How Far Do These Sources help us understand whether Chartism was a Social, Political, or Economic Movement?
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Introduction
How Far Do These Sources help us understand weather Chartism was a Social, Political, or Economic Movement? By Joe Wreford. I am aiming to find out how far these sources help to understand what kind of movement Chartism was. I will be deciding if it was social, political, or economic. To do this I will be analysing each source in turn. J.R Stephens wrote the first source (Source A) in September 1838. From looking at this source I could see that he believes that Chartism was an economic movement that had some social meaning. I can see that it is economic because Stephens writes. "As much wages for that work as would keep him in plenty." This is saying that money is very important for every man. Even tough Stephens was middle-class he still wanted the working class to be cared for. He also writes. "Every working man." This is suggesting that the working classes are part of society. ...read more.
Middle
This shows a social and economic view to the chartist movement. Cole's evidence comes from Stephens and Gammage. He also wrote this source in 1941. As it was written during wartime his views may have altered. This may explain why he is more concerned with humanity. He was not an eyewitness as he wrote this source around one hundred years after the events. This all means that the source is not very reliable. In source D Briggs says that Chartism was a movement made up of local grievances put together to give them national expression. The source shows a mixture of social, economic and political ideas. Briggs mentions the "Onset of business depression." This is suggesting an economic motivation from the chartists. As there were economic difficulties for the working class at that time. The sources reliability has to be questioned as it was written over one hundred years after the chartist movement ended. ...read more.
Conclusion
this would lead me to believe that the arguments are both valid. Source G again written by Dorothy Thompson talks about an socio-economic movement. According to Thompson chartist stemmed from lower society needing a movement that would allow them to have a fair part of the economy. This source is in agreement with sources E and F about the social reasons for the movement. Even tough it was written in 1984 it could still be seen as a good source as it is linked in with sources E and F. From looking at the evidence in sources A to G I believe that chartist was a complicated movement with many aspects to its beginning. The sources were mainly social with strong political and economic parts to it. From the arguments given by Gammage in source B I believe that the movement was political but was done to solve the social problems. The economy also plays an important part. In source C G.D.H.Cole writes that the social problems were started by the bad economy for the working class. My final decision is that chartist was a social movement. ...read more.
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