Sample Solution

opular pressure was initially applied after 1815 when reform clubs proliferated and labouring families attended gigantic reform meetings. This popular pressure increased at certain times so that changes came rapidly after a slow build-up of pressure. Politicians might try to unite different groups or split their opponents using parliamentary reform issues when opportunities or crises developed to reduce popular pressure. They did this in order to support groups that liked their ideas and to reduce the influence of the opposition groups. The two were important in gaining both reform acts however popular pressure seems more important than political manoeuvring. While popular pressure declined with greater prosperity in the mid-1820s, it had intensified again by 1830 when the poor harvest of 1829 increased food prices and unemployment apparently rose; reform petitions then gained unprecedented numbers of signatures. Furthermore, pressure for reform became most intense once a Whig government had introduced a parliamentary reform bill (a proposal for a law), but it had built up previously and was not just a response to initiatives from leading politicians.On the other hand politicians manoeuvred with and against each other as shown with the disintegration of the Tory leadership who supported the old system in the late 1820s. There was a strong religious side to Tory politics. This already seems decisive and would lead to great political change. The Tory party, which had provided the main resistance to reform, was crumbling as Wellington upset both moderates and extremists in the party. Lacking adequate support by the end of 1830, he had to resign and was replaced by the Whig leader, Lord Grey, who formed a government from not only the Whigs but also from radicals, moderate Tories and ultras. This was a very important cause of the 1st Reform Act. The extent of the pressure and circumstances changed rapidly about 1830 however popular pressure was more important.

One such source taken from the times newspaper in May 1832 wrote an article documenting the day of the reform act. The article describes a mass amount of people in attendance stating their “must have been upwards of 200,000 present”. This article tries to emphasis the sheer amount of public support and even goes on to add “in a short time the numbers were still further increased by