Abolition of the Slave trade 1807-33

The slave trade was key to British wealth through the early empirical days. However as social stereotypes improved and it became safer to express your own views the anti-slavery movement began to put pressure on the government.

Supporters of this took advantage of the new, literate emerging middle class and published pamphlets to shock them by including the inhuman conditions suffered by trafficked black African slaves. This was the way the movement gained public sympathy and awareness.

The leader of this movement was Pitt’s close friend William Wilberforce. His group the Claphamites took advantage of the new printing to launch a propaganda campaign aimed at the middle and upper classes. This movement had support early-on from characters such as Pitt, Fox, Grey, Grenville and Canning.

In 1807 the first breakthrough came with the Slavery Act 1807 which formally ended the trading in slaves however failed to help those already enslaved in the Empire.

The movement continued to press and in 1823 Wilberforce and Thomas Buxton created the Anti-Slavery Society which organised the wider campaign to outlaw slavery throughout the British colonies. In 1825 Buxton took over the campaign trying to fight for those born to slaves to be born free.

Repeal of the Combination Acts 1824

The skilled artisan classes put pressure for reform as led by Francis Place. They were experiencing a growth in trade and a fall in unemployment and Place and his supporters argued that the legalisation of Trade Unions would lead members to reject violence and work towards greater productivity and therefore the prosperity of owners and workers alike.

This led to the government repealing the Combination Acts in 1824. This short trade boom led to a rise in living costs which then led to a recession which created more hardship.

After this there was a burst of strike action and the government went back on the repeal with an Amending Act 1825 which made it illegal to ‘molest’ or ‘obstruct’ other workers.

Combination Acts 1799-1800

Through this time period artisans and workmen had begun to organise themselves into clubs for the mutual benefit of its members, whether that was insurance, higher wages, job markets or unemployment.

Trade Societies and Friendly Societies became the forerunners to the more official Trade Unions. The Friendly Societies Act 1793 gave members of these clubs the legal rights to hold meetings and have their funds protected.

However industrialisation led to the flow of workers into more concentrated areas in large cities which gave them opportunities to exchange ideas and problems. These larger populations led to improvements in efficiency and organisation.

These advancements scared the new capitalist employers who then complained to Parliament about strike threats to the ‘restraint of trade’.

This led to Parliament passing the Combination Acts of 1799 which made the combination of workers in restraint of trade (strike action) illegal thus making all associations of working men illegal.

No opposition was faced in Parliament showing the establishments support for a capitalist agenda.

William Pitt the Younger (1783-1806)c

William Pitt the Younger (PM 1783-1801 & 1804-06):

Prominent Tory statesmen who became the youngest PM in 1783 at the age of 24, prior to this he held office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He entered as an MP in 1781 and within 3 years the king chose him as PM showing a notable rise to power. He came to power in an awkward time just after the American War for Independence meaning he had to tackle spiralling National Debt and a lack of confidence in the government. To combat the National Debt he set up a sinking fund which he paid £1 million a year from taxation which proved to be a successful peace time policy. He was also keen to introduce trade reforms as there were outdated and complex custom duties that made smuggling more attractive and Pitt thought it limited the countries economy. In response he simplified or removed the custom taxes, introducing a Book of Rates that laid out duties for each item, and lowered taxes on the most smuggled imports and enabled the authorities to confiscate smuggled goods 4 miles from shore. To make up for loss in taxation he introduced new taxes on commodities that the wealthy classes used, seen as unpopular by them but genius by others. Foreign trade failed with Ireland but was successful with France but that was short lived due to the French Revolution. His government system was in need of reform as it was confusing and inefficient, he allowed many of the hundreds of sinecure offices to lapse, devised a new budgeting system still used today, abolished the free post for MP's and reorganised the Cabinet to make the PM's office the most important.

By the end of Pitts terms his financial and commercial policies seemed to have had a revolutionary effect on growth of trade and industry. By 1793 the annual government revenue increased by £4 million from new taxes with the value of trade doubling. He succeeded in restoring national credit and public confidence and ultimately put Britain in a stronger position to face war with France.

Radicalism c1816-32

Luddite Riots: 1811
Luddite Riots; started in Nottingham shire in 1811 when outbursts of men began breaking machinery as they believed the machinery used in the textile industry was depriving them of their livelihood. The machines created cheaper and poorer quality clothes far quicker than the skilled workers before hand. They accused factory owners of underhand practices which undervalued their skill, put them out of work or reduced their wages. Frustrated at the lack of resolution the knitters turned to violent action and a wave of machine breaking, intimidation and rioting. They operated at night time and it was believed to be led by Ned Ludd.

The government response was that of panic and they believed that it was a large threat. 60 men were put on trial for Luddite offences and 3 were hanged for the murder of a man by 4 Luddites. As further offences were committed soldiers were drafted in to keep order after a spate of arrests, trials, transportation and hangings the resistance ended. 

Spa Field Riots: 2nd Dec 1816
2 mass meetings of protesters, led by Thomas Spence who advocated for universal male suffrage, annual general elections and secret ballot. The government grew concerned at the activity of the leaders so placed a spy (John Castle) within the group. Harry Hunt spoke at the second meeting which turned violent with riots. 80 Police were sent in, one man stabbed and a passer by was killed. The 4 leaders were arrested and put on trial. John C was labelled as an agent provocateur and all 4 leaders were set free.

Blanketeers: 10th Mar 1817
 25,000 gathered to march with a petition to the Regent Prince in London (from Manchester). Cavalry broke up the meeting before they could depart, group of around 500 made it away but were attacked by the cavalry.

Peterloo: 16th Aug 1819
St Peters field in Manchester where a group of 60-80,000 of all classes gathered to demand reform of parliamentary representation. Henry Hunt was the speaker there as the 'champion of the people', he argued for the right to vote for all men and women. Was supposed to be a peaceful meeting but cavalry charged the crowd on JP's orders after fear of revolution. This killed 15 and injured 600.

Cato Street Conspiracy: May 1st 1820
A group of middle class people planned to assassinate the British cabinet ministers of Lord Liverpool's government in the name of reform however one was a spy who kept the police all informed who decided to move and arrest 13, 5 executed and 5 sent to Australia.

Queen Caroline Affair: 1820
Caroline of Brunswick had moved away from her husband George IV and wanted to come back to claim her right to the crown however George did not want her to. He got parliament to introduce Acts that removed her rights to claim the crown whilst he also tried to divorce her. Public sympathy went to Caroline and it made George even more unpopular, George then put the pressure on Liverpool to get the public to like him again.

Britain after the French Revolution

State of Britain after the French Revolution

The French Revolution left Britain politically and economically unstable with the government feeling paranoid that a similar revolution would seize the population of Britain.

Nationality and the British Government; Pitt made sure his government was a neutral party, decided they were not financially or diplomatically able to intervene in the events in France. Once France began encouraging revolutions in other European countries Britain's views changed, it made Pitt much more suspicious of supporters and their impact on the public. He passed multiple acts such as the Friendly Societies Act to hopefully prevent the possibility of a revolution. A series of bad harvests worsened the governments fears.

Anti-Revolution and Edmund Burke; Burke was a politician and argued the HOC should not be full of the Kings supporters and began supporting the French Monarchy and the American War of Independence but opposed the French Revolution which confused a lot of people. He thought people didn't have the right to disregard the elected government. He believed in the natural growth of society and not giving in to drastic, chaotic measures especially violence. He began to gain supporters as his predictions became true, lots of these supporters were politically powerful but lots of them took his ideas the wrong way and tried to prevent reforms which he did not endorse.

Pro-Revolution and Tom Paine; He lived in the US and was for the war of independence, he then returned to England and published texts that argued of societies need to break away from the past if it wanted to progress. Supported fundamental rights for all and encouraged democracy in England whilst believing all were equal and the government should represent this. He demanded social reforms such as free education and pensions.  

Friendly Society Act 1973; Passed in 1973 it was the governments response to their paranoia after the French Revolution. It was based on the suspicion of the solidarity between workers, positively it helped the workers' with financial security but negatively it outlawed trade unions which gave them fewer rights. The government realised it would get a bigger profit without trade unions so did not care about workers rights. It is accepted that it was passed just so the government wouldn't have to fund the upkeep of the sick, elderly and poor. The societies gave workers the right to recover funds and claim money from the deceased or bankrupt, allowed them to solve disputes, lead to them rushing paperwork and in the 1800s there were around 30,000 friendly societies. For a while many failed and gained a bad reputation. The overall aim of the societies were to give people a mutual sense of mutual benefit and belonging.

Introduction of the income tax 1798; Introduced by Pitt the younger as an option to help solve some of the many economic problems Britain faced. The purpose was for taxes to be placed on peoples earnings, in one year this raised a total of £6 million. It was first intended as a temporary measure however it was kept in place.

The Combination Acts 1799-1800; These were a series of six acts which restricted freedom of speech and were harsh on the working class. Some of the features included; trade unions were illegal, workers who work together for better wages could be imprisoned and employers combinations were forbidden.

Railways c1840-

• Decreased cost of products which increased the populations
• Industrial revolution advanced
• Factories flourished as they had access to buy and sell
• Increased the demand for coal which increased industry
• London became more important, people travelled for work
• Affected all classes and even farmers could transport good better
• The government had to find money to create these railways
• Gave tones of jobs but had to find the skilled workers to help
• Had to build and organise the railways
• The fast speeds of the trains could cause harm to people causing need for government advertising
• Farmer didn’t want their crops to be damaged and pollution
• Some feared that men and women together on the trains was wrong
• Rivalled canals
• Initial legislation was incorrect