Daniel Evans Page 1/2
What were the motives behind the passing of the 1867 bill?
The passing of the Second Reform Act was more the result of two men's personal ambition and mutual hatred than the will of the People. Indeed, the public's deep disinterest in this issue allowed party feuds, betrayals, and rash plans to flourish at Westminster, while middle-class Radicals campaigned loudly outside. William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli had declared war on each other years earlier, but the passing of the Second Reform Bill was to be their greatest clash yet, and in the heat of battle all sense of proportion and restraint were lost, giving Radicals what they had been wanting for years, and which the rest of the Nation had forgotten about for half a generation. As such, the Act was not a response to widespread demand, but rather was more of an accident prompted by party politics and shrewd Radical strategy.
The 1867 reform bills' original and proposed intention was to extend the vote to the lower classes, which hadn't previously had any influence in governmental affairs. It also sought to give representation to counties, which had recent growth but hadn't had representative compensation in Parliament. Benjamin Disraeli, a conservative and progressive member of the House of Commons, wrote the 1867 Reform Act wanting to protect the labour class, which was being subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions. Faced with the liberal opposition in Parliament, a mostly upper-middle class backing, Disraeli was forced to ally himself with the conservative upper class to pass his bill. This alliance, while beneficial because it helped pass the bill through the Commons and the House of Lords, must have forced Disraeli to sell his goals short. The bill proved to be very ineffective in extending the vote for it left too much room for dispute over who was allowed to have the vote. It took a long fifteen years for the court system to iron out many of the ambiguities, and still much of the population still didn't have the vote.
What were the motives behind the passing of the 1867 bill?
The passing of the Second Reform Act was more the result of two men's personal ambition and mutual hatred than the will of the People. Indeed, the public's deep disinterest in this issue allowed party feuds, betrayals, and rash plans to flourish at Westminster, while middle-class Radicals campaigned loudly outside. William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli had declared war on each other years earlier, but the passing of the Second Reform Bill was to be their greatest clash yet, and in the heat of battle all sense of proportion and restraint were lost, giving Radicals what they had been wanting for years, and which the rest of the Nation had forgotten about for half a generation. As such, the Act was not a response to widespread demand, but rather was more of an accident prompted by party politics and shrewd Radical strategy.
The 1867 reform bills' original and proposed intention was to extend the vote to the lower classes, which hadn't previously had any influence in governmental affairs. It also sought to give representation to counties, which had recent growth but hadn't had representative compensation in Parliament. Benjamin Disraeli, a conservative and progressive member of the House of Commons, wrote the 1867 Reform Act wanting to protect the labour class, which was being subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions. Faced with the liberal opposition in Parliament, a mostly upper-middle class backing, Disraeli was forced to ally himself with the conservative upper class to pass his bill. This alliance, while beneficial because it helped pass the bill through the Commons and the House of Lords, must have forced Disraeli to sell his goals short. The bill proved to be very ineffective in extending the vote for it left too much room for dispute over who was allowed to have the vote. It took a long fifteen years for the court system to iron out many of the ambiguities, and still much of the population still didn't have the vote.
