Introduction to Chartism

1
Introduction to Chartism

• www.educationforum.co.uk

2
Key Questions

• What caused working people to protest so
  vigorously and so consistently for political
  change 1838-48?
• How important was disappointment with the Whigs
  in causing Chartism?
• What did Chartists believe in?
• Was Chartist a political movement or just a
  movement of economically depressed workers?
• Was Chartist a national movement?
• Can Chartist be seen as expression of working
  class solidarity?
• Was Chartism a failure and if so what caused
  this?

3
Key Ideas

• Ideas for Chartist not new- Paine "Rights of
  Man", 1815-20, mass platform and post war
  radicalism, Henry Hunt.
• Chartism's strength fluctuated- peaks 1838-9,
  1841-2, and 1848.
• Genuinely national movement- although stronger in
  some areas than others.
• Chartist alarmed authorities- government's
  response measured- avoided creating martyrs.
• Number of plans made for general uprising- for
  some Chartist revolutionary.
• Chartist capable of uniting large numbers of
  working people in support of democracy

4
6 Points of the Charter

• Vote for all adult males- over 21.
• Payment for M.P's.
• Each constituency- same size
• Secret ballot
• No property qualifications- M.P's should be
  required to have property.
• General elections once a year

5
The Peoples Charter

• Written by London Working Men's Association- May
  1838- William Lovett worked with Francis Place
  and Joseph Roebuck
• Historian Eric Evans- "It was a highly political
  document none of its terms had to do with wages,
  conditions of work or the economy."
• Reflected priorities of informed and literate
  artisan (i.e. skilled working men) radicals who
  had been parliamentary reformers for at least a
  generation. .
• Aimed to increase influence of "productive
  classes" and reduce "non productive classes" (non
  productive seen as landlords).
• Many supporters of Chartism believed that the
  conditions of their lives (working and living)
  would improve ONLY when working men got the vote.

6
The Origins of Chartism

• 1834
• February Formation of the Grand National
  Consolidated Trades Union GNCTU
• March Sentence of seven years' transportation
  passed on six agricultural labourers from
  Tolpuddle, near Dorchester, for administering an
  illegal oath whilst forming a local branch of the
  GNCTU.
• July Poor Law Amendment Act passed seen as an
  attack on the poor
• August GNCTU dissolved
• 1835
• September Municipal Corporations Act passed
  police in many districts
• 1836
• March Newspaper Act passed, reducing stamp duty
  on newspapers to 1d per issue spread of radical
  ideas
• June Formation of London Working Men's
  Association LWMU
• August Formation of National Radical Association
  of Scotland

7
Long Term Causes

• 1) Radical tradition and ideas
• Thomas Paine- Rights of Man- ideas of the French
  RevolutionSet agenda for radical discussion-
  corresponding societies discussed issues.
• Henry Hunt and the Radicals -The methods and
  messages of Hunt's campaign from 1815-19 are
  closely linked to the Chartists. He raises
  certain issues that became ingrained within the
  psyche of British radicals, most namely the link
  between Old Corruption and the existing
  franchise.
• William Cobbetts- Political Register- popular
  radical publication
• The radical tradition in Britain from the French
  Revolution onwards pushed the idea that your
  social condition was linked to voting- this
  marked a significant change in British History
  and provided the main focus of the Chartist
  campaign.

8
Long Term Causes 2

• 2) Changing nature of British Society
• Franchise out of date
• Britain ruled by aristocrats and large
  landowners- did they represent lives of people
  over whom they ruled?
• Major changes in society- industrial revolution-
  key towns had no MP's
• Restriction of vote
• Industrial Revolution
• E.g.- Handloom weavers- literate and highly
  informed politically- skills no longer needed
  with mechanisationEvans- "Handloom weavers
  looked to Chartist to defend an entire political
  and social culture."
• Free trade attacked old work practises- removal
  of apprenticeship regulators
• Chartist can be seen as re-asserting ancient
  rights
• Industrial Revolution created dreadful living and
  working conditions a breeding ground for
  radical politics

9
Short Term Causes

• 1) The betrayal of 1832 - the reform bill had
  lead to disappointment within many sections of
  the working class. Many radicals had believed
  this would be a great reform. However it was
  increasingly recognised that the reform bill had
  never intended to help the plight of the working
  classes. The middle class now had the vote and
  historians such as EP Thompson see this as the
  final process in creating a clear divide between
  a propertied middle class and the disenfranchised
  working class.
• 2) War of the unstamped Radical papers and
  pamphlets had been vital in spreading the radical
  message throughout post war radicalism (1815-19)
  The Whigs brought in a legislation that tightened
  up the stamp duty charged on publications. They
  reduced the stamp duties but ensured that this
  policy was enacted across the country. The
  working class radicals saw this as a tax on
  knowledge. This policy played a vital role in
  politicising many of the later Chartists e.g.
  George Julian Harney sold papers illegally in the
  war of the unstamped.
• 3) Factory Reform - the conditions in the
  factories were appalling. Ten Hour movement
  popular in Yorkshire- campaigned for shorter
  hours. 1833 Factory Act left hours unaltered.
  Richard Brown- "The frustrated factory reformers
  swelled the rising Chartist tide and many of the
  northern delegates of the Chartist Convention in
  1839 had initially entered politics through the
  ten hour movement."
• 4) New Poor Law - Arguably least popular of the
  Whig policies. 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act-
  reduced cost of relief by introducing stringent
  workhouse test.The poor could no longer receive
  outdoor relief in their own homes- they had to
  move to the workhouse.Widespread protest in
  rural and industrial north- the workhouse became
  symbol of Whig cruelty.Late 1836- began to
  introduce Poor Law north of Trent- bitter
  opposition.Leaders- Richard Oastler, Fergus
  O'Connor, Joseph Raynor Stephens, and Henry
  HetheringtonPoor Law introduced at time of
  economic decline- stories spread of savage
  workhouses.
• 5) Trade Union activity
• Trade unionists at end of 1830's began to
  attribute problems to single cause- unreformed
  parliament. see R.Brown p15-16Conclusiona) Many
  people were members of all the campaigns- you
  could be involved in the war of the unstamped,
  factory campaign and Trade Union movement- they
  were not mutually exclusive.b) Economic
  depression at the end of the 1830's provided the
  fuel for this discontent. This triggered an anti
  Whig sentiment and a demand for an improvement.
  The problems though had a political dimension-
  they appeared to be linked to the unreformed
  parliament.c) These economic problems linked
  into the wider tradition of English radicalism.