(40) Anti-corn laws

• Anti-corn laws

  The nineteenth century was a time of reform of the working and social lives of those in new towns and cities. One of the reform movements was the Anti-corn law league.
• The Corn Laws had been introduced in 1815 because:


  • during the war with France, Britain banned cheap French wheat used to make flour for bread
  • without any competition, British farmers got a high price for the wheat they grew
  • when the war ended, many politicians (who were also wealthy landowners) wanted to keep the big profits from high wheat prices

  So the Corn Laws kept the price of wheat high by banning cheap non-British wheat. This made farmers and landowners happy.
• Reasons people opposed the corn laws:

  • corn laws were unfair to the poor as the price of basic food - bread - was far too high
  • cheap wheat could lower living costs
  • people would have more money to spend on other goods, like meat
  • so people could afford to buy industrial goods
  • improving trade with other countries would help to secure peace
• The Anti-Corn Law League

  There were riots across the country as the price of bread increased as a result of the Corn Laws. The working people were not happy.

  The Anti-Corn Law League was created and was mostly made up of middle class men who felt the price controls on wheat were unfair to the poor
• The Anti-Corn Law League main members:

  • Richard Cobden - became MP in 1841
  • John Bright -became MP in 1843

  Both men were excellent orators and spread the word of the League using the following tactics

  • speeches
  • creating pamphlets and sending them to every eligible voter
  • publishing newspaper articles
  • using the railway to travel faster
• The Anti-Corn Law League - Robert Peel

  The new Prime Minister, Robert Peel, saw the benefit of free trade and of not controlling imports. He therefore supported the Anti-Corn Law League. However, he was the leader of the Conservative Party, whose members were mostly wealthy landowners who wanted to keep prices high. Peel would have to move slowly to persuade the government.
• The Irish Famine

  The Irish relied heavily on bread and potatoes for their diet, but in the early 1840's the potato harvest failed. By 1846, Ireland was facing a terrible famine and there was no spare wheat for Britain to send to the millions that were starving. At the same time a crop failure in Scotland and England was threatening the same crisis. Robert Peel would need to remove the Corn Laws and allow cheaper foreign wheat to be used to feed the people.
• Removal of the Corn Laws

  Robert Peel repealed the Corn Laws in 1846. He faced so much opposition from his party that he was forced to resign.

  British farmers and landowners did well even after the repeal as the population increased just as the price of wheat was lowered. This gave people more money to spend on barley, oats, and meat.