The "People's Charter," drafted in 1838 by William Lovett and Francis Place was at the heart of a radical campaign for parliamentary reform of the inequity remaining after the Reform Act of 1832. The charter contained six points that were to be presented to parliament, these where:
Universal Suffrage
No Property qualifications
Annual Parliaments
Equal representation (constituencies of equal size)
Payment of members
Vote by ballot
Two national petitions incorporating the six points above were presented to parliament in May 1839 and May 1842, the first signed by 1.3 million people and the second signed by 3.3 million. The six points drawn up were not new revolutionary demands, they had been on the political agenda for at least half a century and this movement was seen by the working class as the right way to bring about change.
During the years 1815-1820 after wars with France there was increasing poverty in England. This coupled with the affects of an ever-increasing population meant that during the war year's industry expanded and thus produced more jobs. Subsequently when the wars ended people were left without jobs and unemployment was rife.
Chartists were working class people who believed the working classes had the right to have a say in the way the country was run. They believed that the aristocrats and landowners in government were out of touch with the population and did not adequately represent or understand the lives of the people whose lives they governed.
There are many short-term causes as to why Chartism emerged at this time. The working classes had given huge support to the middle class c...
... middle of paper ...
...sionment with the system of government they were being ruled by and called for change.
People who did not work in factories were worst hit as a result of the industrial revolution. Skilled workers whose skills were no longer required or found that more modern forms of production were taking their jobs. Weavers formed the vast majority of chartists during the late 1830's and early 1840's. These people were literate and had a sufficient grasp of politics in Britain and worked mainly on the fringes of the main areas of industry. Some of the strongest support for Chartism came from previously prosperous weaving areas, as the mechanized power loom became a permanent fixture in factories demand for these workers decrease and their economic situation worsened. Handloom weavers saw Chartism as a way in which they could defend an entire political and social culture.
their ways of thinking and tried to alter the system that they had created. They talked of
The time period from 1860 to 1914 is defined by the surfacing of the "mass societies." The social order practically ignored the industrial proletariat and the foundation for a reform was laid. The industrial proletariat refers to all the workers who desperately depended on their wages. These people had absolutely no role in politics or in society in general. Even as late as 1860, the workers had to depend on themselves only to improve their social conditions. During the Industrial Revolution, as the number of machines mu...
decided to change their forms of government. The idea that life would be better if things
In short, reformers were fed up with inept government, and believed that through economic and social reforms, they can influence the government to enact the changes they desire.
The list contained twenty-seven grievances, all showcasing the ways in which the King denied the colonists their rights. The strongest grievances are all related to each other, but listed separately in the document. The fifth and sixth grievances can be tied together as they both have to do with the dissolving of colonial governments. The fifth one states that “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of people” (Declaration”). This explains that the King struck down any colonial assembly that was created in order to have representation and the sixth grievance follows: “He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions to cause other to be elected: whereby the legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the state remaining the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within” (Declaration). After dissolving the colonial assemblies, the King prevents any other assembly from being created in order to prevent any opposition to the way he rules (interpretation). Another one of the grievances states, “for imposing Taxes on us without our Consent” (declaration). This grievance explains the multiple taxes placed on the colonists to fund a war
A major cause for the Industrial Revolution was the enormous spurt of population growth in England. The increase in population meant that there were more people in surplus from agricultural jobs, and they had to find work in industrial factories. Enclosure brought forth a great increase in farming production and profits. Farming was improved through the use of crop rotation, enclosures, and the division on farms across England. Crops that were grown consisted of turnips, barley, clover, wheat. This improvement in farming caused a population explosion, which soon led to a higher demand for goods. The new means of production demanded new kinds of skills, new regulation in work, and a large labor force. The goods produced met immediate consumer demand and also created new demands. In the long run, industrialization raised the standard of living and overcame the poverty that most Europeans, who lived d...
From the late 18th century to the mid 19th century, the economy in England was transformed from an agricultural to a manufacturing –based economy. In 1801, agriculture provided employment for 36% of the British population. By 1851, only 10% of the British population was employed in agriculture, while over 40% was employed in industry (Hopkins, 36). As a direct result of this transformation, a surplus of jobs were created and displaced farming families moved in to fill them. Factory and Mine owners exploited the situation by offering families a means to make more money, by putting their children to work. Industry profited from this arrangement by saving money, since child labor was more “cost effective”. According to one historian, Clark Nardinelli, “in 1835 56,000 children under the age of thirteen were working in textile factories alone. By 1874, the number of child laborers in the market hit its peak with over 122,000 children between the ages of 10 and thirteen working in textile factories (4).”
Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) and Max Weber (1864 - 1920) both recognised that economic categories played a large part in social class structure. Nineteenth Century history plays an important part in understanding how class influenced identities. The Industrial revolution was changing the structure of the communities, the rich or landowners having a far better standard of living with better education, health care, property ownership and power than the poor. The working class would have a daily struggle to survive. The change in Trade Unions meant that the working class had a voice, helping to push their needs forward, looking for better standards of living and working conditions. Marx's concept of class was based around the production of goods. The emerging owners of these goods, or capital, were known as the ruling class. Marxism would define only two classes, the ruling class and the working class. The influence on identity of these two class structures would be very relevant in those days. The working class would earn a wage from the production of the goods but the ruling class would sell these for a profit and exploit the workers. The two classes were on two different levels of wealth, property ownership and social standing and they would struggle to mix, they were dependent on each other but the rewards would be unevenly matched.
Whiteside, Noel and James Gillespie. "Deconstructing Unemployment: Developments in Britain in the Interwar Years," The Economic History Review, Vol. 44, No. 4. (Nov., 1991), pp. 665-682.
The Agreement of the People was the constitutional manifesto of the Levellers. They were influenced not just by precedent, but by their own afflictions to define the powers of the government and set limits on Parliament, “being compelled thereunto not only by the examples of our ancestors . . . but also by our own woeful experience.” Furthermore, the Levellers were very critical of the practices of Parliament; they communicated their beliefs by way of what Parliament should do.
With many craftsmen out of jobs and more hungry laborers coming from Europe, the society was changing and growing and innovations had to keep up with that. “Pressure for change came from several directions. Immigrants from Europe, especially the Middle Atlantic region, increased the supply of urban labor” (332). Men came from Europe in the hopes that they could create big industries, especially because they knew that there was enough space and people to make it happen successfully. One of the biggest industries to arise during the industrial revolution was the addition of textile mills. These textile mills could quadruple the amount of work one woman could do at home. These factories provided many people with employment but many of the employees complained that they were working long hours without enough money earned to compensate for it. “But increasing competition in the textile industry cut profits, and by the 1830s, operatives found wages cut, boardinghouse rents raised, or workloads increased. Twice, in 1834 and again in 1836, women took strike action to resist these changes” (351). Most women that could not find jobs before the industrial revolution gained them after but they felt the injustice that was being put on them. Consequently, it was very popular for the employees to build labor unions to fight against what republicanism was turning out to
The First National Petition was written by the Chartist movement and presented to the ‘Honourable commons of the United Kingdom’ on the 14th of June 1839, in response to the failure 1832 Great Reform Act and other government measures of the 1830s. The source can be seen to have a number of key themes occurring throughout the petition related to social, economic and political issues as well the reference to religion in the petition.
In the time period of Queen Victoria's reign the population alone of Britain had grown from 10 million at the start of the 1800's to over 26 million by 1870. The British Empire grew and now held over a quarter of the world's population. When the empire was at its climax, it was the largest in history. The industrial revolution in Britain came with fantastic outcomes, such as huge technological revolutions and production of iron, coal, and cotton cloth increased dramatically. This increase in population and industrialization flooded the cities with peasants looking for jobs. Most of these people were living in poverty and hazardous conditions. This was when the first railway took form, allowing people to spread out and not crowd in the cities. Although people spread out, many still lived in slums and working conditions at the time were atrocious. Around 1833 through 1844 the Factory Act was finalized controlling child labor. Now children could not work...
The Chartists’ method was to circulate their petition throughout the country and gather signatures which were to be presented to the House of Commons at a giant convention in...
With the advent of technology and the new capitalistic trends of second industrial revolution in Europe, the era became known as the “age of the middle classes” (719). During this time, the middle class was no longer a “revolutionary group” threatening the ruling class. They showed their power through spending and buying goods in what is referred to as consumer taste (719). The middle class during this era transformed and evolved into an assortment of groups. The most successful of the middle class were the business and bank owners, who lived in majesty and eventually surpassed many of the former ruling classes in the aristocracy. In this highest class, there was only a few hundred families that had such wealth and power. The small busine...