Key aspects to consider
a Unrest after 1815: Corn laws; Peterloo; Six Acts.
b End of the Tory ministry: repeal of combination acts; Catholic emancipation.
c The unreformed political system.
d The arguments for and against reform.
e The terms of the Act and the reasons for their adoption.
f The consequences for the Whigs.
g The consequences for the Tories.
h Popular unrest following the Reform Act.
Working with the information
Make notes on these items
a What was the involvement of the following in the 1832 Act:
b Explain the terms:
c Draw a map to indicate the parts of the country which gained and which lost most seats.
d What were the results of the 1832 Act for
(i) the Whigs; and
(ii) the Tories?
d Read one general textbook and one book or article specifically about this topic. How far do they agree or differ?
e Compose a time chart of political and related reforms from 1829 to 1846.
Questions
These can be used either as topics for revision or as essay questions
1. `Limited in aims and in scope.' `A fundamental transformation of the English political scene.' How far is it possible to agree with either, or both, of these descriptions of the 1832 Reform Act?
2. Compare and contrast the consequences to 1846 of the 1832 Reform Act for the Whig and Tory parties.
3. Consider the arguments for and against the claim that the 1832 Reform Act represented the victory of the House of Commons over the House of Lords and the monarchy.
4. `The great merit of the Bill was that it altered the distribution of political power by placing the middle classes in the situation to which they were entitled' (Palmerston). `The people of this country are grossly deceived in their expectations of the practical benefits they will derive from reform' (Peel). Why did politicians have different views about the implications of the 1832 Reform Bill?
Supplementary reading further to your primary textbook
In addition to the material which can be found in standard textbooks, the following will be helpful:
M. Brock, The Great Reform Act, Hutchinson, 1973.
J. Cannon, Parliamentary Reform, 1640-1832, Cambridge University Press, 1973.
N. McCord, British History 1815-1906, OUP (Short Oxford History of the Modern World), 1991.
E.J. Evans, The Great Reform Act of 1832, Routledge - Lancaster Pamphlets, 1983.
P. Mandler, Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform: Whigs and Tories 1830-1852, Clarendon, 1990.