbances, Enclosure riots, food riots), Criminal Justice System (landowners & discipline), Hardening attududes to the poor (law of settlement of 1662, Poor Law), Workhouses (bristol Scheme 1696, Workhouse Act of 1723, criminalization of poverty)
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Moral economy
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•was based on idea that society owed everyone a subsistence. It gave way to market economy: supply and demand.
•favored by the Tories, represented a paternal system used in feudalism •generally the working-class favored a moral economy because it valued people’s needs, instead of looking forward the working-class generally looked backwards •sense of mutual, communal obligations that were rooted in traditional society •most importantly, no one could attract undue profit from the necessities of life. It was considered immoral to try and extract profit from bread, food, housing, etc. •Included the Paternalistic Code o Forestalling o Engrossing o Regrating o assize of bread •Paternalistic Code had been breaking down with the triumph of the new capitalist ethos in England i.e. the market economy |
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Riots
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• became the only medium people really had to address their concerns: they were intended to reassert the traditional rights of the people. For example, riots against rising food prices--survival of the poor vs. unregulated capitalism.
• Riots ensued in order to return rulers to acknowledging the paternalistic code and were often met with success in the short term |
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Smuggling Riots
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o Smuggling is a “civil right” because the taxes are too high, the offenses committed against the people are manufactured through their own history
o Porteus riots, Edinburgh 1736 (trial of three convicted smugglers who were lynched and the people rioted in response) • most alarming riot, esp. since it took place in scotland |
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Turnpike Disturbances
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o landed elite built the roads for their own purposes, then taxes them
o working-class would destroy roads as a form of riot |
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Enclosure riots
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o common lands were eliminated
o From the beginning for the Industrial revolution you saw the destruction of common lands in order to make room for sheep--paved the way for maximization of profit on lands *birth of private property, began during Henry VIII o People rioted because they lost their common lands |
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Food Riots
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o Most frequent form of riot in the 18th century
o ⅔ of the 18th century riots were food riots o The people would ransack the warehouses where grain is kept o Attack obnoxious merchants who charged too much money for food o A demand for a maximum price in the market place o Food riots illustrate the relations of power, the changing power away from the hands of the King o Era of Cheap Bread is over, so 1750 was the height of the Food riot o Rural industrial workers, small farm laborers, poorest of the poor o Women led the food riots, women are more in tune with the realities of market changes o Geographical distribution of the riots. Mostly concentrated in the North and the West o Mentality of the Food rioters attest to the existence of the assumption of something known as the “moral economy” |
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Criminal justice system
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• esp. in London was not effective: in rural areas self-interest dominated and the elite were better able to keep tenants in line.
• There were fears about creating an effective police force because of its association with absolutism. • landowners also in charge of discipline would never go to hard, as disciplining tenant too hard would impact you because it’s a communal environment • As time went on, elites lost their vertical loyalties and developed horizontal loyalties instead in order to embrace new industrial opportunities. |
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From Moral Economy to Market Economy
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• The shift from a moral economy to a market economy was a shirt from vertical to horizontal allegiances
o birth of class society, instead of a heavy reliance on the vertical hierarchy, there instead became an alliance with members within your own class. Upper classes no longer had any obligation to lower classes. o created the landed elite→ professional and commercial class (merchants) → and the urban and rural proletariat |
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Law of Settlement of 1662 (Poor relief Act)
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After 1662, if a man left his settled parish to move elsewhere, he had to take his Settlement Certificate, which guaranteed that his home parish would pay for his "removal" costs (from the host parish) back to his home if he needed poor relief. As parishes were often unwilling to issue such certificates people often stayed where they were – knowing that in an emergency they would be entitled to their parish's poor rate.
The 1662 Act stipulated that if a poor person (that is, resident of a tenancy with a taxable value less than £10 per year, who did not fall under the other protected categories) remained in the parish for forty days of undisturbed residency, he could acquire "settlement rights" in that parish. However, within those forty days, upon any local complaint, two JPs could remove the man and return him to his home parish. As a result, parish bosses frequently dispatched their poor to other parishes, with instructions to remain hidden for forty days before revealing themselv |
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Law of Settlement Amendment
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o Settlement by residence replaced by the principle of settlement by merit
To gain settlement in a parish a person had to meet at least one of the following conditions:- Be born into the parish. Have lived in the parish for forty consecutive days without complaint. Be hired for over a year and a day that takes place within the parish – (this led to short lengths of hire so that settlement was not obtained). Hold an office in the parish. Rent a property worth £10 per year or pay the same in taxes. Have married into the parish. Gained poor relief in that parish previously. Have a seven-year apprenticeship with a settled resident. • Amendment to settlement Act in 1691 o Settlement by residence replaced by the principle of settlement by merit o Shift from moral economy to market economy--hardening of attitudes towards the poor o The poor are poor because of a character flaw--American dream concept o Relieving all the poor |
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Implication of law of settlement
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The Settlement Laws were a great economic advantage to the owners of large estates where they controlled the housing. It was not unknown for landowners to demolish empty houses in order to reduce the population on their lands and also to prevent the return of those who had left. At the same time, they would employ labourers from neighbouring parishes: these people could be laid off without warning but would not increase the rates in the parish where they worked.
Although magistrates could order parishes to grant relief to the poor, this did not often happen since the landowners were also the magistrates and were unlikely to make relief orders that would increase the poor rates. |
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Poor Law
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The later statute altered the Poor Law system from one which was administered haphazardly at a local parish level to a highly centralised system which encouraged the large-scale development of workhouses by Poor Law Unions.
Poor law rates went up as poverty went up o Poverty wasn't increasing, the poor were just becoming lazier-- attitude of the wealthy o This is the time when people are being thrown off of the common lands o This is a process, it is going to culminate in the poor law of 1934 (oliver twist) o Based on the workhouse system, put the poor in unhealthy places in order to show that they are "deserving" o Need for a relief system that would combine disciplined labor with relief o Make the workhouses less eligible o Punishment element in order to distinguish |
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Hardening of Attitudes to the Poor
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• ultimately the poor laws and the workhouses were the triumph of the market economy from the moral economy
o We're no longer the kind father, we have to be the tough guy with a big stick o paternalism has changed!!!--> reflected actually in family structure o Changes with the industrial revolution o Poor are addicted to the paternal model Making poverty shameful-- Anglican church pushed this forward |
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Workhouse Act of 1723
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o Compulsory tax by parish to build workhouses
o Discriminated between the deserving and the undeserving poor o No relief to the able bodied paupers but the workhouse, indoor relief o Authorities saw the system s a failure and slipped back to the system of outdoor relief |
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Workhouses
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Workhouses screwed up the market
o Creating more poor by letting the workhouse sell more and do more work than the market demands--by doing the work for free o Sanitation is neglected o Work consisted of spinning wool, making stocking/lace o Quality of the workhouse products were shoddy • Problems with poverty relief systems o Run by a class with little interest in improving the lot of the poor and wanted to keep their rates as low as possible o Overseers of the poor were unpaid officials and some were corrupt o Treatment of pauper children the most appalling esp. in London o Of 16 London parishes between 1750 and 1755 the total number of children born or received in the workhouse was 2,240 o 48% were eventually discharged o 49% died o 3% remained in the workshouse by 1755 • Speenhamland o Like walmart! Taxpayers are subsidizing Walmart's workers |
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Demonization of the Poor
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•Society considered poverty as a crime in itself
0 Character building for the poor, making workhouse so awful that you would prefer to be a submissive laborer instead of taking subsidies o Discourage sex, encourage marriage in order to make sure they stop having children o Rather have them cut back now instead of having to kill them later o In order to have nice disciplined workers, the bourgeoisie need to demonize the poor and harden the attitudes of people o Thomas Malthus, Essay on population (1798) • Hardening of attitudes to the distress of the classes o Poor presented no serious threat to the ruling oligarchy in the 18tth century o Makes criminality not a symptom of poverty but symptom of laziness o Addiction to gin and criminality reinforces the "character" concept o Unemployment benefits encourages you to not work |
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How and why did Britain gain and lose an empire in the eighteenth century?
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Gain (7 years war), Losing an Empire (American colonies), why (gain an empire to expand and industrialize, lost an empire because they didn't' want to be too ruthless)
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Pitt and the Seven Years War
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• After the Seven Years’ War, England was the greatest power in Europe, dominant power in India and North America as a result of the gains it won from France under Pitt’s leadership.
o While in opposition, he objected to government’s focus on Hanover --was dismissed from his junior post as a result, but only made his criticism freer. o When the war under Newcastle went badly, Pitt was the logical and patriotic alternative (was known as the Great Commoner). o Eventually Newcastle resigned. After back-and-forth with king, came into power with Newcastle in 1757. His strategy focused on sea power and aimed to attack France outside Europe. |
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Gaining an empire
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•Treaty of Utrecht gave GB overseas possessions--Gibraltar and Minorca, recognized claims to Hudson’s Bay region and Nova Scotia, received St. Kitt’s, and the asiento (right to sell slaves to Spanish colonies). Naval and financial power reflected/reinforced its imperial power.
•East India Company moved beyond trading to basically ruling parts of India and forming alliances with local rulers as Mogul declines. Decline of Mogul allows Euro. trading companies to move in. (Anglo-French conflict in Asia as a result). |
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Seven Years War
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• Theatres of war were: Mainland North America, Africa, the West Indies, and India.
• These Theatres yielded immense land grabs-- this is how they built the empire o Took Quebec 1759-1760. o Secured trading posts on the western coast of Africa as well (significant for the slave trade). o Also took islands from the French. o Also victorious in Ind |
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Losing America
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• For a while, American colonies basically governed themselves with little interference from the mother country.
o started to change in the mid-17th century, with the result that by the late 18th century Navigation Laws, Acts of Trade, and Enumerated Articles laws, as well as industrial restrictions, regulated much of the colonies’ economy. o State grows a lot during this time--lots of economic advantage to this. While not the primary reason for revolt, some argued that mercantilist restrictions crushed colonists and thwarted industrial development. • Really was about who the colonies were supposed to be loyal to: Parliament or Crown? • Question of whether Parliament could legislate directly for the colonists threatened colonial assemblies o Americans did not want to be like Ireland (Declaratory Act of 1720 had said Parliament could do that in Ireland, 1766 saw another similar law passed for the American colonies). |
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Two conflicting Ideas
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o Parliamentary supremacy idea--virtual representation argument that they could govern in the interests of the Empire--vs. colonial view that their assemblies were not subordinate, that there could be no taxation without representation, and that liberty was consent to laws of one’s own making. (Corruption a concern too--same kind of conflicts being raised by Wilkes).
• Actions in Quebec are a signal to Americans--like removal of the Acadians--that GB approves of arbitrary absolutism. |
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Stamp Act and Sugar Act
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• Acts such as the Stamp Act and Sugar Act were used for profit--to raise revenue.
o Argument that Americans should contribute to their own defense. So cost of empire vs. the rights and liberties of citizens. o Stamp Act crisis and Sons of Liberty riots made British back down under Rockingham Whigs (passed Declaratory Act of 1766). o But Townshend Duties in 1767 under Chancellor of Exchequer revived taxation issue. Eventually all but tax on tea repealed under Lord North, but Tea Act of 1773 gave colonists the pretext they wanted to flip out. Britain’s response (Intolerable Acts) exacerbated the situation and war broke out. o Also, political instability during 1760s meant American problem ignored • Because they didn’t want to be too ruthless, didn’t pursue total naval blockade or land war strategies relentlessly. But really only led to an informal empire based on free trade--GB changed its strategies for other possessions. |
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How do you account for the political instability of the 1760s? Consider such factors as the personality and goals of the king, different interpretations of constitutional principles, and the role of faction or party.
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George III was young when he assumed the throne-- caused instability, Bute was not a good Prime Minister, wilkes and rise of newspapers→ opened parliament to public opinion causing more instability, 1768-9 bad harvests, American revolution, No war --> Britain most stable during time of war: people stuck together, public as well as ministers were the most supportive and at their patriotic best, economic prosperity.
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George III was young
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o He was full of ideals, naïve and politically inexperienced
oVery immature o Trusting of Bute (his tutor/mentor/friend), therefore untrusting of other ministers o various PM’s (prime ministers--went through 10 in a decade) o wanted to change the “party” system, causes instability-> people believe that he is trying to change England into absolutist regime o increased pressure for ministers to conform to his ways and demands-> causes instability because they feared being ousted if they did not do as he wished |
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Bute was not a good prime minister
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“company you keep” mentality, made George III look bad
• party system is all that anyone knew (whig ministry had been running the country at that point for 50 years) o demanded a role in the running of the country-> wanted his patronage back and wanted royal powers returned o caused instability because people at the time were not used to those kinds of demands o he refused to make political concessions to any of his Prime Ministers o ministers had a constant fear of general elections if their choices did not please the electorate o MOST PMs in the House of Lords→ was important because it influenced the way that they were able to rule |
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wilkes and rise of newspapers→ opened parliament to public opinion causing more instability
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o press and public opinion (belief that people has the right to publish anything, including the things that went on within parliament)
o parliament and ministry open to public ridicule and hatred (based on growing knowledge of the actions of parliament) |
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Time of Peace
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o Britain most stable during time of war: people stuck together, public as well as ministers were the most supportive and at their patriotic best, economic prosperity.
o Economy and industry boomed through increased demands for goods during wartime o Capitalism thrives off of war and cannot be stable without imperialist conquests • 1768-9 bad harvests (Britain is a harvest economy) • Riots in england (happened due to economic state) following Wilke’s win in election but subsequent governmental decision for Luttrell as winner o government saw Wilkes as a threat to their existing system, as he was the symbol of liberty for the people of Britain o constitution exposed by the press as corrupt and subject to influence |
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American Problem
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o 13 rebellious colonies
o Grenville holding ministerial office o Grenville had to pay off national debt of 140 million euro • did not want to upset the Independent Gentlemen, so imposed taxes on America • Sugar Act 1764- taxed all molasses entering America • Stamp Act 1765-extended the British stamp act and taxed all legal docs, newspapers, licenses, dice, playing cards, etc in America=RIOTS • america would buy nothing from Britain, therefore causing instability as Britain rapidly began to lose income • instability because trading classes put pressure on government to resolve issues ^ caused Grenvilles resignation o Economy closely tied to the MPs, and yes George III have a role |
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Discuss the "Constitutional Revolution" of 1828-1832. Did it alter the conduct and content of British politics?
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Test and Corporation Acts, Catholic Emancipation, Reform Bill of 1832, and it altered British politics by making the Prime Minister more susceptible to public opinion
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Test and Corporation Acts
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• Acts weren't repealed, just reworded
o Campaign for repeal of T+C Acts began in 1780s, led by dissenters o Thwarted by French Revolution o By 1820s, opposition had dissipated for the most part • Transubstantiation retrained as a test to keep out Catholics Catholics still had no real civic rights • Test of Anglican communion was replaced by the requirement that one be Christian who would not do anything to weaken or harm the Established Church |
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Catholic emancipation
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Catholic emancipation (would have never passed through a reform by parliament)
• 1828 in Co. Cork: O’Connell defeats liberal, has to take oath against the Virgin if he wants to take his seat… he refuses • Many Whig candidates came out strongly for reform during election of 1830 • Reform sentiment stimulated by the July revolution in France • Whigs came in under the leadership of Lord Grey • Whig reform plan o Lords Durham and Russell were pushing for radical parliamentary reform o March 1831 Russell introduced the government reform bill, failed on the third reading • Grey called for another general election for April 1831 -- a referendum on parliamentary reform • Whigs won a landslide victory -- a 100 seat majority • Catholic Emancipation likely wouldn’t have happened on their watch • The culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation throughout Britain • The Act permitted members of the Catholic Church to sit in the parliament at Westminster • Result of mass movement in Ireland |
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Reform Bill of 1832
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Background
Prospects for middle class political reform increased o Parliamentary reform held back by • State of political parties • Tories in power until 1830 • Passage of Catholic Emancipation • Split the pro-Anglican, Tory party o Death of George IV in 1930 required new election under new sovereign, William IV • Whigs won election in 1830 and could bring in long promised reform o Changes in the franchise • Uniform borough franchise -- 10 pound householders • Counties -- in addition to 40s freeholders • Chandos clause -- 50 pound tenants at will • Lease holders added • Modest increase in the size of the electorate • 500,000 before 1832 • 800,000 after 1832 ( one in five adult males could vote) o Changed distribution of seats in the house of commons • Elimination of many corrupt, rotten boroughs • Freed up 143 seats for redistribution • 65 parceled out among the counties • 78 given either to London or to newly enfranchised industrial towns |
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Did it alter conduct and content of British politics?
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• Wasn’t as extensive as it could have been as for setting precedent
• Changes delayed because middle class still had to work • MP were now more susceptible to public opinion o More effective on paper than in action, didn’t actually lead to the middle class taking over parliament Act Empowered cheap local self-government, closed down oligarchical corporations Middle-class wanted self-government, but they also wanted cheap government Another reform introduced after 1852 was the poor law of 1834--Oliver Twist No real change in composition of the house of commons Landed elite continued to dominate the lower house But they had to pay attention to middle-class interests Failed to live up to expectations of the Whigs Rather than a final, complete reform, it became only the first installment in the democratization of Britain Landed class retained its ascendancy by agreeing to share power with, by co-opting the middle-class |
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Made British politics cater more to middle classes
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The reform Bill of 1832 eventually Ushered in a series of piecemeal reforms reflecting middle class interests
Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 -- cheap, local self government Elective town councils determined by ratepayer suffrage Poor Law of 1834 |
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6. In the 1840s the English working class saw their salvation in the vote, but in the 1850s they increasingly turned to trade union activity. How do you account for this development?
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Chartism, split of conservative party,
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Chartism
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Members of elite, franchised in 1832: set of reforms– social relations, more middle class people in the House of Commons. No corn laws.
Revolution– resistance to it was adamant. Invisible power is taken away. Deference to the elite is taken away by this. Making parliament accountable to people= making it a tool to the working class. The goal was to get parliament to adopt the great charter. 1850s particularly prosperous and witnessed great expansion of trade union activity |
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1st phase chartism
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•Earliest strategy was to petition parliament
•What to do if parliament rejected the charter •Chartist Convention held in London in Feb. 1839 –"People's Parliament" –Physical force v. moral force •July 1839 the Commons overwhelmingly rejected the Charter. |
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Second Phase Chartism
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•Second Chartist campaign began in 1840
–Drew strength from abysmal economic conditions(high prices, widespread unemployment) •Again the Charter was rejected despite widespread petitions and demonstrations •Lost vitality by mid 1840s •Return of prosperity in 1843 which lasted until 1847 •Competition by the Anti-Corn Law League Anti Corn Law League: •Only goal was to abolish the Corn Laws –Laws interfered with development of English commerce –Glaring example of aristocratic and landed dominance –Raised food prices |
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Final Phase Chartism
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Economic downturn in 1847 followed by severe depression in 1848
•Monster petition movement (900,000 signatures) –Again rejected in 1848 and movement virtually over •Government once again applied repression •Chartism lingered on into the 1850s but with little popular following •1850s particularly prosperous and witnessed great expansion of trade union activity |
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Significance of Chartism
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•Gave working class a sense of solidarity and a heightened class consciousness
•Reminder to the governing elite that it might be dangerous to ignore working class interests altogether •Result was a series of enactments in the 1840s responding to working class concerns including –Mines' Act of 1842 –Factory Act of 1847 –Public Health Act of 1848 –Education reform |
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Split of Conservative Party
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Repeal carried with support of the Whigs in July 1846
–Benjamin Disraeli led about 2/3 of the Conservatives in opposition to the measure •Peel was forced to resign •Whigs came into office under Russell |
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Consequence of the Split
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Disastrous for Ireland
–Russell and the Whigs obsessed with principle of laissez-faire in economics –Result was criminal neglect of the starving masses in Ireland •1 million dead and another 1.5 million forced to emigrate by 1851 when the Famine was over •Political consequences in Britain –Ushered in about two decades of very weak governments based on a three party system in existence •Disraeli's conservatives •Whigs Peelites, including the young William Gladstone |
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Clearly, the burdens and grievances of the English lower classes increased in the course of the eighteenth century. Yet for the most part the working classes accepted the extremely disproportionate distribution of political and economic power which favored the landed and commercial elites. Explain. What factors contributed to this social stability? What factors contributed to its erosion?
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methodism, behavior of working-class during napoleonic wars,
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Why is there no revolution?
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o middle classes & parliament cater to middle classes (co-opting them and shrinking power of working class Reform Bill 1831)
o submissive behavior during napoleonic wars o issue of patriotism--> stability during a time of warfare o no consolidated conception of the ‘working class’ as a unit o Methodism o chartism as a reformist move--> all efforts channeled into chartism o Disapproved of violence which would dissuade revolution |
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Reform Bill of 1831, co-opting middle classes
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October 1831 -- reform bill passed commons but was vetoed by the Lords
Danger of revolution Third bill presented with minor changes to appease the Lords May 9-18 -- danger of revolution reached its peak Grey returned to office Many whig candidates came out strongly for reform during electron of 19580 Britain in 1830 was on the verge of revolution Elite kept putting off reform bills to push out revolution In the end, the land owning class co-opted the middle classes "What the tory's said was true, but what the Whigs did was necessary" Quote means that the Tory's were right in saying that "if you give them reform, they'll want more" and the Whigs capitulated some rights in order to avoid revolution Alteration in the character of the MP, had to be more responsible |
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Problems with Anglican Church
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•Society for the Porpagation of Christian Knowledge founded in the 1690s
o Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts o Charity school movement begun under Queen Anne o Most famously it launched an attack on the stage "theatre" as seeing the stage as a place that modeled the immoral behavior • Weakness in the Anglican Church o Organization and association with the upper classes o The bishops (24 plus 2 archbishops) o Closely involved in secular politics •Great variety in episocopal wealth • Distribution of Parishes o No redistricting since time of Henry VIII o No recent adjustments for population growth • Protestant Dissenters o Had been regarded as intrinsically radical in the 1700 o Cool rationality and worldliness of the established Churches opened an emotional gap filled by Methodism o no spiritual aspect o Churches were class based, costs money depending on the seat you filled |
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Methodism
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o Founded by John and Charles Wesley
o John emphasized the personal religious discipline or "method" in one's spiritual growth hence, "Methodist" o Poor felt no comfort in the Established Church, but felt comforted by Wesley o He created "how to manuels" for getting close to God, but inserting a how-to aspect to the church of England o Their religion is mostly associated with evangelicalism |
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Evangelicalism
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o Brothers went to Georgia in America
o Influence of the Moravians o Scriptural fundamentalists o Simplicity of worship o Spiritual egalitarians, everyone was equally sitting and equally saved, and was opposed to slavery-- Methodism opposed the elites |
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Wesleyism
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o It's all about the primacies of faith, empahsis on the gospels
o Very Luther-like in the primacy of the scriptures rather than work |
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Methodist movement
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o They set up chapels all around England when they returned
o They engaged in the practice of "open preaching" where they would go outside on the hill and preach o Woman would preach-- base their sermons on their own spiritual conversions |
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Elite reaction to methodism
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o Initially bitterly hostile to Methodism
o Distrusted the lower-class participation Revival of religious enthusiasm Lower-class participation Implied an uncomfortable spiritual equality Implicit attack on opulent elite lifestyle Respect accorded to virtue and not birth or status Magistrates frequently refused to give Methodists protection Anti-Methodists riots o Revived religious enthusiasm that they were afraid of due to what happened to the 17th century o Methodist respected people based on their virtue o Less likely to provoke a riot and would rather go preach on a hill → MAJOR REASON Methodism pacified the masses |
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Conservative Methodism
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o Debate among historians on the Methodist question: When there is a growing fear that there will be a revolution in Britain (like the one in France) did Methodism preserve England or advance people to a more a radical state?
o Methodism possess an "other-worldliness" Methodist threw themselves into the church with all their passion and people needed that, but it's a distraction from the material conditions o Thompson would say that Methodism was obsessed with salvation o The Methodist "method" created discipline, self-confidence, and literacy and created great union leaders when the time came. |
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Why did methodism not cause a revolution?
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Many different arguments that answered this quesiton:
• There were too few Methodist to have great impact o 175,000 Methodist in a population of 9 million • "Psychic Mastrabation" → reason why the masses never rose up o EP Thompson o Pschoanalysis of methodism which supports Halevy o Counterrevolutionary "religious terrorism" → what is meant by this is that methodism was counter-revolutionary and intended to pacify the masses HOWEVER: o Legacy to the 19th century working class radicalism → on the other hand however, it was methodism that led to the rise of the trade unions and trade union leaders • Learned to organize, lead, and have discipline Failed because it tended to appeal to lower classes but emphasized the middle class virtues Tracts on thrift, abstinence, diligence, hard work, dependability, sobriety However, Positive influence on developing humanitarianism in the late 18th century Opposition to slavery Prison and criminal code reform |
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Chartism
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Widespread opposition to workhouses and Poor Law exacerbated by economic downturn of 1837
Deficient harvests -- high food prices Industrial and commercial recession Depression deepened in 1841 and by 1842 it bottomed out -- the worst year for British workers Resentment over exclusion from Reform Act of 1832, Terrible conditions Set the stage for the rise of Chartism Chartism was focused on petitioning parliament and therefore took all of the energy of the working-class and redirected it away from mass uprising. |
