‘How Democratic?’ Higher History Essay PLAN

Essay Title Discuss the view that by 1914 Britain was not yet a democratic country.

4 Sections Widening the Franchise Fairer Elections Equal Votes/Constituencies Representation/Participation

Introduction Must signpost main arguments/headings for essay. To gain more marks for your introduction, a more detailed paragraph must be given and you need to show a ‘deep’ level of understanding of the topic.

Basic Introduction By 1914, several Acts of Parliament had been passed, making Britain a more democratic country. Britain became more democratic as more people could vote, elections were fairer, constituencies became more equal and elected representatives became more representative of voters. However, by 1914, Britain was still not a true democracy.

Useful quote DG Wright: “Although the democratic principle was accepted in 1867, one man, one vote never existed in Victorian Britain, even after the Third Reform Act.” (after 1884)

Better Introduction ‘ For any country to be called democratic, certain conditions have to exist. First of all, adults should have the right to vote, but the right to vote did not itself make Britain democratic. Between 1850 and 1914, other features of a democracy were created. Elections were fairer and less corrupt by the introduction of the Secret Ballot. (Fairer Elections 1). Now that many of the countries male population had the right to vote, (Widening of the Franchise 2), attempts were made to make constituencies more equal and reflective of the distribution of the population.(Equal votes/Constituences 3) Furthermore, legislation was passed to make those elected more representative of the voters, (Representaion 4) as It should be possible for people from all backgrounds to become MPs and parliament should be accountable to the voters. (Participation 5) By 1914 most, but not all of these conditions had been met, as DG Wright states “Although the democratic principle was accepted in 1867, one man, one vote never existed in Victorian Britain, even after the Third Reform Act”, Wright feel as that by 1914 true democracy did not exist as no women and only one third of men could vote. Britain was more democratic in 1914,however, it was not a complete democracy.’ (185)

SECTION 1 - Widening the Franchise For a country to be classed as democratic, all adults should have the right to vote regardless, for example, of their social class or gender. Progress made? Why was Britain not a true democracy yet?

SECTION 2 - Fairer Elections In a democratic country, citizens should be able to exercise their right to vote without fear or intimidation. Also, everyone should have an equal say in the outcome of the election – success in politics should not be determined by an individuals wealth. What progress had been made? What problems still existed?

SECTION 3 - Equal Votes/Constituencies In order to improve democracy, legislation was passed to ensure that one constituency was not more important than another – the number of voters in each constituency should be roughly the same. What progress was made by 1914? What was still to be achieved?

SECTION 4 - Representation/Participation Those elected should be representative of the voters – power should not rest with a wealthy elite. Progress made? But?