What effect did the political reform have?

Middle-class industrialists argue that along with the working class they make up this country. Big Industry cities like Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool all with no MPs while 'rotten boroughs' like Dunwich, Old Sarum and Bramber each have two MPs, they wanted to take the sits in parliament from these once important towns and give the MPs to these important cities. These Industrialists also argue that the House of Commons is full with wealthy landowners who know nothing about industry and that there should be more industrialists and manufactures as MPs so the future in industry can be properly planned. Campaigners for the reform were very careful and clear that they did not want a revolution, too much change is uncontrollable, will start riots and will break the country.

Tory landowners argued that there was nothing wrong with the system and that Britain's wealth comes from the land, the land that provides food and people who don't own land should say how it's governed. Also, if you try to change a bit of the law and pass one reform more will follow and it will break the country. They would then use what happened in France as an example.

The Government eventually started to agree with the reforms but why? At the time, the Whig party ruled, with Earl Grey as prime-minister, a lord who was for the reform. The party didn't want democracy and feared a revolution. Meanwhile prices were rising and more ordinary people were for the electoral reform seeing it as a hope for better life. The middle-class and the Tories made a compromise to give more of the population the vote but the stop a revolution and, just for the while, stop the working-class from getting the vote.

It took three reform bills to be passed in the House of Commons, the prime-minister to resign and return again before in June 1832, the reform bill was passed in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

This act meant that 4.4% of the population could vote opposed to the pervious year of 2.7%, it doesn't seem a big difference but it actually meant 250,000 more people could vote bearing in mind you owned property worth at least £10. In addition 56 rotten boroughs were abolished and their MPs given to other cities, which was an immediate change, also in years to come, the right vote would be available to an even higher percentage of the population.

This was the beginning of the process that leads us to the modern day. The 1832 reform act was the first step towards bringing more people the right to vote. This initial reform act had a knock-on effect and a power shift from the minority to the majority. Today we live in a democracy and back then though not everyone could vote it was starting an increase in 'power to the people,' which is exactly what democracy means. Politics needed to change but if you change to much too soon it gets out of hand, the fact that little changes were done throughout the ages stopped a revolution prevented a riot, and got politics where it needed to be.

Nick Theodorou/History 09/28/2007