Popular Protest and Politics - Chartism

Popular Protest and Politics - Chartism

Chartism is a campaign which came together in 1838 through the growing positive response of the People's Charter (1837). Although originally written by middle class, radical, political thinkers, Chartism became increasingly popular with the working class which is how many riots and protests aroused. The essay will look at the events which unfolded between 1838 and 1848 and the reasons why they happened. This will be done by looking at a number of primary resources such as illustrations, old newspaper articles and original Chartists documents which will also be supported by numerous secondary resources.

The First source used is the 'The Six Points of the People's Charter' - the original Chartist document drawn up by William Lovett in 1837 - published officially in 1838.

This was a drafted Parliamentary bill stating for; a vote for every man over 21 years with sound mind and not undergoing criminal offence; a ballot that will protect the elector and allow him to vote freely; a no property qualification for MPs so that any man has a chance - rich or poor; MPs to be paid so that he can invest his time in the job; equal constituencies so that each man earns his seat in parliament fairly and finally annual parliaments to be held in order to prevent the constituencies being exploited through bribery and intimidation.

These ideas derived due to the corrupt and disproportionate political system of the time. During 1839 there were a total of 839,519 voters contrasting with the male population over the age of 21 being roughly over 6 million. This meant that around only 1 in 7/8 males got the vote. Voting was not secret either, which meant that voters were either being bribed with money or black mailed with violence in order to vote for a certain MP. The fact that MPs must own land or property meant that the poor could not represent themselves and have their say in Parliament. At the time there were also what was named 'rotten boroughs' which were simply to get more seats in Parliament and had as little as 32 people to a constituency.

The above were the reasons why the current political system was not suited to the working class and this is why the idea of 'The Six Points' and Chartism took to storm - especially throughout towns and cities in the North which were massively under represented with some places not even having an MP.

In reference to the resource, this should definitely be seen as relevant as after reviewing the political system of the 1830s, it is obvious why the idea of the People's Charter was written in the first place. With it being a massive movement supported by many great thinkers as well as thousands of others, it is safe to say that it is a trust worth resource to look at. Not only this but there are many more other primary resources which mention 'The Six Points of the People's Charter' for example the hand book of the People's Charter Union which was published 17th of April 1848 and shown to the left. Another reason is which we should value this source is that it would be fairly rare for the Chartist to have it written. With the majority of their group being highly illiterate at the time, it meant that most of their deliverances were by speech as opposed to writing. In all the first primary resource used in the essay should be deemed as a relevant and reliable source which gives us a strong sense of what the political system was like in 1837 and why it needed to be changed.

The source on the left is a newspaper article after one of the Chartist riots had occurred. It was in Preston in August 1842 where a riot was caused through a large amount of social frustration. The riot was one of many that year. This was after the government had rejected another Chartist petition which had a total of 3.3 million signatures. The riot could have been a result of one of the 'Ulterior Measures' (Charlesworth, 1996) which were a set of sanctions the group would do should they be rejected.

This also could have been a result of the growing social frustration at the time. Before this, in January 1842, there were strikes occurring across Lancashire due to employers cutting down wages and the people feeling helpless. They felt that politics could be there only saviours and so turned to support the Chartist movement. With the current anger felt, and the power in the numbers they had, there were a lot of disruptions occurring throughout 1842 - people were angry and unemployed with nothing else to do but fight for their rights and equality.

Although