Democratic Reform and Activism

Changes in the 19th Centrury

Reforms in Britain

• Rapid industrialization brought new problems unforeseen by the government

• Greater wealth for the upper classes but no increase in wealth or political power for the working classes brought resentment

• Changes had to be to be made if revolution was to be avoided

Reforms in Britain

• By 1800 only 5% of British population could vote (males, not females)

• Britain was a constitutional monarchy in name but in practice was an aristocracy

• There needed to be some changes and the lower classes needed more political voice if revolution was to be avoided

Reform Bill of 1832

• Wealthy middle class demanded changes

• They demanded suffrage for themselves, not for lower classes or for women

• Revolution in France in 1830 scared Parliament & the upper classes

Reform Bill of 1832

• Property restrictions for voting relaxed for upper middle class

• New election districts created

• “Rotten Boroughs” eliminated

• Industrial cities received more representation in Parliament

Rotten Bouroughs

• a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament.

The Chartist Movement

• Reforms of 1832 were not enough to make the workers happy & more changes were needed

• The People’s Charter (1838) was presented to Parliament

• The movement called Chartist Movement

The People’s Charter

• Universal male suffrage

• Annual parliamentary elections

• Demanded secret ballot

• Demanded end to property requirements for membership in Parliament

• Demanded Parliament be paid for service

The People’s Charter

• Parliament rejected the Charter

• Why do you suppose they rejected it?

• Some Chartists even arrested and sent to Australia as punishment

• Changes would eventually be made as a result but it would take more time

Changes

• Parliament extended the vote to working-class men in 1867, rural working men in 1884 and by 1900 virtually all males in Britain (save for criminals and the insane) had the vote

• Women would not get the vote in Britain (or the US) until 1920

The Dreyfus Affair

• CPT Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jew accused of selling secrets to the Germans

• He was convicted with forged evidence & sentenced to life

• The reason for Dreyfus’ conviction was anti-Semitism

Zionism

• A form of nationalism

• Movement led by Theodore Herzl

• The idea was to escape the anti-Semitism of Europe and return to Palestine to create a homeland for Jews (Israel)

• Movement had little traction until 1945

The Irish

• The English have dominated Ireland since the 12th century

• 16th & 17th centuries saw harsh oppression of Irish language, culture & the Catholic Religion

• Ireland formally joined to Britain in 1801 & received representation in Parliament

The Irish

• Catholic Emancipation Act passed 1829 to restore rights to Catholics

• Potato Famine of the 1840s resulted in deaths of more than 1.5 million people & the immigration of more than 2 million others

The Irish

• In the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish Catholics had been prohibited by the penal laws from owning land, from leasing land; from voting, from holding political office; from obtaining education, from entering a profession, and from doing many other things that are necessary in order to succeed and prosper in life.

The Irish

• February 1845: "It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they [Irish laborer & his family] habitually and silently endure . . . in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water . . . their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather... a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury . . . and nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property."

The Irish

• Ireland was 80% Catholic

• Most large landowners were English Protestants who hired “middlemen” to collects rents from tenants

• Middlemen leased lands from landlords & sub-divided these lands to collect more rents

The Irish

• Holdings were so small that only potatoes—no other crop—would suffice to feed a family

• Two-thirds of population depended on agriculture for their survival, but they rarely received a working wage

• When the blight hit, there was no way the poor could feed themselves

The Irish• Crop loss in 1845 has been estimated at a

high of 50%

• In 1846 three-quarters of the harvest was lost to blight

• 1848 yields would be only two thirds of normal

• As over 3 million Irish people were totally dependent on potatoes for food, famine was inevitable

Irish Home Rule

• The famine, the penal laws, the anti-Catholic bias all convinced many Irish to support the cause of Home Rule

• British feared losing Ireland completely & refused

• 1914: plans for Irish Home Rule scrapped because of WWI

Irish Home Rule

• 1916 Easter Rising: Irish nationalists started a revolt that was crushed by the British with the leaders being executed

• Irish nationalists refused to give up & formed the Irish Republican Army (IRA)

• IRA attacks sparked war between Irish nationalists & Britain

Irish Home Rule

• 1921: British negotiated with IRA and granted Ireland Home Rule for only the 26 southern counties

• New state called Irish Free State

• 6 Northern counties, heavily Protestant, stayed with Britain

• Irish nationalist extremists provoked a civil war over the partial Home Rule

Irish Home Rule

• Free State (Ireland) declared its independence from Britain in 1949

• Britain still controls northern counties called Ulster or Northern Ireland

• Most of the 20th century in Ireland has seen violence committed by both sides

• Good Friday Agreement of 1998 signaled new peaceful phase in Ireland