Chapter 24: Growth of Western Democracies

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Chapter 24Growth of Western Democracies

• Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic
• Section 2 A Century of Reform
• Section 3 Division Democracy in France
• Section 4 Expansion of the United States

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• Summary
• In Britain, political change came from gradual
  reform throughout the 1800s

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• In 1815, Britain had a monarch
• It also had a parliament with two political
  parties
• Still, it was NOT democratic
• Parliament was made up of the House of Lords
  (nobles and high-ranking church leaders) and the
  House of Commons (men elected by the 5 of the
  population who had the right to vote)

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• Moreover, the House of Lords had the power to
  veto, or reject, any bill passed by the House of
  Commons
• Therefore, reformers wanted more democracy
• In the 1820s England ended laws that restricted
  some religious groups from voting
• Another problem confronting English democracy was
  the existence of rotten boroughs

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• The growth of cities had left some rural
  boroughs, or towns with few voters
• These rotten boroughs had more than their fair
  share of seats in Parliament
• The Reform Act of 1832 gave more seats to large
  towns
• It also extended suffrage to all men who owned
  property

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire from
  1837-1901
• The Victorian Age was a time for manners hard
  work, honesty and reform

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• In the 1860s, political parties changed
• Nobles and landowners of the Tory Party joined
  the new Conservative Party
• The mostly Middle-class Whig Party grew into the
  Liberal Party
• Both Parties wanted Democracy

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Section 1 Britain Becomes more Democratic

• A Conservative bill extended suffrage to working
  class men
• Later, liberals extended suffrage to include
  farmers and most other men
• Another Liberal bill limited the veto power of
  the House of Lords gave the House of Commons
  more power

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• Summary
• In the 1800s and early 1900s, Parliament passed
  many reform measures

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• From 1815 to 1914, British reformers called for
  change
• New laws improved working conditions and allowed
  trade unions
• They also provided for free elementary schools
  reduced harsh punishments for crimes and ended
  slavery
• Trade reforms lowered tariffs, or taxes on
  imported goods

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• In 1900, the trade unions founded a new political
  party, the Labour Party
• It pushed through more laws to protect workers

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• British women called for the right of suffrage,
  or the right vote
• They held huge rallies and marches
• When these demonstrations failed, some protesters
  smashed windows and burned buildings
• A few went on hunger strikes
• In 1918, Parliament gave the right to vote for
  women over 30, in 1928 suffrage was extended to
  include women 18 and over

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• Throughout the 1800s, Nationalists in Ireland
  fought British rule
• Ireland demanded CHANGE!!!
• No longer would the Irish pay high rents to their
  British landlords
• No longer would Irish Catholics turn over their
  money to support the Church of England
• No longer would Irish crops go to England while
  Irish families starved

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• In the 1870s, Irish Nationalists called for Home
  Rule, or local self-government
• Finally, in 1914, Parliament passed a home rule
  bill
• Counties in the South of Ireland became
  independent in 1921

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Section 2 A Century of Reform

• Quiz Irish Potato Famine
• 1.) Give a reason for the severity of the famine.
• 2.) How did the actions of England worsen this
  disaster?

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• Summary
• Democratic reforms in France took place under
  Napoleon IIIs Second Empire and its successor,
  the Third Republic

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• After the French Revolution of 1848, Louis
  Napoleon was elected president of the Second
  Republic
• He was the nephew to Napoleon Bonaparte and his
  famous name won him votes

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• The working class liked his talk of social reform
• But in 1852, he declared himself Napoleon III
  ruler of the Second Empire
• He ruled like a dictator, censoring the press and
  choosing officials
• However, he did keep his word to workers, by
  allowing them to set up unions and free health
  care

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• While Napoleon III made reforms at home he made
  major mistakes in foreign policy
• He tried to take power in Mexico and failed
• In 1870, a crushing defeat at the hands of
  Prussia (Bismarck William I) ended the Second
  Empire

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• The Third Republic arose
• It had a more democratic two-house legislature
• All men could vote for members of the lower house
• The two houses elected a president, but the real
  power belonged to the premier, or Prime Minister
• A constitution separated church state and
  guarded human rights

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• In 1894, a scandal shook the Third Republic
• Captain Albert Dreyfus was jailed for spying for
  the Germans
• Some people felt the Army blamed Dreyfus solely
  because he was Jewish
• In the end Dreyfus was proven innocent

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Section 3 Division Democracy in France

• The Dreyfus Affair, along with antisemitism (or
  prejudice against Jewish people), across Europe
  worried Jewish leaders
• Some began to call for a separate state where
  Jewish people would have the rights and freedoms
  denied to them in European countries

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• Summary
• In the United States, as in much of the world,
  the 1800s were a time of changing borders,
  growing industry and new laws

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• The United States grew and changed greatly in the
  1800s
• Many Americans felt it was their right to settle
  all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific
  Oceans
• Settlers moved west, taking lands from the Native
  Americans

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• In 1803, President Jefferson bought land from
  France
• His Louisiana Purchase almost doubled the size of
  the Unites States

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• In 1848, Mexico gave up California and much of
  the Southwest
• In 1867, the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia
• In 1898, it gained Hawaii
• War with Spain in 1898 gave the U.S. control of
  Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States
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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• During the 1800s, two movements brought greater
  democracy
• Abolitionists worked to end slavery
• Women who worked in the abolitionist movement
  began to organize a womens rights movement
• They called for equality under the law, at work
  and in schools

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• By 1860, economic conflicts split the nation
• The South relied on farming
• The North was more industrialized
• The regions also disagreed on the issue of slavery

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• Southern plantations felt they needed slave labor
• The South worried about President-elect Abraham
  Lincolns opposition to the extension of slavery
  into new territories

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Section 4 Expansion of the United States

• In 1861, southern states seceded, or separated
  from the Union
• The American Civil War began
• The North won the war in 1865, and the nation was
  reunited
• It had been the bloodiest war in American history