THE 1832 GREAT REFORM ACT

1st Reform Act – began process

Struggle with Lords, increased power of Commons

Step forward for democracy

143 borough seats redistributed to new towns

The significance of 1832 G.R.A.

The reform was limited and had 2 essential elementsThe redistribution of seatsThe remodelling and systemising of the franchise.

Both elements accepted the key principle that the right to vote should be based on a property qualification

County voters:

40s freeholders remain

£10 long lease and copyholders

£50 annum rateable

£50 annum rent payers

Borough voters:

£10 rate qualification

Previous voters for lifetime

Franchise Criteria

No secret ballot

Elections stay uncontested

MPs continue to come from landed

Nothing for working classes, turn to Chartism and T.Us.

Vote still tied to property

Pocket boroughs remain

Other Issues

The Motives for Reform

The key issue here is why did the Whigs seem to yield to radical pressure to reform, rather that just suppress it as previous Governments had done?

Interpretation 1The Whigs stood to gain in electoral terms from a

reformed systemEvidence

The extension of the franchise inn the boroughs to £10 householders the Whigs were aware that a new electorate of the non-conformists, shopkeepers and lower class towns people that would be Whig in character and the best hope of the Whigs retaining power.

Interpretation 2There was a real threat of Revolution with out reform.

EvidenceThe Whigs were faced with a real revolutionary

threat in 1831-32, and saw a growing radical alliance between the middle and the working classes. The new franchise would split that alliance, and the working class would be powerless without the leadership and support of the middle class.

Interpretation 3The Reform Act was a tactical manipulation of

electoral boundaries.Evidence

40 shilling freeholders could not vote in county elections if they qualified for the £10 borough franchise

The Chandos Amendment – enfranchisement of tenant framers who were likely to be swayed by the landlords

Interpretation 4The Whigs were motivated by a belief that reform

was needed for its own sake.Evidence

The leading Whigs saw ordered reform as justifiable and necessary in ordered to prevent political structures becoming misaligned from the process of economic and social change.

What were the key changes?

The Whigs saw the reform as the important first step to full democracy, it was part of a process that allowed Britain to be politically stable and economically prosperous.

HOW WOULD THE REFORM CREATE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC & SOCIAL STABILITY?

Criticisms of the Act

Few recent historians believed the Act deserves to be called Great.There are continuities pre and post 1832. The

Act did little to change the degree of power exercised by the aristocracy.

The Middle Class remained under representedThe working class remained excluded form the

franchise.

The long term impact

The development of working class political consciousness

The evolution of the British party system

This first act made it more difficult to resist further reforms (1867, 1884, 1918 & 1928)

The Act created a precedent it represented the first occasion the aristocracy were forced into political concessions.

The terms of the Act were not as important as the simple fact that it was passed.