The Breakthrough of Liberalism in the West:
Revolutions of 1830-1832
Section 11.56
What does this mean in the context of
1830.
When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold.
Introduction
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1830 liberalism is breaking out and
doesn’t stop
1825 Spanish America was
independent
British and the French pulled away
from the congress system
Greek independence movement
against the Turks is advancing in
1820s
Nicholas is more willing to support
(Greeks) than Alexander was
Anglo-French-Russian intervention
takes a piece out of the Ottoman
Empire
Greece is reorganized
Egypt is autonomous
Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia are
recognized
Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) Greek boy
defending his wounded father, 1827
France, 1824-1830: The July Revolution, 1830
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Charles X (a reactionary) became king in 1824
Old regime passes an indemnity of 30 million
francs a year to the émigrés (who had their
land confiscated during the Revolution)
Catholic clergy is taking over classrooms
New law gave death penalty for sacrilege
committed in church
Opposition is developing in the newspapers
and liberal circles
March 1830, Chamber of Deputies passed a no
confidence vote in gov
King dissolves Chamber, calls for new
elections
Charles X uses absolutists interventions to
stop liberal critics
July Ordinances (7/26/1830): restrict on vote
and civil liberties
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dissolved Chamber again
censorship on press
curtailed suffrage of bankers, merchants
new elections
this sparks July Revolution (the very next day)
Liberty Leading the People,
embodying the Romantic view of
the French Revolution of 1830; its
painter Eugène Delacroix also
served as an elected deputy
Charles X Abdicates
• Barricades go up and the revolt is
led by the workers and intelligencia
(from 7/27-29)
• Charles abdicated and fled to
England
• Working people wanted social
reforms
• Bourgeois wanted protection of the
constitution of 1814 (just under new
leadership)
• Lafayette produces Louis Philippe
(on the balcony of the Paris Hotel de
Ville)
– Duke of Orleans
– relative of the Bourbons
• Offered the throne on the condition
to upholds the constitution
• Louis Philippe
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The July Monarchy
Regime known as Orleanist, bourgeois, or July
Monarchy
Reigns until 1848
Viewed by other monarchies/clergy as
revolutionary
– a king who got power through insurrection, a deal
with republicans/parliamentarians
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Called himself ‘king of the French’ not of France
Flies the Tricolor instead of the Bourbon lily
Had popular manner, sober dark clothing (business
suit of its time) and carried an umbrella
Constitution basically same as in 1814 but tone
different
No more absolutism
Chamber of Peers ceased to be hereditary and
Cham of Deputies was elected by larger body of
voters
increases suffrage from 100 to 200 thousand
(based on land ownership)
July Monarchy served the bourgeois class
Radical democrats are less satisfied
Modern History Sourcebook: François Guizot:
Condition of the July Monarchy, 1830-1848
Modern History Sourcebook:
The French Constitution of 1830
Revolutions of 1830: Belgium
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Effect of 3 day revolution in
France set off new explosions
all over Europe
Belgium and the Netherlands
were unified as a buffer
against France (at Congress
of Vienna)
Economically it was a good
union (but not politically)
Dutch absolutist ideas
conflicted with Belgium local
liberties (French Language)
Belgians were Catholic (Dutch
protestant), Bel spoke French
(Dutch wanted Dutch official
language)
Belgium declares
independence in August, 1830
Revolution in Poland
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Tsar Nicholas is prepared to respond (to the French
and Belgium revolutions) but has to go through
Poland
Polish nationalists object to presence of Russian
troops on the border
Polish diet dethrones the Polish king (Nicholas)
Revolt is crushed by Nicholas
exiles, émigrés flee and settle in western Europe
thousands are sent to Siberia
University of Warsaw and Vilna closed
suppression of civil liberties
Tsar is occupied with Poland and the Belgium
question is dropped
Belgium accepts monarch with ties to the British
throne and declare neutrality
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, a German prince married
to British royal family became king (the uncle of
Queen Victoria)
Treaty in 1831b/t British and Talleyrand set Belgium
up a perpetually neutral
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not allowed to form alliances, guaranteed against
invasion
Leopold I of
Belgium
Reform in Great Britain
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Liberal Tories (George Canning and
Robert Peel) made some reforms
repealed the Test Act of 1673
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a move to a more secular state
liberalized the Navigation Acts (which
now allowed colonies to trade with
countries)
Reduced tariffs
Capital punishment eliminated for about
100 offenses
Professional police force created with
the help of Robert “Bobby” Peel (where
police get their nickname)
But Liberal Tories could NOT:
– question the Corn Laws
– reform the House of Commons
(representation)
George Canning
Robert Peel
Problems of Representation
• House of Commons in unrepresentative of the
population and economy
• New factory towns were un-represented
(Manchester)
• Some boroughs were empty and had representation
– one was under water in the North Sea
• Whigs propose reform bill on elections
• Tories under Wellington (victor of Waterloo was
most extreme conservative) refuse to act
• Whigs take over the ministry
• Introduce a reform bill that is rejected
• Whigs resign and Tories fail to take up leadership
• Whigs return an reintroduce the bill and it passes
the HOC but is rejected by the House of Lords
• Uproar throughout the country and revolution seems
eminent
• Whigs get the king to threaten to increase the
peerage in the HOL
• House of Lords yields and Reform Bill of 1832
becomes law
Arthur Wellesley,
1st Duke of Wellington
Reform Bill of 1832
• Little impact on who voted
(increased from about 500
to 800 thousand
• Redistributed the seats in
the HOC to include the
industrial cities
(Manchester)
– Got rid of “rotten” boroughs
• The rising middle class is
gaining political
representation
• England sidesteps a
revolution through the
existence of Parliament
Britain after 1832
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Reform Bill of 1832 did have some lasting
effects
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New business interests stand alongside the
old aristocracy
Liberal Party develops
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Aristocratic Whigs, radical industrialists,
and liberal Tories
Conservative party
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Tories, few old Whigs, and a few former
radicals
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Classic era to two party politics in England
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1833 Slavery is abolished
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1834 New Poor Law is passed
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Provided relief for sick and aged (not
able bodied)
Municipal corporations act
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Helped cities manage urban life problems
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Reforms in the Church of England
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Redistribution of Church income in more
equitable terms
Tory counteroffensive
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Tories become champions of the
industrial workers
Publicized the social evils of rapid and
ruthless industrialization
Humanitarian industrialists were
sympathetic
Factory Act 1833 forbade child labor
(under 9)
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1842 underground mine work was
forbidden for women, girls, and boys
under 10
1847 the Ten Hours Act
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Paid inspectors to insure compliance
limited the labor of women and children to
10 hours
eventually men only worked ten hours
also
Liberal cotton magnate John Bright
called Ten Hours Act a “delusion
practiced on the working class”
it was against laissez-faire
Anti-Corn Law League (1838)
• Anti-Corn Law Whigs argued
against high prices for food
• Causes high wages and make
manufactures more expensive, high
food prices
• Pro-Corn Law Tories argued that
Britain should avoid becoming too
exclusively dependent on imported
food
• Modern political practices were
employed by the Anti-Corn Law
League to pressure the government
• Headquartered in Manchester
• it sent out lecturers, agitated
newspapers, held political teas,
open-air meetings
Anti-Corn Law League (1838)
• 1846 the Tory ministry under Robert Peel
yields and the Corn Law is repealed
• Symbolizes the change in England’s
government
• Industrial interests are now firmly seated
in government
• Free trade is to become the rule
• England becomes dependant on external
sources of food
• Industry became the mainstay of the
British economy
• workers transitioned to industrial jobs
• manufactures, coal, shipping, and
financial services become the basis of
the new economy
• Importing vital necessities from the rest
of the world was the fuel for the system
• Britain depended on the maintenance of
free trade and naval power
Over London by Rail Gustave
Doré c 1870. Shows the densely
populated and polluted
environments created in the new
industrial cities
Coalbrookdale at night, 1801 :
Artist: Philipp Jakob Loutherbourg
the Younger