In source B Gammage supports Stephens's argument about the movement being part social and part economic. Gammage says that all great political movement has a social origin. Gammage writes that
"It’s the existence of great social wrongs which principally teaches the masses the value of political rights."
This enforces the idea of Chartism being a social movement.
Gammage was an eyewitness as he wrote this source in 1854 but he was also bias against Fergus O'Connor this would not make the source very reliable.
In source C G.D.H. Cole is mainly concerned with humanity and the conditions for the workers. He also talks about the machines taking over from the workers. Cole mentions that men, women and children were forced to work in any conditions, as they needed the money. 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.
Source E tells of a movement that started because of social changes and with political reasons. E.P.Thompson talks about education, as the working classes were starting to learn the 3R's, Reading, Writing and arithmetic. They were mainly learning read. The working class were seen as stupid and not being able to have any political ideas. Being able to read would have meant that they could have read papers like the Northern Star and others from the unstamped press. This would have given the workers the chance to learn and find out about politics.
The source was written in 1963 some time after chartist therefore the information might not have been that accurate.
Source F agrees with source E about education playing a big part in chartist. Unlike source E, source F mentions political economists. This could be suggesting that Chartist was a political and economic movement with them both working very closely. The main focus of this source seems to be education.
Dorothy Thompson wrote this source in 1971 this could mean that it is not very reliable but it does back up source E. 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.
