Britain 1832 (Blog 3)

Guided Question: How did the government address the problem within the state itself? Show evidence.

Thesis: The government had a series of related sets of schemes of which that directly dealt with the sources of inequalities in ability to vote; the Great Reform Act is the key and a final solution to the prolonged question of the public.

                                                 Engraved picture of people gathering force to protest

The old voting system of Britain/England in 1832 was extremely archaic and had not been altered since the early eighteenth century; the government had not taken demographic changes to their considerations, consequently, no improvement or modification was applied to the electoral system since then. There was a great number of rotten boroughs (or towns--areas where there is high number of representatives compared to very low number of voters ratio.) On the contrary, fast growing cities, but not in the capital where the houses of lords reside, like Manchester and Leeds had little or no representative at all. It could be predicted that importance of representative and competency in having the body of voters are not proportional in every places. Violent riots was an outbreak in the early nineteenth century; low-working class was not satisfy with under-standard wages; high unemployment and the new labor saving policies drove them to attack machinery and burned agricultural goods. This rebellion actions affected Britain economy as a whole, required hours of work could no be met. Government was pressured by violence and the huge number of the working classes that supported the protest. This provoked panic inside the parliament as they feared of revolution that was a widespread threat at the time, esp. French Revolution. Another contribution to such intense pressure of the government was the passing of the political restriction of the Catholic foundation, the highest legislature body and the Tories party did not want this to  happen. In addition, the widely emerged distribution of population resulted too rapid growth of cities; however, the Tories tried to sustain the tradition laws and had made no development or amend any changes to the state policies at all. The Tories, then, broke a part from the outraged parliament; and the Whigs regained their long-lost power in the legislature body. Discouragement of the parliament, as well as the underlying influence of King Williams IV, was frequently criticized by the citizen. Somehow, pressure from countless sources and internal conflict led the parliament and the monarch to accept a proposal, Reform Act 1832, from the Whigs party. 

                                              Unemployed working class in mid-1820s

Britain before 1832 had faced severe economical issues which had never been recovered. The ineffectiveness and consequences from the Industrial Revolution hurt the British working-class--since machinery took away the human labor force. The Reform Act did not totally fixed this issue but instead tried to drive the people from this endless problem. Even though the Reform Act became official laws on June 4, 1832, several changes were not immediately put into actions since there was not enough support form the integral individuals in the politics firm. Not every men had rights to votes as soon as the reform was pronounced. Women still did not have rights to vote. In the later years,  many woman rights and human morality correctness foundation were very active; people achieved liberty among themselves and Britain economy soon recovered. Nevertheless, even the so-called perfect welfare and maximized chances for children nowadays still needed to be endlessly improving.

The Swing Riots in 1830 -1832 represented the largest rural uprising since the Peasants Revolt of the 14th century. The riots were born out of the desperate situation of the poor agricultural labourers. Their wages were dependent on the harvest, and they relied on the winter work of threshing the corn by hand to keep their families from starving. The introduction of the threshing machine in 1830 meant that this winter work was no longer available, or at the very least, wages were much reduced. The situation was desperate, and rioting broke out in Kent, initially in Lower Hardres, spreading quickly to neighbouring areas.

Video: Revision on the Swing Riots

Britain 1832 (Blog 2)

Guided Question: Judge the effectiveness of this particular government in regard to its actions and agendas.

Thesis: For hundreds of years that Britain past governments had been avoiding major changes in the legislative body, in 1832 when culture and social pressure was one of the many contributions that lead the reform to be generally passed, future of changes in Britain/England was obviously inevitable; the majority of legislative population (middle-working class) convincingly drove the Whigs government to enact several effective changes in the voting system.

Guided Question: What particular individuals played key roles?

Thesis: In 1830, when the Whigs returned to power, with Lord Earl Grey as the Prime Minister (one who proposed the reform), the foreseen final solution to the endless social issue, inequality of classes, was successfully accomplished with the unexpected sources of supports from King William IV and  the opposing party Tories.

Demands of changes and the growth of Industrial Revolution had driven the country for changes in their political system. The cause was from the perspective of the British (believing that political changes was definitely one the many best ways to suspend and permanently discontinue economical crisis. Led by Earl Grey, the Whig party profoundly motivated to achieve what the people needed. The presentation of the first bill in March1831 was rejected from the political views in the House of Common.

                        Votes of Women Christabel Pankhurst (right) and Anne Kenney (left)

The Reform was certainly not a new idea from the Whigs party, who only put proposal into actions. During the time of King Williams IV, there were still some underlying opposing forces from the House of Common and dis-encouragement and dis-enfranchise from the King himself. The people then did not give all of their supports to the Whigs's proposal for changes in the voting system since no hope was presented in the time of the unforeseen future of changes. The Reform act did relatively less to appease the low-working class, but the Whigs already gained potency and authority and supports from the middle-working class, since voters were required to possess property worth £10, a substantial sum at the time. This split the alliance between the working class and the middle class, giving rise to the Chartist Movement.

This 1832 cartoon by John Doyle shows the British public
helping Earl Grey against William IV and the Duke of Wellington

This Reform of the 1832 lessen the pressure from the middle class but on the other perspective provoked the "call for another changes (reform)" from the low-working class. Although the government disenfranchised the legislative body of many rotten boroughs, some still remained such as Totnes in Devon and Midhurst in Sussex. Passively, the Reform Act strengthened the House of Common due to the fact that the elimination of the undue rotten boroughs also lessened the concern for the number of the nomination of the opposing matches in the parliament. In addition, one of the many possibilities that induced conflicts in the performance of the Reform Act could come form the fact that "the more legislative body, the more the votes to be bought."

It is truly plausible in itself that for every groups or individuals to be in relationship with the Reform Act, whether for or against the proposal, hidden profits must be a very considerable reason for their involvements.  In a way, no one ever works only for the idealistic actions in a fastidious process of the government system. The opposing Tories party clings to the old system of parliamentary elections before 1832. Member of Parliament were mostly drawn from Britain's wealthiest nobles with substantial property. it was not until late nineteenth century when well-educated scholars are able to formally enter the congress for electoral candidates. Most Members of the Parliament looked forward to directing for small towns or boroughs, some of which they bought and sold. Voters often took bribes form prospective Member of Parliament. Farm laborers and tenant farmers often worked on the land owned by the prospective Member of Parliaments. The Industrial Revolution discontinued this pattern of dishonorable action.

                                                         Great Reform Bill 1832

Also known as the Representation of the People Act, the Reform Act 1832 introduced changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. There was opposition from the Parliament but it finally passed after public pressure. The Act granted seats in the House of Commons to large cities. It also increased the number of people allowed to vote.

The middle and working classes started to form alliances among themselves under the support from political unions. The Members of Parliament and King Williams IV, with threat of revolution in Great Britain (which had just happened in France) and execution of monarch and nobility, passed the Reform Act, the Whigs successfully fulfill its role. Lord Grey won his general election and was favored for driving Britain and Wales to preferable political environment. However, in 1829, further complication in the economic crisis affected Great Britain as a whole; many low-working class people were made unemployed and agricultural product promptly underwent the increase in price. Citizens desperately saw political changes as a way to escape this descent economical phenomenon.

                                        

                    Overdue unemployed working class standing in lines for state bread foundation

Combination of riots and organized protests forced the government to ensure the citizen that the Reform Act will somehow be passed. Twenty percent of new male voter were included in 1832. Also none of the remaining rotten boroughs had Members or Parliament to govern them; on the other hand, new towns such as Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds by then had Members of Parliament. Only a small fraction of the total radical protesters were satisfy with these reforms because huge masses of people in 1832-1833 still did not have voice in the electoral votes.

Danger of revolution gradually disappeared with the passing of the Reform Acts and the continuation of changes: free elementary education, state universities, welfare, state of human rights (all of these extended the choice and augment chances of the people.) Elections were still screened with bribery and violence. Britain and Wales was still operated by the same group of nobles before the reform;  though, they struggled to obtain votes from the working classes.

                                      Lord Earl Grey during the formation of the Great Reform Act

                         How England Used to vote: Comedy sketch:  Setting: before 1832

Chronology

Please only consider the "year of events"; from this timeline-making service provider it is impossible to blind the day and month from viewer. 

Britain 1832 (Blog 1)

Guided Question: How did the government emerge and what conditions led to its implementation?

Thesis: Rights for electoral votes and freedom of individuals in early-nineteenth-century Great Britain are frequently regarded unrighteous due the mass criticism of the electoral system which was meant to be limited to only top five percent of the selected nobles; the government body had gone through significant changes in its legislature system.

Guided Question: What social, political, and economic events (internal and external) shaped the activities of the government.

Thesis: Most notable moves of the government had complex relationship, underlying of power over power, with the wealth and authorities that belonged to small group of high-ranked nobles; the opposing government party and the body of states of the Act of Reform created an enormous impact on the decision and actions (leading to prolonged consequences) of the government as well as the royal family.

First page of the Reform Act 1832

The Great Britain in 1832 went through one of the most significant electoral changes in the history. The introduction for the widen scope of the whole electoral system of England and Wales took place in the midst of the calls and response to many years people had been striving for justice in equality of every society to perform justice electoral vote. The Great Reform Act had shattering effects to the government of the Tory party because it was believed that "unless there is a reform there might be disastrous revolution." There were dominant forces from  the Tories, that strongly discouraged the act of reform, in the House of Commons between 1770 and 1830. Great changes come with the spirits of the population; in November 1830, Earl Grey, a Whig, became the Prime Minister. Later, Grey explained to King William the IV that he wanted to introduce potent proposals that would get rid of some of the excessive rotten boroughs, or towns. Lord Grey intentionally persuade William IV to dissolve Parliament so that the Whigs could secure a larger majority in the House of Commons, which once was entirely ruled by the Tories. However, as King William IV dismiss the call of reform, he was losing popularity among the crowd. Eventually William IV agreed to create new Whig peers and subsequently, the House of Lords agreed to pass the Reform Act. So, the path that led to the reform's implementation could not had happened without the support of the monarch family, especially King Williams IV. Rotten boroughs were removed and new towns were given rights to elect new Members of Parliament, even though the body of constituencies were still unequal in size. However, only men who owned property worth at least ten pound-sterling have the right to vote, cutting out most of the working classes and only men who have enough to pay to stand for election could be the Member of Parliament. As a result, only one out of seven adult males had rights to vote and perform free speeches in public. Whereas in suburban and urban 35 constituencies had less than 300 electors, Liverpool had a constituency of over eleven thousands.

                                                       Lord Earl Grey painting in early 1840s

Disappointment of many voters due the very less changes in electoral system of the working classes had moved towards new electoral reform in early 1860s by John Russell. Every reformers must had had the biggest challenge of Britain's most powerful politician of Russell's time -- Lord Palmerston who  discouraged any form of change. The death of Palmerston in mid-1865 gave opportunity to Russell as he needed as a Prime Minister. As stated in the congress, Lord John Russell declared " I want to give vote the respectable working men." (But the still have excluded unskilled workers and the poor. Eventually, the middle class (outnumbered) would still have had most of the major influences in an election. To that point where impact in an election of the so called top-five-percent nobles was significantly lessened, Liberal Party split into two sides: those who favored Russell's bill as the rights of people move forward and those who were more of the conservative point-of-view unified with the Conservation Party to defeat Russell's bill.

Reform Call Poster declaration for balance of power

Finally the 1867 Reform Act enfranchised 1.5 million men. All male urban householders and male lodgers paying £10 rent a year for unfurnished accommodation got the right to vote. 52 seats were redistributed from small towns (less than a population of 10,000 such as Chichester, Harwich and Windsor) to the growing industrial towns or countries. Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester saw their representation increase from 2 MP’s to 3 MP’s. The University of London was also given a seat due to the support and emphasis on young adult education. The counties of Cheshire, Kent, Norfolk, Somerset, Stafford shire and Surrey were all given 6 MP’s instead of 4. In 1868, Scotland was given seven new MP’s as some new constituencies were created or existing constituencies were expanded. The representation in Ireland remained the same. Wales gained direct changes as England.

                               Lord John Russell's--Liberal Politician-- speech against the Reform Act

Genetically Modified Food: Danger of the Future

The term GMO is generally referred to genetically modified organisms. Where can we experience GMO in our daily basis? What are the things we need for surviving day by day, scarce of food in some places? How can you survive without nutritional FOOD? How do food security service comes to play a role in this issue?

Genetically-modified foods have great potential to save the world's hungers and malnutrition problem, and to preserve our surrounding environment by reducing the uses of chemical and pesticides. Nonetheless of these benefits, there are tremendous works for the governments and related party to help in solving food-labeling regulation and policy in safety testing. Every development of technology, as Neil Postman stated, has its consequences. There are and always will be ones who prevail victory from their or the existed innovations and others who suffer from the new technology. GMO is and has no exception.

It is not natural and healthy way of nursing a four-months-old chicken (though ordinary chicken grows mature at its seventh month) while fertilizing the eggs artificially from this CONFIGURED creatures. No researches have yet proved that GMO has no or less effect to the consumer than the original living food. Food security service organizations are still fighting for consumer's rights for a safer and cheaper food source.