VICTORIAN ERA: POLITICAL HISTORY
Victorian Era was the time of the development of the British Empire. Victoria
reigned from 1837 to 1901 and even though not democratic, the political system
was becoming increasingly representative with the widening of the vote
franchise. In addition, the two parties, the Whigs, which became the Liberals
later, and the Tories (the Conservatives) headed the House of Commons during that
period.
Reform Acts:
The three Reform Acts, of 1832, 1867, and 1884, all extended voting rights to previously disfranchised citizens. The 1832 Reform Act, proposed by the Whigs, not only re-apportioned representation in Parliament, but also gave the power of voting to those lower in the social and economic scale. The social groups admitted in this period were extended to those men who owned at least a household of £10.
The Reform Act of 1867 extending the right of voting to the low classes, including many workingmen, made the electorate of England and Wales duplicate. With economics, culture and power increasing in the period, the third reform act, called the 1884 bill, and the 1885 Redistribution Act made the electorate tripled, and even agricultures were allowed to vote. By this time, voting was becoming a right rather than a privileged. However, it wasn’t until 1918, that women over thirty were allowed to vote and only in 1928 the last bit of discrimination was eliminated with the Equal Franchise Act.
All this reforms contributed to made the Victorian age one of the most
brilliant times of England, the lower classes are growing fast and the capitalist
industry’s development made an Empire with strong bases.
Woman Suffrage
The term suffrage refers to the right of voting and during the XIX
century, there was some women movements defeating equal rights, and not only
the opportunity to vote, but to get academic study, to detain the rights upon
property after marring, among others. Although, In Britain, vote stood
restricted to men during the Victorian Era.
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (1827-1891) was an artist, educator and an
activist for women’s rights. She started to meet with some friends to discuss
women’s rights. They drafted a petition for women to gain the rights upon their
propriety after marrying, because they lost everything and their husbands took
advantage of them. It was first rejected, in part because it would affect
directly men and Parliament were most consisted of men. Nevertheless, in 1857,
the Married Women's Property Bill passed its first and second readings in the
House of Commons.
In 1865, she draft a petition for women’s suffrage and her friends, Elizabeth
Garrett and Emily Davies, took it to John Stuart Mill MP (Member of
Parliament), who accepted it and presented it to the House of Commons in 1866
to support an amendment to the Reform. It was defeated by 196 votes to 73. As
we know, in that time men were majority in politics and in decisions like that
they vote, and they decided to deny it. However, this endeavor strengthened
women’s movement for equal rights. Women involved in such movement were called
“suffragettes”.
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The WSPU newspaper - The Suffragette
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In 1887, The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was
created to defeat women’s rights. Women and people who supported the movement
made posters, publications and intensive protests. Though women only gain the
right to vote after Queen Victoria died. In 1903, The Women's Social &
Political Union (WSPU) was created and it reinforce the movement. During World
War I, many suffragettes were arrested or exiled, previously, they had been
already suffering retaliation from Anti-Women Suffrage movements, those who
didn’t support them. And, as it was already commented above, it was only in 1918
that female householders aged over 30 were guaranteed the right to vote and in
1928 the vote was extended to women on the same terms as men.
Video - Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage (just for
entertaining):
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were a series of tariffs started in 1815 on imported grain
to maintain the domestic grain with higher prices. The high price made people
spent more with food than commodities. The Corn Laws brought problems for the
working classes, but until 1832, the majority of the Parliament were
landowners, as a result, the Government didn’t want to reconsider the
legislation.
Duke of Wellington revised it and allowed foreign corn to be imported
duty-free when the domestic price rose to 73/- per quarter. Previously, no
foreign grain should enter Britain until the local cost 80/- per quarter.
However, the change didn’t help much, people still weren’t allowed to grow
their own food and had to pay high prices to eat.
In 1832, the Reform Act changed the electoral system: the right to vote
was extended from the condition to own land, to merely live in a house and be
able to boil water. Now manufacturers had more importance in the governance of
Britain, since they were allowed to vote. Although, Corn Laws were abolish only
during the Victorian Era (1837–1901), with the Importation Act 1846.
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A membership card in the Anti-Corn-Law League.
The banner over the group
of praying figures says:
"Give us this day our daily bread."
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The Anti-Corn-Law League (ACLL) was created in 1836 (first, under the
name of Anti-Corn Law Association, renamed in 1839). During the Victorian age,
it grew into a very powerful political force between 1841 and 1845 and gained
support from other anti-Corn Laws and anti-governmental groups. Prime Minister,
Sir Robert Peel, elected by the conservative Tory’s party was open to freer
trade, but unable to get through with it. The tory were high formed by Conservative
landowners and it can be opposed to Whig, a more Liberal party, composed mostly
of industrialists and workers. The protectionists, men who wanted to maintain
the Corn Laws, were not very happy and called Peel's decision a "treason"
to the party. Anyway, during the Irish Potato Famine, Robert Peel founded a
good excuse to introduce his proposal to modify the existing Corn Laws. Finally,
on 15 May 1846 the Peel's Bill of Repeal of the Corn Laws was passed by a
combination of Conservatives, Whigs and free traders.
The British Empire and
International Relations
The British Empire had a huge grown during Victorian Era, mostly because
of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in England during
the eighteenth century with the mechanization of production methods.
Previously, the British Empire had been growing due, in large part, to the
ongoing competition for resources and markets between England and her
Continental rivals: Spain, France and Holland. But, during the Victorian Era,
the technological advantages such as Gatling gun, railway, steamship and others
made easier to conquer weak industrial people.
Some factors like the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1807, the
adoption of Free Trade and various colonial movements for political and
commercial independence was weakening the British Empire in the course of the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. During the Victorian Era, however,
the acquisition of territory and of further trading concessions continued,
promoted by strategic considerations and justified by philanthropic
motivations, reaching its peak when Victoria had herself crowned Empress of
India in 1876, at Benjamin Disraeli's, the Prime Minister, instigation. The
justification is based on the imperialism’s view, they said that the Empire
existed not for the economic or strategic benefits of Britain itself, but in
order that primitive peoples, incapable of self-government, could, with British
guidance, eventually become civilized (and Christianized). This served to
legitimize Britain's acquisition of portions of central Africa and her
domination, in concert with other European powers, of China. The British Empire
during the Victorian Era had become a world potency controlling the most
important seaways and more and more of the world came under the domination of
British commercial, financial, and naval power.
The Lost Franklin Expedition was a British voyage to map out the
North-West Passage from Europe to Asia and it is an example of how well British
was in its naval advances. The tinned
goods were an innovation; in addition to that, Franklin's vessels the
"Erebus" and "Terror" had cabins which were heated by hot
water piped through the floor. The ships' bows were reinforced with iron planks
to help them break through ice. Moreover, each ship was equipped with a
specially designed screw propeller driven by a wheel-less steam locomotive from
the London and Greenwich Railway. Thus, better equipped than any previous polar
expedition, Sir John Franklin set out on his fourth search of the North-West
passage on 19 May 1845, with 134 sailors and officers and food supplies for
five years, although the voyage were never concluded. In 1850, near the mouth
of Great Fish River, Inuit hunters discovered the bodies of 30 men and a number
of graves. Since some of the bodies were mutilated, the natives believed that the
white men had resorted to cannibalism. It is also known that the tins were
sealed improperly, with lead solder running down the inside of each tin. Since
lead if ingested is poisonous, the metal probably seeped into the crews’ food.
During the Victorian Age, there were several conflicts like the two
Opium wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860), fought between China and Britain. China
was a great seller, particularly, of silk, porcelain, and tea. This caused an
imbalance in the markerts: China was largely self-sufficient, the market for
Western Goods was virtually non-existent there and Britain couldn’t access
China’s interior. Nevertheless, Britain invested in trafficking opium from
India to China, since Chinese were interested in that drug. However, in 1839, the
emperor rejected proposals to legalize and tax opium and decided to abolish the
trade. The British government attacked and China ceded opening five
"Treaty" ports for the opium trade. Later, Britain started another
struggle demanding China to open all her ports to foreign trade and legalize
the importation of opium from British possessions.
In addition, there are the Boer Wars, which were two struggles in South
Africa, the first in 1880-1881 and the second in 1899. The Boers opposed to
Britain when they annexed the territory of Transvaal and after the discovering
of gold and diamonds in that territory. The Boers attacked the British forces
and as a result, they were guaranteed their independency. However, as the Boers
weren’t getting the freedom, they decided to attack again, but this time the
British responded with superiority and Boer civilians were putted in
concentration camps, were a lot of people died. It wasn’t until 1902 with the
Treaty of Vereeniging that the Boers surrendered.
During the struggles to guarantee who is the potency of the world, a lot
of guerrillas and wars took place. Also, radicals and movements encouraging
“the cause of freedom abroad” shared disdain for the aristocracy. Several
radicals founded the Democratic Friends of All Nations, to assist political
refugees in England and the People's International League, the first popular
association formed in Britain with a prime interest in foreign affairs grew out
of protests by British radicals at Austria's annexation of part of Poland.
The British Empire had its dissolution process accelerated after World
War I, although Britain increased in size in that period. Anyhow, Britain’s
losses during the World War II made it clear that it no longer possessed the
resources to maintain the old order of things. The Americans were in any case
ready, and indeed anxious, to replace British influence in many areas of the
world.
References about the introduction:
References about the Reform Acts:
References about Woman Suffrage:
References about the Corn Laws:
References about the British Empire and International Relations:
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/cornlaws4.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_8330086_political-systems-victorian-era.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_8330086_political-systems-victorian-era.html
Posted by Edmundo Côrrea, Kelly Paloma e Tânia Lázaro
