Who were the Chartists?

Chartist Task

YOUR TASK!
 
It is 1845. You are the mother or father in a working family. None of your eight children go to school, but all those above 7 years old work long hours at the local textiles mill. The father works in the mines and the mother stays at home to look after the baby and toddlers. Your house is in a cellar, which is has only one room, where you all sleep, eat and cook together. The walls are black with damp and everyone is kept awake at night with the children’s coughing. You can not afford a doctor. The smell outside is indescribable. The gutter should take rain-water away, but most of the time it overflows with stale water. Your landlord doesn’t take away the rubbish and it attracts rats, where your children play. But you are law-abiding people who respect authority and get on with the life that has been given to you. Getting into trouble is the last thing you want.
 
One evening, your eldest son comes home from the tavern, bubbling with excitement over the new Chartist movement that he has just heard about. He tries to convince you that you should join it. He says joining the Chartists will improve your lives, make you more prosperous and give you new opportunities.
 
Should you join the Chartists?
 
  1. You need more information. What questions do you have about the Chartists that you would like your son to answer?
 
  1. To help you make up your mind, sort out the information on the cards into 2 piles:
  • Reasons to join the Chartists
  • Reasons not to join the Chartists

​What did different people think about the Chartists?

Who was to blame for the failure of Chartism?

1. Who was pleased and who was disappointed by the Great Reform Act?
  • Think back to the events of 1832 and why the government eventually decided to compromise. Would Sarah or James have said they were proved right?
  • Look at these list of complaints that working people had about the political system. 
The Great Reform Act of 1832 gave the vote to middle class menPeople can be threatened and intimidated during electionsYou have to own land to be able to voteWorking men cannot afford to be MPs because you don’t get paid for doing itAreas with small & large populations get one MPVoters can be bribed because there are only elections every 7 years
  • Work with your partner to come up with a list of demands that would address these complaints

2. Can we get Parliament to pass these demands?
  • We are now going to hold our own campaining to pressure parliament to agreee to our demands. We are going to do it peacefully through speeches, songs, chants, banners, posters and a petition.
  • Decide which of the above you are going to contribute to
  • When everything is ready we are going to visit other classrooms and try to persuade them to sign our petition through our speeches, songs, chants posters and banners.
  • When we have enough signatures we will present it to parliament and hope that they pass it. If they don't pass it how should we respond?
  • I will tell you what really happened when the Chartists presented their petitions to parliament. 

3. Who was to blame for the failure of the Chartists? 
  • Complete the Chartism timeline
  • Answer the following questions in your book: 
a. Read the source on page 70 in Minds & Machines: Why did handloom weavers favour Physical Force? 
b. Read page 71 in Minds & Machines: What do the songs tell you about what the two different groups of Chartists thought felt and believed? 
c. Read the source at the bottom of page 74 in Minds & Machines. Pick out all the words and phrases from Lady Palmerston's account which showed that she was frightened of the Chartists.
d. Now imagine you are either Sarah or James. Write a paragraph explaining why your tactics (violence or peaceful) should have been solely used by the Chartists and why the other type of tactics helped cause the failure of Chartism.

4. What is the best way to win the vote?
  • If you finish the above, you are now ready to start planning your speech
  • Read pages 208 & 209
  • Complete the Activity on page 209 by writing down the arguments that each person could use under their names.

Sarah ...........................
James ...................................



Resources: 
Minds & Machines textbook; Dying for the vote textbook; Copymaster 8.1 & 8.2.