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To What Extent Was Britain Was A Democratic Country By 1928

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Nikki Thornton – 1401368 By 1928, Britain was a fully democratic country. How valid is this view? “Democracy, the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves.”(www.dictionary.com) Franchise is the right to be able to vote and in 1830, only one out of ten males could vote. By 1832 it was a privilege afforded only to the upper class and by 1928 it was a right of all eligible adults who were over the age of 21. By 1928, Britain was on the precipice of becoming democratic but wasn’t fully there yet. Before 1850, there was immense political influence from the aristocratic and privileged plus profound corruption. …show more content…

The upper classes and aristocracy had the most clout as they were affluent and owned land. The Great Reform Act 1832 was an attempt to give the working class more rights and power, which the upper classes were not in favour of but eventually agreed to in 1832 for many reasons. One being the French Revolution, where upper classes and royalty were killed, over powered and taken prisoner. Monarchs all over the world were afraid of an uprising in their own countries. The working and middle classes did not have representatives in Parliament, so it was fair to say that their needs and interests we not met or understood. The aristocrats preferred the system this way, but wanted to deter the idea of revolution. They believed that proposing and passing the Reform Act would do just this, increasing ever so slightly the influence handed down through the classes, and abating the divide that had been formed between the two classes. The National Union of the Working Classes was founded by William Lovett and Henry Hetherington. They would campaign for the right to be represented in Parliament. At this time, the working class actually made up the majority of the population of Britain but were looked on as immaterial, and were not included in politics or parliament. Therefore pressure from the working class had little effect on upper classes, mainly due to the fact that people from the working class were thought of as destitute and too insignificant to have a voice in parliament. This was a time where having wealth equalled power, and as the working class had very little or no money, they were given a very meagre amount of power. Charles Gray 2nd Earl Gray’s actions in the early 1830's were key to the passing of the Great Reform Act 1832. Earl Gray became Prime Minister in 1830 and right away after taking office he began plans for reform. The first Reform Bill in 1831 was vetoed and Earl Gray

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One group of reformers that advocated peaceful social change by granting the power to vote to all workers were called Chartists. They were active in England from 1838 to 1848, and they presented a series of petitions (or "charters") to Parliament advocating political change. The Chartists reasoned that the Reform Act of 1832 did not go far enough in extending political power outside a small group of the wealthy and aristocrats. The Chartists also recognized that the Parliament, in 1833, had adopted some regulations that applied to the textile industry. The Chartists wanted more stringent regulations that would also extend to other industries.

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Throughout England 's history, the main three social classes were royalty, nobility, and commoners. Over time, the center of power shifted from the higher classes down to the lower classes with documents such as the Magna Carta. This led to Parliament having two houses, the House of Lords for the nobles and the House of Commons for the commoners. The House of Lords was the higher and more powerful house at the time, although this changed in the 19th century when limitations were placed on their power. Their primary responsibility was checking bills passed by the House of Commons to make sure that they were not making a mistake.

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