How accurate is it to call the 1830s a decade of Reform?

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Edward Morgan                                                                                               1.11.01

How accurate is it to call the 1830s a decade of Reform?

The period during the 1830s is most commonly know as the decade of reform for the British government.  Lord Grey and the Whigs pledged to refresh the old fashioned, aristocratic government, and replace it with a new parliament whom would bring around major changes to British society as a whole.  However were the Whigs repressing or reforming society, and were they reforming all areas of British society?  What did they do to redress the balance within society itself?  Did they raise the status of the Working and Middle classes, and decrease the power of the Church, or did they keep the Status Quo?  What did the Whigs do to start the political process, and did they manage to satisfy their opponents and companions?  The Whig dilemma was to keep the balance, by passing enough reform to satisfy those who wanted it, without forcing their interest groups - such as factory owners -  into the arms of the Tory party.  Therefore the issue of reform was not as important a subject as was the balance between these interests.

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The Whigs needed to solve the problems concerning the working classes.  The Working classes had often caused problems for the government itself owing to their ever increasing size.  The working classes were the backbone of society, and without them the country would not run.  Therefore the Whigs had to satisfy the Working classes by passing legislation in their favour.  Factory conditions had always been abysmal, and thus had been a source of concern for some time.  A royal commission was set up to inspect the conditions of the factories, and therefore could be used as future reference for reform.  There ...

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