To what extent was Britain a democracy by 1900?

A Story by Liv Scarlett

summing up factors, then coming to a personal conclusion

A democracy is a system of government that is owned and controlled by the majority of the people in that country. Decisions on policies and actions, by the government, are made by the representatives who are elected. For a good system of government to exist, there should be universal suffrage, so that everyone can vote, and it doesn’t matter whether you are male, female, working-class etc. There should be no rotten boroughs and constituencies, which is an area that a MP represents, should be equal-sized in terms of number of voters. Also, there should be a secret ballot so that no-one is pressurized to vote for a particular party and no-one is threatened or tortured, so they can vote for whomever they like. There should also be freedom of speech so that everyone can voice their own opinion and not have to say what people want them to say.

In 1830, William IV became king. He didn’t like the idea of change, but he thought that if change was going to take place, it should be controlled by Parliament and not forced upon the country by revolutionaries. In 1832, the first political change in hundreds of years occurred, and it was called The Great Reform Act. This political change removed 56 rotten boroughs, the big industrial cities were given more MP's, the number of those who could vote rose from 435,000 to 652,000 and 30 boroughs with a population of less than 4000 could now only elect one Member of Parliament. However, no working class people were allowed to vote, no women were allowed to vote; being given the vote depended on where you lived, and bribery and corruption still occurred when people voted. Only one in seven men could vote.

In 1837, Queen Victoria became the Queen. Lots of people would have expected there to be a change for the rights of women, but this did not happen because the powerful men in society did not want this. In addition, Queen Victoria herself didn’t want a change in women’s rights, as she believed that women should stay home and look after their children, and that men should work, keep their families and have political rights.

In 1867, the Second Reform Act was brought in. This act allowed wealthier workers from the industrial cities to vote. The vote was also extended so that all men who had a house could vote, and this almost doubled the electorate (those who could vote increased to 2.5 million), and 45 constituencies were moved to towns and cities, instead of the countryside. However, no women, regardless of their wealth, could vote, not all men could vote, poor, homeless, mad people and prisoners could not vote. There was still no secret ballot so bullying and bribery still occurred and there were 30 million people in Britain, so while 2.5 million sounds like a lot, it is only a small percentage of the country.

In 1872, the Secret Ballot Act was introduced. This was a very important change and a big step, as up to 1872, elections had been in public and voters had to vote in public: people were often forced and threatened to vote for a particular party, and if they didn’t, they were sometimes beaten up by other people with different political views. This made the public voting very abusive because everybody would know for whom you voted. The act of 1872 stopped all the abuse and corruption, and introduced secret voting, where men (still no women!) voted behind a curtain where no other members of the public, could see who that person voted for. Also, this Act made sure that the candidates running for the election had to explain all their expenses and what they were planning to do whilst running the country, so people had a better understanding of whom and what they were voting for.

In 1884, the Third Reform Act was brought in. This made the number of working class men who could vote increase, and a total of five million men could now vote. Every British male who had not committed a crime of any sort, a lord or a lunatic could now vote. There was also now one Member of Parliament for each and every constituency throughout Britain. But, women still could not vote and could only encourage people to vote for particular parties and raise money for schools and churches. Women later began to form a group that demanded the right to vote, and they were known as the Suffragettes, and it was created by Emmeline Pankhurst. She believed that if men ignored reasonable suggestions, then women should fight and force for the right to vote. So the Suffragettes burned churches, attacked politicians, disrupting Parliament’s work and going on hunger strike. They kept going until the twentieth century, in which, in 1918 women over 30 years old could vote, and become MPs. It wasn’t until 1928, that women were finally given the same political rights as men.

So, the reasons Britain could be a democracy by 1900 were because two out of three working men could now vote, and this was a huge improvement from before when, in the past, only men who owned property got the vote. Rotten boroughs had now been abolished, which ensured that the people living in smaller boroughs and rural areas couldn’t elect a burgess where massive cities like Manchester could unlike before. Before, General Elections took place every seven years, General Elections now occurred every five years. Secret ballots were introduced, which stopped bribery and corruption, and voting was in secret. All men who owned a house could now vote. However, Britain was not yet a true democracy because no woman, no matter the age, location, job or income could vote and nor could a third of working men, and the right to vote was still related to the amount of property you owned and its value. All these things added together meant that half the population of Britain at the end of the 19th century still could not vote!

In conclusion, I think that if someone from this century defined a democracy, and then looked at the negative sides of the 19th century, the way Britain was run in that period would not be classified as a democracy. Since women are now equal to men and can have the same jobs and payment as men, and working-class people have the same rights, to rule those people out of voting is unacceptable and not right. So, I think that Britain in 1900 was not a democracy since half the population could still did not have a say in how the country was run and who ran it. However, Britain went through many vast changes in the 19^th century which did affect people for the better, but when defining democracy and looking back at the 1800s, I do not think it was a democracy by 1900.