The Role Of Reform In The 19th Century

The nineteenth century brought about reforms and changes in Parliament. Parliament was not formed overnight. It took hundreds of years of trial and error before Great Britain established the parliament they have today. Many different events played their part in forming the country and shaping parliament. None had as much effect as the events of the nineteenth century. The nineteenth century, or the Victorian age, was a time where change and parliament reform happened. Many acts and legislation were either passed or rejected through parliament and most were aimed at reform. Even some of the legislation passed during the Victorian era was aimed at parliament itself. Even though parliament went through some changes, legislation passed in the nineteenth century helped shape …show more content…
Just like any other type of reform, there were people that were opposed to the proposed bill. The House of Lords was made up the clergy and the rich land owners that inherited their titles. They opposed the bill because it took the power away from their small, rural, “rotten” boroughs and gave the power to the cities. The Reform Act of 1832 passed even with the House of Lords opposing it. This Act of Parliament was made to help with the corruption issue that was going on and also to change the electoral system in England. The Reform Act of 1832 eradicated old parliamentary boroughs and added new boroughs to the cities that prospered because of the Industrial Revolution. This allowed more representative seats to be re-dispersed throughout England. One problem that arouse from the reform bill was the new boroughs were not made based on the population. Wealthy land owners were still able still bribe people to vote the way that they wanted. Conflicts rose up between the middle class and the working class since the new borough borders split big industrial cities and their neighboring commercial cities.