Chapter 23: Growth of Western Democracies (1815-1914)

Section 1: Democratic Reform in Britain

Reforming Parliament

1815- Britain was a constitutional monarchy with a Parliament and two political parties

House of Commons- only 5% of the people had the right to vote

House of Lords- hereditary nobles- could veto any bill passed by the House of Commons

Reformers Press for Change

Laws kept people from voting Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants

could not vote Parliament changed who had the right to vote Population shift due to Industrial Rev.

Reform Act of 1832

Whigs and Tories Whig- middle class Tory- nobles, landowners, and others who

had high income Reform Act- redistributed seats in the House

of Commons Act gave representation to large towns and

cities and eliminated rotten boroughs

Reform Act of 1832

Enlarged the electorate Kept landowning as a requirement to vote Did not bring full democracy

Chartist Movement

Reform Act did not help rural or urban workers

People’s Charter- document- demanded universal male suffrage and annual Parliamentary elections

Demand for secret ballot Government moved to suppress the march Movement was declined

Victorian Age

1837-1901: Queen Victoria was the great symbol of Great Britain

Reign was the longest in British history Victorian ideals: duty, thrift, honesty, hard

work, respect Strict code of morals Middle Class was at the center

Quote from Queen Victoria

Lower classes “earn their bread and riches so deservedly that they cannot and ought not to be kept back.”

New Era in British Politics

1860s- Old political parties regrouped under new leadership

Benjamin Disraeli- forged Tories into modern Conservative Party

William Gladstone- Whigs became the liberal party

1868-1880: parliament was between two parties

New Era in British Politics

Disraeli gave the right to vote to working class men- doubled the size of the electorate

Gladstone extended suffrage to farmers By the end of the century- almost universal

male suffrage Constitutional Monarchy with a prime

minister and cabinet

Limiting the Lords

1900s- House of Commons men defeated the House of Lords

1911- Liberal gov. restricted power of lords Lords backed down House of Lords lost power House of Commons was supreme

Section 2: Social and Economic Reform in Britain

A Series of Reforms

Mid 1800s Parliament passed a variety of new laws

Free trade began between countries Corn laws- imposed high tariffs on imported

grain – Corn- all cereal grains – Farmers and wealthy landowners supported corn

laws

Campaign Against Slavery

Enlightenment thinkers- against slavery British carried more Africans than any other

country 1807- Britain was the first European country

to abolish the slave trade 1833- Parliament passed a law banning

slavery

Crime and Punishment

Early 1800s- more than 200 crimes were punishable by death

1850- death penalty was reserved for murder, piracy, treason, and arson

Penal colonies- settlements for convicts

Penal Colony- Australia

Victories for the Working Class

1840s- Parliament passed laws to improve social conditions

1847- Law limited women and children to a 10-hour workday

Parliament sent inspectors to see that the laws were enforced

Unions- won higher wages, shorter working hours, improved the lives of the working class

Women Strikes

Struggle to Win Votes for Women

1900- Emmeline Pankhurst- leading suffragist

Drastic and violent protests

1918- Parliament finally granted suffrage to women over the age of 30

Instability in Ireland

England began conquering Ireland in 1100s

1600s- English and Scottish took possession of much of the best farmland

Irish did not like absentee landlords

Many Irish lived in poverty

Irish Nationalism

1800s- Irish campaigned for freedom Daniel O’Connel “the liberator” 1829- Parliament passed the Catholic

Emancipation Act- Irish Catholics got the right to vote and to hold political office

Struggle for Home Rule

Famine in Ireland- Irish distrusted British

1850s- Fenian Brotherhood- goal was to liberate Ireland

Home rule- local self government

Gladstone- pushed for reforms in Ireland

1914- home rule was passed

Section 3: Division and Democracy in France

France after Franco-Prussian War

After the war, France was no longer the dominate power in Europe

France Under Napoleon III

1848- Napoleon III- nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte- rose to power in the Second Empire

Bourgeoisie liked Napoleon III

Napoleon III promised to end poverty

Ruled like a dictator

France Under Napoleon III

Napoleon appointed his cabinet, upper house of the legislature, and many officials

Debate was limited, newspapers had strict censorship

Napoleon III issues a new constitution and democratic rights

Suez Canal

Ferdinand de Lesseps- organized the building of the Suez Canal in Egypt

Napoleon III

After the Franco-Prussian war, France had to give up Alsace Lorraine

Challenges of the Third Republic

Napoleon was captured Republicans take over starting the Third

Republic Republicans bring in new National Assembly Radicals wanted new socialist order National Assembly ordered Paris Commune

to be disband

New Government form for France

New republic had 2 house legislature – Chamber of Deputies and Senate

– Parties: royalists, constitutional monarchists, moderate republicans, radicals

– No single party could win a majority in the legislature

Anti-Semitism and Dreyfus Affair

1894- Alfred Dreyfus- high ranking army officer- accused of spying on Germany

Dreyfus was Jewish Dreyfus stated he was innocent but was sent

to Devil’s Island 1896- government found the actual spy; no

new trial for Dreyfus

Anti-Semitism and Dreyfus Affair

1898- Emile Zola- charged army and gov. with suppressing the truth

Zola was convicted of libel 1906- Court cleared Dreyfus Anti-Semites- members of the lower middle

class

Dreyfus Affair

Theodor Herzl- Hungarian journalist- called for Jews to have their own separate state

Zionism

Reforms in France

1900s- France passed laws regulating wages, hours, and safety conditions of workers

Free public schooling Tried to remove Church involvement in

government 1909- Jeanne-Elizabeth Schmahl- French

Union for Women’s Suffrage