Chartist aims and methods - Source related study.

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Humzah Al-Akku                         Chartism                              Coursework

Assignment Two : Objective 3

  1. Study Source A.

What  can you learn from this source about Chartist aims and methods?

    The first thing to acknowledge is that this source, an article, was written after the Kensington incident, which, although supported an enormous amount of people and required vast numbers of security, was not a violent confrontation.

     The march was led by O’Connor, who was distrusted by many other Chartist leaders, but was still dominant in 1848 when he personally set out to convey to Westminster a third National Petition on April 10,when a new Chartist Convention, very different in composition from the first, met in London. A great march from Kensington Common never reached Westminster and the Petition was laughed out in Parliament, with no division, after it was discovered that it bore many false names as signatories, including that of Queen Victoria. The word “fiasco” was subsequently used. In fact, 1848 demonstrated middle-class strength and aristocratic condescension.

    Source A describes one of the wagons that had been allowed through into London. The wagon was said to have carried ‘delegates’, who represented the Chartists, and were to put forward their petition to Parliament.

    There were slogans printed on various sides of the wagon, portraying the Chartist views. On the right hand side of the wagon read, ‘The Charter’, which referred to the six points of the movement. These were Manhood suffrage, secret ballot, abolition of property qualifications, payment for MP’s, equal electoral districts and annual parliaments. The first five points have obvious merits and, though not granted at the time, have since become law. Annual Parliaments however, seems rather extreme, as no government would have a fair chance to shows that its policies work and frequent changes would cause instability.

  One of the slogans, illustrating a Chartist view read, ‘Liberty is worth dying for’. This was obviously an incitement to violence, and the view held by fiery leaders, like O’Connor and Harney.

    The statement ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God’  is a Latin expression incorporated by the Chartists in order to push for prestige and justice, for the people to be treated fairly. It’s trying to say that the people are speaking on behalf of God, thus this law must be passed. The Latin expression is, ‘Vox populi est Vox dei’.

    The slogans show signs of rebellious opposition, ‘Who would be a slave who would be free’, here meaning that nobody who could be a free man would be a slave. This along with ‘liberty is worth dying for’, shows that some chartists thought violence and open opposition to be the answer to the suffering at the time.

    However, this source shows that the chartist views were ambivalent and contradictory. The fact that one of the other slogans read, ‘No vote, no muskets,’ indicates that even if the people don’t receive the vote, they won’t resort to violence.

    The following slogans represent the six points of ‘the charter’. The first being ‘vote by ballot’, enabling voters to vote as they wished without bribery or intimidation. The second, ‘Annual Parliaments’, where they wanted elections every year. The third, ‘Universal Suffrage’, which is basically a posh word for vote, saying that all people should be allowed to vote. Finally ‘No property qualifications’, here stating that working men should be able to stand for Parliament, and not only those who own property of a certain value (£300).

    Thus this source shows the various chartist aims, although it doesn’t clearly show what types of methods they used, because the information is contradictory.

     

     

  1. Study sources A, B and C.

How do these sources disagree about the best way for Chartist aims to be achieved?

    The main argument at the time, about the best way for Chartist aims and methods to be achieved was due to the division of leadership. There were two main school of thoughts at the time, the peaceful, planned approach of Lovett and Attwood or the violent, hasty methods of O’Connor and Harney.

    Having analysed Source A, (details in question 1), we can see that this source is ambivalent. It seems to suggest that both violence and peaceful resolution are the answer, it is a contradictory source. It shows signs to an incitement of violence, ‘Liberty is worth dying for’, meaning freedom is worth the risk of dying, whilst at the same time argues that no matter what, the chartists won’t resort to violence, ‘No vote, no muskets.’ Thus source A disagrees within itself as to the Chartist methods, it is really part of both sides of the argument.

    Source B however, was written by the middle-class leader William Lovett. He along with Place and Roebuck shunned the idea of violence, so they persuaded their fellow Chartists to try to persuade Parliament by demonstrating the strength of public opinion. In this source, written by Lovett himself thirty years after the movement, we see that Lovett despised the idea of using violence and saw it as being ruinous for the movement, ‘physical force agitation is harmful and damages the movement’. He believed that slow, planned and peaceful agitation was what was needed in order to drive their cause to success, ‘education and schooling’, here saying that the people need education before there can be any political opposal. The fact that he mentions ‘ O’Connor wants to take everything by storm’, shows the lack of unity within the resistance and goes on to describe how O’Connor’s method of ‘hurry and haste’ and use of violence, ‘armed opposition’, would only cause the elimination of Chartism, ‘destruction of Chartism.’ This source shows how firmly on the side of peaceful practise and education some of the leaders were. Thus this source is strongly for peaceful resolution.  

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    In stark contrast, source C, written by fanatic Harney, was wholly on the side of violence and armed opposition in order to force Parliament to agree to Chartist demands. This source is from ‘The Northern Star’, which was a newspaper run by O’Connor, another extremist who shared Harney’s view. Whereas Lovett and Attwood represented the middle-class, Harney and O’Connor were against middle-class movement and believed that it was really the working class that were suffering. Source C shows that Harney thought of the government as, ‘Tyrants,’ here making an intemperate use of language, in order to stir up ...

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