World History: Unit 3, Chapter 9, Section 1 Reforms, Revolution, and War 1800-1900: Reforms in the British Empire

Main Idea During the 1800s Great Britain passed many democratic reforms that changed the way people lived and worked

Reform Act of 1832 Gave industrial cities representation in Parliament for the first time Gave the vote to middle class men , increasing the number of eligible voters by about 50% for the first time Before the 1800s, Britain was dominated by the interests of wealthy landowners and aristocrats. During the 1830s, industrialization led to rapid changes in society, workers realized that they were not well represented in government which led to calls for social and political reform.

Sadler and the Factory Act Michael Sadler, member of Parliament, wrote a report exposing child labor in Britain in the 1830s. Parliament passed the Factory Act in 1833, limiting working hours for children to 12 hours and requiring two hours of schooling per day

Other Reforms 1833: British Parliament abolished slavery in all of the British Empire, compensating slave owners Also passed public health and crime laws

Chartism By 1839 many still could not vote, Chartists worked for change Parliament rejected it, but by the end of the 1800s, many of the reforms had been passed “Chartists” got their name from the People’s Charter which demanded “universal manhood suffrage” or voting rights for all men The demanded voting rights for all men, vote by secret ballot, annual elections, pay for representatives in Parliament

Disraeli and Gladstone 1837: Queen Victoria became the ruler of Great Britain, her reign was the longest in British history, until 1901, known as the Victorian Era, a time of voting reforms that made the country more democratic 1868-1885: two prime ministers were elected several times, Benjamin Disraeli & William Gladstone Disraeli extended voting rights to one out of three men in 1867, and the secret ballot Disraeli: Conservative party, wanted best traditions of the past Gladstone: Liberal party, more progressive approach to solving society’s problems

Women’s Suffrage Suffrage: the right to vote Queen Victoria felt women’s suffrage was “mad, wicked folly”, in 1867, the suffrage bill failed. Emmeline Pankhurst: founder of the (WSPU) in 1918 achieved suffrage for women over 30, and in 1928 same as men

Ireland 1801: joined United Kingdom after the Act of Union with England, Scotland, and Wales. Achieved limited self rule in 1920 Irish hated British landlords mid-1800s Irish potato crop failed due to a disease; many had no food or money About 1 million starved, about 1.5 million emigrated to the U.S. Tragically, Ireland still exported potatoes to England under heavy guard; it was believed that otherwise British economy would suffer Other countries in the kingdom were moved to reform. In the mid-1800s Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand took steps to rule themselves

Canada Rebellion existed due to the diversity of two distinct languages spoken 1867: Canada united enough to achieve “dominion” status as a self governing colony

Australia and New Zealand Late 1700s: Britain sent criminals to Australia mid 1800s: British colonist arrived- discovery of rich copper and gold deposits 1901: Britain granted self-rule to the Commonwealth of Australia New Zealand became a dominion of Britain 1893: N.Z. became first to give women the vote Canada became a model for self-government in the British colonies of Australia and New Zealand