http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waRwJZFoJmw

• Be able to explain what the Chartists were campaigning for.

• Understand the difference between a Moral force Chartist and a Physical Force Chartist.

• Analyse why Chartists were considered a threat.

Between 1831 and 1832 there were a series of riots aimed at giving men the vote. These were known as the reform Riots. Middle and working class men came together to fight for their right to vote. In June 1832 the Reform Act was passed. It gave the vote to most middle class men but ignored the working classes – Many working class men felt betrayed!

What would happen next?

In 1836 a group of working class men got together and produced a list of six demands. These demands became known as...

1. A vote for every man over 21 years of age, of sound mind, and not being punished for a crime

2. Votes should be made using a BALLOT

3. A man should not have to own property to become an MP

4. MPs should be paid a salary

5. Equal Constituencies

6. Annual Parliaments

By May 1839 over one-and-a-quarter million people had signed the petition. The petition was taken to London. Parliament rejects it by a vote of 235 to 46. This led to a rising in Newport South Wales. 22 Chartists were killed.

In 1842 there was widespread unemployment, poverty and hunger. More people began supporting the Chartists. Three-and-a-quarter million people sign the second petition. Parliament rejects the petition by 287 votes to 49. This led to strikes and riots. These strikes became known and the Plug Plots

(Plug Plot, Preston 1842)

The Chartists planned to meet on Kennington Common in London. They hoped that 500,000 people would come and march on Parliament. The government was worried and prepared troops and Special Constables. One the end only 20,000 Chartists turned up!Parliament rejected the charter for the third time by 222 votes to 17.

CHARTISM WAS NEVER THE SAME

AGAIN!

The Chartists planned to meet on Kennington Common in London. They hoped that 500,000 people would come and march on Parliament. The government was worried and prepared troops and Special Constables. One the end only 20,000 Chartists turned up!Parliament rejected the charter for the third time by 222 votes to 17.

CHARTISM WAS NEVER THE SAME

AGAIN!

1. A vote for every man over 21 years of age, of sound mind, and not being punished for a crime

2. Votes should be made using a BALLOT

3. A man should not have to own property to become an MP

4. MPs should be paid a salary

5. Equal Constituencies

6. Annual Parliaments

‘In tyrant’s blood baptize your sons and every villain slaughter.By pike and sword your freedom try to gainOr make one bloody Moscow of old England’s plain.’

Song One • Highlight all of the words in song one which suggest violence

• Would this song have been sung by a Moral Force Chartist or by a Physical Force Chartist?

‘Cannon balls may aid the truthBut thought’s a weapon strongerWe’ll win battle by its aid –Wait a little longer

Song Two • Although this verse begins with ‘Cannon balls may aid’ it does not support violence. What does this verse mean?

Would this song have been sung by a Moral Force Chartist or by a Physical Force Chartist?

Chartists encouraged each other by singing songs. These songs were a way of building up their courage and of spreading the Chartist message. The two songs below show how strongly the Chartists felt, and that not all Chartists held the same beliefs. One is a ‘Moral Force’ Chartist song, the other a ‘Physical Force’ Chartist song.

• List all the ways in which the cartoon makes fun of the Chartists

• Why would this cartoon have been very damaging for the Chartists?

This cartoon appeared in Punch in 1848. It is not trying to show a real Chartist procession. It is poking fun at the Chartists because many of the signatures on the third petition were forged. Some Chartists even forged the signatures of Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington! ‘Pugnose’ and ‘Longnose’ were two of the made-up signatures.

My Lords, you ought not to sentence me. This has not been a fair trial. My request to have a jury of my equals was not granted. The next reason that I ought not to be sentenced is the great prejudice that has been raised against me. Everybody that hears me is convinced that almost all of the newspapers of this country, and even other countries, have been raising a prejudice against me. I have been taunted by the press, and it has smothered me with ridicule. It has done everything in its power to crush me.

I crave no pity. I ask no mercy. As I have been an important character in the Chartist movement, I laid myself out for something of this sort from the start. But a great many men of good moral character are now suffering in prison only for arguing the good cause of the Charter. However, I do not despair of its being carried out.

Part of the speech made by William Cuffay in court before he was sentenced to transportation:

• What do you think William Cuffay meant when he said he had been ‘taunted by the press’?

• Why do you think that there was so much prejudice against Cuffay?

William Cuffay was one of the Chartist leaders. He was born in 1788 on a ship coming to England from the West Indies. His father was a slave born on the island of St Kitts. William grew up to be a tailor, and became interested in politics. In 1840 he was chosen to be a delegate to the Chartists Metropolitan Delegate Council. He was a physical force chartist. In 1848 he was put on trial for plotting to set fire to buildings in London. He was sentenced to be transported to Tasmania.

The Admiralty and all the offices were garrisoned and provisioned as if for a siege, cannon placed on the bridges and the Duke of Wellington’s arrangements beautifully made. There was great alarm in all quarters, uncertainty of what number might come in from the manufacturing districts, and the very great number of foreigners in the country. Two hundred thousand Special Constables were sworn in, and, all higgledy piggeldy, peers and commons, servants, workmen, and all kinds of people. It was thought the people from Kennington Common were going to force their way into the Houses of Parliament and there were frightful reports of these people being armed with guns and pikes and pistols and daggers and knives. But when the Chartists found their own numbers so very short of what they expected, and no sympathy from the middle classes, or soldiers, they gave up all hopes of revolution.

This source was written by Lady Palmerston, wife of the Foreign Secretary. In this extract from her diary she describes what happened in 1848:

• Highlight all of the words or phrases from this source which show that Lady Palmerston was frightened of the Chartists.

• How do you think that reports of Chartist activities sometimes became exaggerated or inaccurate?

Dear Father

“Spread the Charter through the land.Let Britons bold and brave join in hand.”

I write you these lines from the point of death. I must now inform you of the state of our town. We have had meetings every night this week. They assembled at night to the tune of 20,000 men or upwards and swore that by the ghost of many a murdered Englishman and Englishwoman, they would not stop until the People’s Charter becomes the Charter of the land.

This letter was written by William Corah to his father on 18 August 1842:

Which of these words and phrases best describes the mood of William Corah:

Very determined

Couldn’t care less

Angry

Excited

What does the writer of the letter want to happen?

Demand Why might the Chartists have wanted each of the demands?

A vote for every man over 21 years of age, of sound mind, and not being punished for a crime

Votes should be made using a BALLOT

A man should not have to own property to become an MP

MPs should be paid a salary

Equal Constituencies

Annual Parliaments