"England experienced fundamental changes in the Political and Social life of the Nation" To what extent is this a fair assessment of the nature of change in the period 1830-1848?

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James Matthews

“England experienced fundamental changes in the Political and Social life of the Nation” To what extent is this a fair assessment of the nature of change in the period 1830-1848?

Throughout the 18th century Britain had been pushing for reforms to the political and social systems and supporters of change were becoming more vocal, and harder to ignore. These feelings came to a head in the mid 19th century with a progressive wave of legislation being passed mainly by the Whigs who remained in power for the majority of the period. By ‘fundamental changes’ it is meant changes relating to the essential structure and nature of the change. ‘Political’ change in this context is anything that altered the system of government, or manner in which the government was conducted in Britain. By ‘social change’ it is referring to anything pertaining to changes made to the living conditions and environment of the people living in Britain at that time. The question will be answered by analysing information regarding political and social change during the period and then drawing conclusions from the sources to justify whether or not the opening statement was a fair assessment.

The 1830’s played host to a number of events instigated by the Whig government, which started a progressive chain of legislation and political acts, which would change the franchise and the conditions of life in Britain permanently. In 1832 the Whig government, under increasing pressure from the public, past the Great Reform Act. The act in itself was somewhat limited but at the time was considered a huge concession by the Whigs. It effectively gave the vote to the middle class, dramatically extending the franchise and nearly doubling the electorate in England while heavily increasing it in Scotland and Ireland too. The act also worked to make the system fairer by redistributing seats to reflect the present distribution of the population. This in effect removed the issue of rotten and pocket boroughs. While the affect of the reform itself was small it marked the beginning of change. It could also be argued that the Great Reform act made fundamental changes to the political system employed in Britain, as further changes were not made until 1867. Prior to 1835 local town governments tended to be run by corporations which essentially comprised of rich aristocrats with little interest in the welfare of the people living there, corruption was prominent in the majority of corporations with funds being misdirected by the aristocrats in charge. To amend this issue the Whig government passed the Municipal Corporations act in 1835, which profoundly altered the manner in which town governments functioned. As a direct result of the act 178 corporations were abolished which were then replaced by elected councils arguably making the system fairer by removing some of the power from the aristocrats. It also imposed restrictions on the amount of time you could sit on the council imposed to ensure a more contemporary representation on the council. The act also saw the introduction of a paid town clerk to check the accounts to prevent further misdirection of funds. The Municipal Corporations arguably did fundamentally change the political system in Britain as the effects of the act can still be seen in modern government.

In 1833 the Whig government passed the Factory Act which was designed with the intention of improving the welfare state for the working classes. One of the key aims of the act was to improve child safety and provide working hours to reflect the age of the workers. As a result of the act children under 9 were prevented from being employed in factories while children of 9-13 could only work 8-hour days with 2 days allocated to education. Older children were set a maximum of 12-hour days. The Factory Act pressed through government by a combined force of Evangelicals and Utilitarian’s was the first step by the British government to educate and protect children and marked a change in attitude toward children with the realisation that they marked the future. The following year a further change to the welfare system was made in the form of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment act. This was in recognition that the currently installed Poor Law acts had broken down and were no longer efficient in the changed society. This at the very least marked a change in attitude as it showed that the government was acknowledging that the status quo had changed and that laws implemented prior to that change were possibly no longer appropriate. One of the key changes to Britain was the ongoing Industrial Revolution, which caused the bulk of the working class population to move from their agricultural positions to large cities of industry like Leeds and Manchester. This population migration had repercussions as Outdoor Relief was supplied to people based on the parish in which they were born. Prior to 1836 when the compulsory registration of birth and death was introduced, the only records of a birth were the parish records and so the government to help distribute outdoor relief used these. However when people migrated from their home parishes to the cities it often took them away from their parishes and so they were no longer illegible for outdoor relief. The amended Poor Law act removed outdoor relief entirely and instead replaced it with a more efficient workhouse system. Parishes combined to form larger units each unit with workhouses. If the destitute required relief they were required to work for it. But it was no longer necessary for them to return to their home parish allowing a wider availability of relief. It also succeeded in making relief a more efficient process and saved money. The period saw more legislation passed to improve the welfare of the population perpetually with the Abolition of Slavery act that officially made slavery within the British Empire a crime and an immoral action. In 1846 the government revoked the Corn Laws and in doing so improved the living standard for a large percentage of the working class. This showed that the government was susceptible to pressure from the working class and that long-standing protests were effective.

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 It is clear that within the period of 1830-1848 that for better or worse there were, fundamental changes in the welfare of the British people and the social systems in effect in Britain.

In 1837 the ‘people’s charter’ was drawn up which comprised of 6 basic principles. The ‘people’s charter’ was a decidedly apt title as its overall aim was to give political power to the working class (the people) and to achieve a fair unbiased parliamentary system. Chartism was comprised of several large organisations. The first two being the London Working Men’s Association founded by William Lovett and ...

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