Democracy in mid-Victorian Britain - Advantages and disadvantages table in A Level and IB History

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Created by: E221
Created on: 21-10-22 10:18

Democracy in mid-Victorian Britain

Advantages

Rotten and pocket boroughs were broken up and lost MPs
143 were able to be redistributed to boroughs such as Manchester that did not have MPs before the Reform Act

Disadvantages

Women formally excluded from voting
Northern towns had fewer MPs than southern towns
No secret ballot
Most MPs still wealthy landowners
Still only a minority of the population
Loss of second vote in some boroughs

Evaluation

Overall, the 1832 Reform Act did not make Britain into a complete democracy, it only paved the way for further reform. The act itself was actually fairly undemocratic due to the formal exclusion of women.

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