Chartism

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• Chartism Essay

  ...In Britain, the tough times of the late 1830s and 1840s, sometimes called the “hungry forties”, and the underwhelming increase in voters in the Reform Bill of 1832 gave birth to a political movement named Chartism. Chartism was a movement based on improving the political, social, and economic conditions of the working class and is considered the first mass working class movement in the world. The main points of the Chartist movement are defined in the People’s Charter, a document calling for six changes: universal manhood suffrage, the end of the property requirement for Parliament members, annual elections, equal electoral districts, and an income for Parliament members (Doc. 1). During the years of the Chartist movement there was much debate over how extreme and revolutionary they truly were. While many from the higher classes considered Chartism revolutionary and some individuals within the movement were willing to use violence, most Chartists were people who were only willing to try and pass the People’s Charter through the current system. Almost all of the people in any class above the workers would believe the Chartist movement to be revolutionary based on how radical it was at the time. The middle class, who had successfully achieved their goal of suffrage with the Reform Bill of 1832, turned into a more moderate to conservative and satisfied class that would perceive any other movements as an attack on what power and...

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• What Was Chartism and Why Did It Fail Essay

  ...The Agitation and Reform in the Nineteenth-Century Britain. What was Chartism and Why Did it Fail? Thisassignment will analysewhat Chartism was and why it failed. Firstly, we will consider what Chartism was, secondly we will focus on two of the six main reasons that Chartism failed, these will includethe lack of middle class support and the radical nature of the Chartist claims although the Disunited Members and Leader, the mid Victorian boom and the loyalty of the army and police force to the government at this time were also significant factors. Lastly we will conclude our findings by tying all the information together to answer what Chartism was and why it failed. Chartism grew from the disappointment of the working class with the outcome of the Great Reform Act of 1832(Evans, 2000, pp. 28-30), which was seen as a failure as the working class believed the limited amount of change was too minimal, and the majority still could not vote, there for it was essentially a cry for help from the working class. (www.educationforum.co.uk) Firstly we will consider the Claims made by the chartist movement as they were arguably a considerable influence in the decline of support and Chartism’s eventual collapse, this was mainly due to, too many demands at the same time. The charter made an argument for a vote for every man, 21 years and over of sound mind, the ballot to protect the voter,...

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• To What Extent Was the Growth of Chartism the Most Significant Development in the Popular Protest in the Period 1815-1848? Essay

  ...To what extent was the growth of Chartism the most significant development in the popular protest in the period 1815-1848? I think that Chartism was the least significant development in the popular protest period 1815-1848 because they did not achieve any reform until after the Chartist movement had ended by 1849. This was mainly due to the fact they had so many diverse aims and members which led to their weakness, they were not united under a single aim like other groups such as the Anti-Corn Law League which led to them trying too much in a short space of time being labelled as the ‘Umbrella movement’. I think that the Anti-Corn Law League was the most significant development in the popular protest in the period 1815-1848 because they achieved what they set out to do, they achieved getting a repeal of the Corn Laws which was a step towards almost total free trade in Britain. They also ran a very successful campaign in which they used humanitarian and religious arguments as well as economic arguments. As well as these arguments, they also used working class agitation to put pressure on the government, they used things like the ‘Plug Plots’ to gain support from the government in trying to achieve their aims. To achieve these aims the ACLL used propaganda to gain support from people and their finance was important as they used this to gain power in government as they would use bribes to make ACLL elected as MP’s. Although, the ACLL resulted in...

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• How Important Was Economic Conditions In The Development Of Chartism 1836 Essay

  ...How important was economic conditions in the development of Chartism 1836-41 Chartism was a working class movement for political reform in Britain. There were many reasons as to why Chartism developed, one of which was the poor economic conditions in Britain and this was quite important however was not the sole reason as there were also other strong origins such as disappointment of the Great Reform Act. The economic boom of the early 1830s was short lived as by 1836 Britain’s economy was suffering due to bad harvests and partly because of industrialisation. It was a time where there was high unemployment, especially in the north such as in Cheshire and Yorkshire, because the process of industrialisation had hit these areas harder than others as many handloom weavers’ jobs were replaced by machinery. Employers had reduced wages at a time of high food prices meaning that the working class had to act fats or risk starvation and they did by joining the radical Chartist movement. General Sir Charles Napier referred to the 1840s as the ‘hungry forties’ which gives us an idea of how bad things had gotten. Other than economic there were several other factors leading to Chartism, the first being the disappointment with the Great reform Act of 1932. Although labelled ‘great’ it didn’t reform a huge amount, it just tidied up what was already in place for example the total number of seats stayed the same in parliament at 658...

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• Chartism or the Chartist Movement Essay

  ...Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labor movement in the world. Chartists were largely unsuccessful at convincing Parliament to reform the voting system of the mid-19th century; however, this movement caught the interest of the working class. The working class interest in politics from that point on aided later suffrage movements. People's Charter of 1838: In 1837, six Members of Parliament and six working men, including William Lovett, (from the London Working Men's Association, set up in 1836) formed a committee, which then published the People's Charter in 1838. This stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:[1] 1. A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and not undergoing punishment for crime. 2. The secret ballot. - To protect the elector in the exercise of his vote. 3. No property qualification for members of Parliament - thus enabling the constituencies to return the man of their choice, be the rich or poor. 4. Payment of members, thus enabling an honest tradesman, working man, or other person, to serve a constituency, when taken from his business to attend to the interests of the Country. 5. Equal Constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors,...

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• Ema 01 Which Is More Important in Explaining the Public Support for Chartism Economic Circumstances, or the Tradition of Radical Politics? Essay

  ...TASK 1 OPTION 2 HISTORY Which is more important in explaining the public support for Chartism: economic circumstances, or the tradition of radical politics? To explain the rise of the chartist political movement and the public support it received we need to consider the two main contributing factors at the time. Historians like Asa Briggs, W.W. Rostow and Gareth Steadman-Jones take differing views on which was the most important explanation for the dramatic rise in public support for the chartist movement. Briggs agreed with an economic based reason and Steadman-Jones agreed with the radical new policies that Chartism offered being the main reason for the growth in support for the movement. This essay will explore these two views and try to identify which is the most important.  There is evidence of early political reformers dating back to the 1740's, all wanting universal male suffrage and many of them agreed with parts of the charter. But, due to the French revolution in 1789 and the ongoing war between France and Britain, political change was resisted in case any of these events were repeated. The war had left Britain facing harsh economic circumstances and deep political divides. When Chartism was at its height economic issues were a major problem throughout the poor and working classes. These economic circumstances were a major factor in gaining support for the chartist movement. W.W. Rostow studied this...

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• Essay on British History Chartism

  ...What were the causes of Urban Protest in Merthyr in May-June 1831? PESCRMT Merthyr Rising 1831 P Political Political moves have disappeared. Right to vote. Making it sound grim as trying to pass a law. Court of request. E Economy Keep up wages of miners. “Scotch Cattle” “Truck System” “Tommy Shop” Child labour – it’s cheaper. ‘trapper’ S Social Children working Unhygienic living and unsanitary conditions. C Cultural Children working. R Religious Chapels encouraged to join in running their religious bodies, Sunday schools and day schools to provide education. M Military Crawshay says it’s a political uprising but the home office disagrees!! Chartism: Reverend J.R. Stevens His idea of Chartism is that everyone has equal rights and having the right to vote will help to improve people’s standard of life, living conditions, wages etc.. Universal suffrage “knife and fork question”. Chartists In Leicester, many chartists worked in the textiles industries. They were finding it harder and harder to get work. Chartists wanted change and put their demands into a charter. William Corah hoped that parliament would accept demands in the charter, they believed that this would make their lives better. 6 Points of the People’s Charter A vote for every man, twenty-one years of age, of sound mind and not undergoing punishment for crime. The ballot, to protect the elector in the exercise of the vote. No property...

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• Asses the Reasons Why Chartism Failed Essay

  ...Assess the reasons why Chartism failed Chartism was the largest protest movement by working class people that Britain has ever seen, Chartist wanted a host of reforms which were highlighted in the Peoples Charter, which is were the Chartist name derives itself from. The People Charter of 1838 set about six points including: the vote for all adult males aged over 21, payment for MP’s, equal electoral districts, secret ballot, no property qualification for MP’s and annual general elections. The Chartist movement did eventually fail, in terms of obtaining their objective and the reason why they failed had been subject to much debate. Most historians who have studied Chartism can be grouped into threes reason why Chartism failed; Chartism failed because if economic and social changes, Chartism failed because of internet weakness of the movement and internal divisions within the movement and Chartism did not really fail in the truest sense of the word, it was defeated by the state. The economic and social change interpretation, some historians have argued that improving economic conditions ensured that the Chartist movement faded away after 1848. The economic conditions of Britain from 1837 had played its part in giving rise to Chartism so economic recovery in the mid 1840’s had made it difficult for Chartism to maintain a popular campaign....

  1464  Words | 5  Pages