All Electoral Reform in the 19th Century was based on pressure from outside parliament? GreyDisraeliGladstone

Introduction Throughout the 19th Century there were number of electoral reforms but were all of these due to pressure from outside parliament? Electoral Reform usually occurs as a result of changes in society, politicians actually desiring reform or mounting agitation from the people outside parliament Sometimes they all effect the reform of the electoral system equally and on some occasions one factor may dominate the need for electoral reform. We will now look at the electoral reform which took place during the 19th century and see for ourselves the reasons why they took place.

The 1832 Reform Act Arguments to suggest it was due to pressure outside of parliament: Catholic Emancipation Swing Riots Increase of radical influence - Cobett, Place, Hunt, Attwood From 1828 the British economy was in decline and bad harvests were not helping. Arguments to suggest that the electoral reform of 1832 came about due to other factors: The Whigs wanted some reform - Not democracy but the vote for property owning members of society

The 1867 Reform Act Arguments to suggest it was due to pressure outside of parliament: There was mass agitation for reform People’s anger was mounting due to trade depression and a cholera epidemic Their feeling were expressed in The Hyde Park Riots 23rd-25th July The Reform League also defied the government in Hyde Park on 6th May 1866 Disraeli feared that if there wasn’t any reform of the electoral system there would be a revolution.

Arguments to suggest that the electoral reform of 1867 came about due to other factors: Principle Reasons: Disraeli wanted to carry out his long held dream of ‘Tory Democracy’ - generally believed the working class had the right to vote and ‘One Nation Toryism’ - aristocracy had to use their power for the good of society and to further some kind of alliance between the rich and the poor. Pragmatic Reasons Disraeli wanted to become the party of reform By giving the vote to the working class he hoped to win more support in the 1868 election. To ‘Dish the Whigs’ - Damage the Liberals prospects as they had planed to do to the Tories in 1866.

The Electoral Reform of 1883,1884 and 1885 Arguments to suggest it was due to pressure outside of parliament: The radicals were gaining more political support The government wanted to avoid full blown radical discontent due to domestic issues failing to be tackled. Arguments to suggest that electoral reform came about due to other factors : After 1884 there was little demand for further change from those who remained excluded from the franchise as most working class males had been given the vote The Liberal politicians actually wanted the 1883,.1884 and 1885 to be passed so the people weren’t going to be angry with them.

Conclusion There is no definite factor which determines why electoral reform is passed Throughout the 19th Century, on many occasions the pressure from outside parliament was a major factor in passing reform. However it was not always the main reason and sometimes other factors played more of a part in the passing of electoral reform. To summarise we could put the electoral reforms of the 19th Century under three headings.