All Electoral Reform in the
19th Century was based on pressure from
outside parliament?
Grey
Disraeli
Gladstone
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 1867.
•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
• .
Mainly due to Pressure
outside of Parliament
The 1932 Great Reform Act
A bit of Both
Mainly due to other Factors
Electoral Reform of 1883,84
and 85
The 1867 Second Reform Act