General topic 2: Economic and Social Change and Popular Protest, c.1815-1848
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Timelines TV Video Link |
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1.The causes of, and events connected with, popular protest in the urban areas of Wales and England (including the Merthyr Rising, Factory movement, Poor Law, Chartism, Trade Unions and Anti-Corn Law League)
[a] Chartism - This was a movement established and controlled by working men in 1836 to achieve parliamentary democracy as a step towards social and economic reform. The Charter made six political demands but the organisation was Utopian and naive in the belief that constitutional reform would automatically provide socio-economic betterment. Perhaps Chartism was a matter of feeling. It was an emotional reaction against a changing economy and society, which was unjust and bewildering to the working man - a cry for help. It expressed the resentment of conditions and movements which had promised so much, but which had failed the working man. Chartism was a product of industrialisation, but was also part of the radical tradition, which dated back to the mid-eighteenth century. Chartism represented the fundamental belief that economic exploitation and political subservience could be righted by parliamentary means.
For a brief video explanation of the context in which Chartism occurred click on link 5 in the next column.
[b] The Chartist Leaders:
2.The causes of, and events connected with, popular protest in the rural areas of Wales and England (including Scotch Cattle, Swing, Poor Law and Rebecca)
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British Prime Ministers The causes of Poverty
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