‘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?