British parlimentary Reform 1832-1928 :: essays research papers

The unreformed British parliamentary scheme was undemocratic, it excluded the majority of the population from select including all women most working sectionalization men, many middle class men and all the poor. Its distribution of seats was inadequately representative and excluded beta towns. It included rotten boroughs, the occasional sale of seats, corruption, bribery, intimidation, violence and plural balloting. The arrangement was dominated by the aristocracy and gentry, and many seats were uncontested. Lang, (1999). The purpose of this look for is to identify the factors that led to the ordinal century parliamentary reform and go on to assess the impact that the reform made.Around the middle of the nineteenth century an extensive debate took place in Britain on the temper and desirability of democracy. Who should be allowed to vote in general elections? Should the franchise be limited, as in the past, to those who had special qualifications, such as the ownership of pr operty, which the letting value had to be at least at least 40 shillings per annum, and those who had an economic stake in the country? Property owners argued that the old system had worked in the past so surely it would continue to do so and that the wealthy were naturally superior to the poor. Pearce, Stern, (1994).Others believed that the franchise was restricted and haphazard and that the qualifications for voting were outdated and illogical in their view every man had the compensate to vote, all men had been created equally and therefore all were entitled to a say in the way they were governed.A small but developing number also believed that women should have the vote on precisely the said(prenominal) terms as men.The population of England and Wales doubled between 1801-1851 many parishes began to abound at the seams. Towns like Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds were seeing large population increases due to industrial growth. Earl Grey proposed such towns needed representation in the House of Commons, this would plump to large increase in the voting population if the proposal was successful. On the other hand rotten boroughs were parliamentary constituencies that had over the years declined in size, but still had the right to elect members of the House of Commons. Most of the constituencies were down the stairs the control and influence of just one man, the patron. As there were only(prenominal) a few individuals with the vote and no fair voting rule (secret ballot) which encouraged bribery and corruption as it was easy for potential candidates to sully their way to victory.