how has democracy evolved in the uk

• what did the 3rd reform act do?

  widened the franchise even more to allow lower middle class men in the countryside to vote
• what did the 3rd representation of the people act do?

  reduced the voting age to 18
• what did the great reform act 1832 do?

  got rid of rotten boroughs

  created new constituencies in the north

  introduced universal £10 property qualification

  gave the vote to upper middle class men for the first time
• what did the 2nd representation of the people act do?

  equal voting rights for men and women
• what did the second reform act do?

  widened the franchise to include lower middle class men in the boroughs
• what did the representation of the people act do?

  gave women over 30 with a property qualification the vote and all men over 21
• who were the levellers?

  A political movement during the English Civil War that advocated for social and political equality with extended suffrage and religious tolerance
• who were the chartists?

  Working-class movement in 19th-century Britain advocating for votes for all men over 21, secret ballot, no property qualifications for MPs, pay for MPs, equal size constituencies and yearly elections to parliament
• who were the suffragists?

  campaigned for the vote for women using peaceful constitutional methods
• who were the suffragettes?

  Women who fought for the right to vote with less peaceful methods - window breaking, arson and chaining themselves to railings
• what did the diggers want?

  an agrarian system and the extension of suffrage
• where did classical democracy originate?

  Athens, Greece
• how were people elected in classical democracy?

  sortition
• what was sortition?

  a lottery method of selecting representatives in classical democracy
• who could stand for office in the classical democracy?

  any eligible male citizen
• who could not stand for office in classical democracy?

  women, foreigners, children and slaves
• why wasn't democracy widely used for so long?

  most nations had a monarchy kept in power by the tight grasp religion had on society
• why was sortition not democratic?

  the wealthy, confident and intelligent were favored and so their parliament was not representative
• give the positive significance of the levellers

  • the elimination of the levellers as an organised political movement could not obliterate their ideas
  • since then, the same principles of religious and political freedom and equality have inspired other groups
• give the negative significance of the levellers

  • their ideas were considered extremely dangerous by those with a vested interest in the preservation of privilege, property and power
  • by 1650 the levellers’ movement had been effectively crushed
• give the positive significance of the chartists

  • the movement died out but the second and third reform acts were passed in 1867 and 1887
  • today, all the chartists’ aims have been met apart from the yearly elections
• give the negative significance of the chartists

  • all three petitions were rejected by parliament
  • authorities dealt harshly with unrest provoked by the rejection of petitions
  • some chartists called for violence, which caused many middle class supporters to leave the movement
• give the positive significance of the suffragists

  • they had more than 100,000 members by 1914
  • the leader ‘Fawcett’ said that their movement was unstoppable
• give the negative significance of the suffragists

  despite decades of campaigning, women were no closer to getting the vote by 1903 which resulted in the formation of the suffragettes
• give the positive significance of the suffragettes

  • it is likely that the government was eager to avoid a return to violence when they enfranchised women in 1918
• give the negative significance of the suffragettes

  • they were dealt with harshly by the police and government
  • they were criticised by the suffragists for using increasingly extreme methods
  • the government refused to give in to violence
  • many key supporters left the movement in protest over the arson campaign