Details About The Reform Bill You Need To Know
Before being considered as an Act, any Bill has to pass through the two houses of the British Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Reform Bill went through the same stages in the years 1832, 1867,1884, and 1885. The reform bill would be responsible for the expansion of the electorate that was a part of the entire House of Commons. The reform bill also rationalized the process of representation of the parliament body as well.
According to the sources, the first reform bill was created in order to serve the purpose of transferring the voting privileges from the smaller boroughs that were controlled by the nobility and providing them to the industrial towns that were highly populated.
There were other subsequent bills that were formed in order to provide a detailed and more democratic representation with the help of the expansion of voting privileges starting from the poverty levels that were higher to the less wealthy segments populated by people. In this article, there is a discussion about the reform bill definition and meaning along with some other important details that will help students.
When Was The First Reform Bill Created?
The first Reform Bill was necessitated mainly by some glaring inequalities in the representation that happened between the enfranchised rural areas that were traditional as well as the cities that were rapidly growing in the newly constructed and industrial portion of England.
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When it comes to the representation of the larger industrial centres such as Manchester and Birmingham, these were not very much represented. However, the parliamentary members would actually be returned from the “rotten boroughs”. These boroughs were actually the rural districts that were not really inhabited in any way. Some of the other structures that were represented would include the Pocket Boroughs as well where a single landowner or peer would have all the power and hence will be the one controlling the voting as well.
Power Politics and Protest Great Reform Act
The person who was responsible for the authoring of the first Reform Bill was Charles Grey who was the then Prime Minister of England. The bill along with some other bills such as the immigration bill was introduced to the House of Commons and then accepted in the month of March 1831. John Russell was the person who was responsible for the introduction and acceptance of the Reform Bill in the House of Commons. In the House of Commons, the Reform Bill came to effect due to it passing by just one vote. However, the House of Lords was not accepting the Reform Bill at all.
With that, there were some amendments made to the Reform Bill which then passed the House of Common without having any difficulty. But it still didn’t manage to pass through the House of Lords. This led to the creation of a huge uproar of support for the bill.
After the creation of the third Reform, Bill was turned down again by the House of Lords after passing through the House of Commons, Grey attempted to make a proposal to King William IV to grant him the permission to create Liberal peers who would carry the bill to the House of Lords without their objection.
However, when King William didn’t comply with the request, Grey threatened with resignation. The duke of Wellington was then called upon for the creation of a brand-new government. However, those efforts were a huge failure and hence King William had to sanction the inclusion of the 50 or more new peers. This was enough to pass the bill through the House of Lords and the Reform bill came to be known as the Reform Act.
Impact of The Great Reform Act 1832
With the inclusion of the first great reform act, there were major changes made to the antiquated electoral system that was practised in Britain. The seats were redistributed and the franchise conditions were also changed. About 56 different boroughs of England ended up losing the representation that they had entirely.
The representation of Cornwall was reduced to a mere number of 12. Also, about 42 new and different boroughs were readily created. The electorate of England also went through some major changes with the total electorate being increased by about 217,000. The qualifications required from the electorate were also reduced in order to ensure that smaller owners of the property would be able to cast their votes without any difficulty for the first time. However, the reform act also left some of the larger sections of the lower middle classes and the working classes without any voting rights.
The inclusion of the reform bill was definitely one of the most important points in British history, almost reaching up to the addition of the immigration bill. There were some significant changes that were made and due to that the face of the electoral system in England also changed a lot.
FAQs on Reform Bill
1. What was the Great Reform Act of 1832?
The Great Reform Act of 1832 was a significant piece of British legislation that initiated a major change in the electoral system of England and Wales. Its primary purpose was to redistribute parliamentary seats from underpopulated 'rotten boroughs' to the new, densely populated industrial towns and cities that had emerged during the Industrial Revolution. It was not a single bill but the culmination of several proposed 'Reform Bills' that aimed to make the political system more representative of the country's changing demographics.
2. Who gained the right to vote from the Reform Act of 1832?
The Reform Act of 1832 primarily extended the right to vote, or suffrage, to the propertied middle class. It granted the vote to men who owned or rented property of a certain value. This included small landowners, tenant farmers, and shopkeepers. However, it's important to understand its limitations: the Act did not grant voting rights to the working class, agricultural labourers, or any women, which led to significant discontent and further reform movements like Chartism.
3. What were the main changes introduced by the later Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884?
The later Reform Acts continued the process of expanding suffrage that the 1832 Act began. The key changes were:
- The Reform Act of 1867: This act granted the vote to many working-class men in the towns and cities for the first time. It enfranchised male householders in the boroughs, effectively doubling the electorate.
- The Reform Act of 1884: This act extended the same voting qualifications that existed in the towns to the countryside. It gave the vote to rural working-class men, such as farmworkers and miners, making the electoral system much more uniform across the country.
4. Why were the Reform Bills necessary in 19th-century Britain?
The Reform Bills were necessary due to immense social and economic pressure on a political system that was outdated. The key reasons were:
- Industrial Revolution: New industrial cities like Manchester and Birmingham had huge populations but no Members of Parliament (MPs) to represent them.
- Rotten Boroughs: Meanwhile, tiny, depopulated rural areas, known as 'rotten' or 'pocket' boroughs, still elected MPs, often controlled by a single wealthy landowner. This system was seen as deeply corrupt and unfair.
- Rise of the Middle Class: A new, wealthy industrial middle class emerged that demanded political power to match its economic influence.
- Fear of Revolution: There was widespread social unrest and a growing fear among the ruling class that without reform, Britain could face a violent revolution similar to the one in France.
5. What was the long-term impact of the Reform Acts on British politics?
The long-term impact of the Reform Acts was transformative for British politics. They gradually shifted political power away from the landed aristocracy and towards the industrial middle class and, eventually, the working class. This led to the growth of modern, organised political parties that had to campaign for votes from a much larger electorate. The Acts established the principle that the political system must adapt to social and demographic changes, paving the way for universal suffrage and the modern democratic state in Britain.
6. Was the Great Reform Act of 1832 a truly democratic reform?
No, the Great Reform Act of 1832 was not a truly democratic reform, though it was a crucial first step. It is often described as a compromise that benefited the middle class at the expense of the working class. Its limitations were significant:
- High Property Qualification: The vote was still tied to property, excluding millions of working men.
- Exclusion of Women: The Act explicitly limited the vote to 'male persons', denying suffrage to all women.
- No Secret Ballot: Voting was still done in public, which meant voters could be intimidated or bribed by their landlords or employers. The secret ballot was only introduced later in 1872.
7. How did the aims of the Reform Act of 1832 differ from those of the Chartist movement?
The aims of the Reform Act and the Chartist movement differed mainly in the social class they sought to empower. The Reform Act of 1832 was driven by the middle class, who wanted to gain political representation and break the monopoly of the landed aristocracy. Its goal was to reform the existing system, not overhaul it. In contrast, the Chartist movement was a working-class movement that emerged from disappointment with the 1832 Act. They demanded far more radical, democratic changes, as outlined in the People's Charter of 1838, including universal male suffrage, the secret ballot, and payment for MPs, to give working people a genuine voice in Parliament.
