British Democratic Reforms

• Great Britain and France underwent democratic reforms due to people's demands
• Britain and France were greatly transformed into the democracies seen today

Setting the Stage

• Urbanization and industrialization led to reforms demand to improve the conditions for workers and the poor
• There were calls for political reforms in order to give the people greater voice in government
• Different groups like the middle class, workers, and women wanted voting rights to be extended to excluded populations

Britain Enacts Reforms

• Britain became a constitutional monarchy in the late 1600s, with Parliament holding real power while the monarch serves as head of state
• The British Parliament consists of the House of Lords, whose members traditionally inherited or were appointed, and House of Commons, whose member are elected
• In 1999, the right of hereditary peers to inherit a seat in the House of Lords was abolished
• In the early 1800s, only 5% of the population could elect members of the House of Commons
• Voting was limited to men who owned land
• Upper classes ran the government as women could not vote

Reform Bill of 1832

• The wealthy middle class (factory owners, bankers, and merchants) was the first group to demand a greater voice in politics
• Protests occurred circa 1830 around England in favor of a bill in Parliament that would extend suffrage (the right to vote )
• The Revolution of 1830 in France frightened parliamentary leaders who then passed the Reform Bill of 1832
• The Reform Bill of 1832 eased property requirements so that well-to-do men in the middle class could vote
• It also modernized the districts for electing members of Parliament and gave the thriving new industrial cities more representation

Chartist Movement

• The Chartist movement pressed for more rights, because only a small percentage of men were eligible to vote, despite the Reform Bill
• The group presented its demands to Parliament in a petition called The People's Charter of 1838
• The People's Charter called for suffrage for all men and annual Parliamentary elections along with a secret ballot, end to property requirements for serving in Parliament, and pay for members of Parliament
• The Chartists demands were rejected
• The protests convinced people that the workers had valid complaints
• The vote was given to working-class men, and by the early 1900s, all the demands of the Chartists (except for annual elections) became law

The Victorian Age

• Queen Victoria was the figure who presided over the historic change and came to the throne in 1837 at age 18 and was queen for nearly 64 years
• The British Empire reached the height of its wealth and power during the Victorian Age
• She performed her duties capably
• The spread of democracy weakened the role of the monarchy by shifting political power almost completely to Parliament, and specifically to the elected House of Commons
• The government was now completely run by the prime minister and the cabinet

Women Get the Vote

• By 1890, several industrial countries had universal male suffrage (the right of all men to vote), but no country allowed women to vote
• Women demanded suffrage as more men gained suffrage

Organization and Resistance

• Women worked in both Great Britain and the United States to gain the right to vote
• British women organized reform societies and protested unfair laws and customs
• Many people, both men and women, were opposed because they thought that woman suffrage was too radical of a break from tradition and claimed that women lacked the ability to take part in politics
• Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903.
• The WSPU was the most militant rights organization in the effort to draw attention to the cause of woman suffrage
• Despite the attention brought on by the efforts between 1880-1914 the successes were gradual, and women did not gain the right to vote in national elections until after WWI

France and Democracy

• France went through a series of crises after the Franco-Prussian War
• A dozen political parties competed for power between 1871-1914, during which France averaged a change of government yearly
• In 1875, The National Assembly agreed on a new government where members voted to set up a republic
• The Third Republic lasted over 60 years but France remained divided

The Dreyfus Affair

• The Third Republic was threatened by monarchists, aristocrats, clergy, and army leaders during the 1880s and 1890s as they wanted a monarchy or military rule
• The Dreyfus affair became to battleground for these opposing forces and widespread feelings of anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jews)

Dreyfus Affair

• Captain Alfred Dreyfus, one of the few Jewish officers in the French army, was accused of selling military secrets to Germany in 1894
• The court found him guilty based on false evidence, and sentenced him to life in prison
• New evidence showed that Dreyfus had been framed by other army officers
• Public opinion was sharply divided over the scandal
• The writer Émile Zola published J'accuse! (I accuse) in a French newspaper in 1898
• Zola denounced the army and was sentenced to a year in prison for his views, but his letter gave strength to Dreyfus's cause which caused the government to declare his innocence

Rise of Zionism

• The Dreyfus case showed the strength of anti-Semitism in France and other parts of Western Europe
• Russian officials permitted pogroms (organized campaigns of violence against Jews) in Eastern Europe
• The long history of exile and persecution convinced them to work to reestablish their ancient homeland
• A movement called Zionism developed in the 1890s to pursue this goal
• It was led by Theodor Herzl (a writer in Vienna)
• It took many years however, before the the State of Israel was established

Self-Rule for British Colonies

• Britain allowed self-rule in Canada Australia and New Zealand put delayed it for Ireland
• Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are strong democracies today in Ireland is divided

Setting the Stage

• Great Britain had colonies around the world by 1800
• Trade with the local people was conducted in outposts in Africa and Asia however their influence on the population was small
• European colonists dominated the native populations in the colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
• As Britain industrialized and prospered in the 1800's so did these colonies, and they became strong enough to stand on their own

Canada Struggles for Self-Rule

• Canada was home to many Native American peoples and the French and their colonies were the first Europeans. The French tended to live among the Native Americans and some intermarried
• Great Britain took possession of the country in 1763 after it defeated France. The French who remained lived mostly in the lower St. Lawrence Valley
• The American Revolution brought English-speaking colonists to arrived in Canada from Great Britain after it came under British rule
• Upper Canada (Ontario) had an English-speaking majority, Lower Canada (Quebec) had a French-speaking majority after the the British Parliament tried to resolve the French and English cultural and religious tensions and created two new Canadian provinces in 1791

The Durham Report

• Middle-class professionals began protesting the British Parliament's divide between Upper and Lower Canada in Canada during the early 1800's
• Lower Canada was also fueled by their French resentment
• Rebellions broke out in both Upper and Lower Canada in the late 1830's which brought about Lord Durham's investigation
• In 1839 due to the actions he Parliament urged two major reforms
• To reunite Upper and Lower Canada and encourage British immigration slowly making them part of the dominant English culture
• Colonists in the provinces of Canada should be allowed to govern themselves the domestic matters

The Dominion of Canada

• Many Canadians believed Canada needed a central government by the mid 1800s
• The Dominion of Canada brought about in 1867, for self-government in domestic affairs but remain part of the British Empire when Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined the province of Canada
• Canada's first prime minister, John MacDonald expanded Canada westward by purchasing lands and persuading frontier territories to join the union making a transcontinental railroad completed in 1885.

Australia and New Zealand

• Captain James Cook claimed New Zealand in 1769 and Australia in 1770 for Great Britain.
• Maori, a Polynesian people settled in New Zealand around A.D. 800 and were greeted by Cook where their culture was based on farming, hunting, and fishing
• The land in Australia was considered uninhabited, sparsely populated by Aborigines who Europeans called them
• Britain began colonizing Australia as a penal colony for convicts as the prisons in England were severely overcrowded
• Free British settlers eventually joined the former convicts in both Australia and New Zealand where they learned to raise sheep for its biggest business of raising and exporting of wool due to the Australia's dry and warm climate
• Settlers were offered cheap land which caused the population to skyrocket after a gold rush in 1851 and scattered settlements on Australia's east coast grew into separate colonies.

Settling New Zealand

• The Maori accepted British rule exchange after it became by treaty in 1840 where it gave them recognition to their land rights
• Australia and New Zealand both wanted to remain in the British Empire making them become both self-governing making colonial governments in 1850
• The Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand became dominions in early 1900s
• Pioneer in a number of political reforms like the secret ballot, was first used in Australia in the 1850s but it didn't give women voting rights until 1893
• Non Europeans were excluded and diseases brought there
• Settlements grew, the colonists displaced or killed many Aborigines. in Australia and the tension continued to grow in New Zealand so the colonial government fought wars against Maori between 1845 and 1872 which made them driven into a remote part of the country due to disease and British weapons

The Irish Win Home Rule

• The English invaded Ireland in 1100 causing them to settle into a new aristocracy causing bitterness between them and Irish with their own ancestry, culture in language
• The British government was determined to maintain its control over Ireland when it formally joined them in 1801
• Leader Daniel O'Connell persuaded Parliament to pass the Catholic which gave rights to Irish Catholic in 1829
• Ireland experienced the worst famines from 1845 to 1848 which was from a plant fungus ruined of their potato crop from to population decreasing by 1 million
• The demand for Home Rule was by the number of people fled from Ireland as the British continue to enforce demands of the English landowners leading them to lose or profit with high-income, the demand for Home Rule increase between supporters and Irish nationalist

Rebellion and Division

• Small Irish nationalist rebelled after being frustrated over delay which were put down by the troops their fate helped them arouse wider popular supporter
• British Parliament's Irish nationalist won a victory in the elections after WWI, nationalist members protested delays in making them forming underground government to declare independent seeking series of attacks starting between nationalist and British government
• Ireland was granted Southern home rule with the government in 1921 making Ulster and Northern Ireland remain as a part of the dominion in Britain
• The free state declared the independent Republic of Ireland 1949 after Irish nationalist wanted continue to seek total Independence

Explore the British democratic reforms, including the Reform Bill of 1832 and subsequent changes. Understand the motivations behind these reforms, the impact on representation, and the transition to a constitutional monarchy. The reforms were spurred by urbanization and industrialization.