Chartism
Class Division Working Classes vs. Middle Classes Industrious Classes vs. Lazy Classes
Anti-Corn Law League: Middle Class Chartists: Working Class
Causes Radical tradition Disillusionment with Reform Bill Poor Law of 1834 Trade Union failure
Depression of 1837
The Norman Yoke Original English freedom
Chartist Idea Political power leads to economic power Franchise necessary for political power
The People’s Charter 1.Universal Manhood Suffrage 2.Secret Ballot 3.Equal Electoral Districts 4.Payment for MPs 5.Abolition of Property Qualification 6.Annual Elections
National Chartist Meetings
Kennington Common (1848)
Chartist Movement National, but also local Leaders not working class
Immediate Consequences Growth of police Whigs backed off political reform Social reform moved forward
Economic Goals Unclear Agreed that labor the source of all value
Cooperate? Violence?
Feargus O’Connor The Northern Star
Short-term Results Failure
Long-Term Context Social, political, economic not separate Economic power comes first or second?
From movement to rhetoric
Mass meetings end Chartist ideas continue
George W. M. Reynolds Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper