Liverpool as PM

• May 1812


  Perceval assassinated
• Liverpool accepted as PM

  Prince regent tried to appoint a Whig govt but could not form a cabinet so had to accept Liverpool
• 'A safe pair of hands'

  Asa Briggs
• 1815


  Napoleonic Wars over
• Liverpool's First Cabinet

  Addington, Lord Eldon, Vansittart, J.F Robinson
• Political challenges faced by Liverpool

  • had to bring together strongly differing views and personalities
  • overcome Whig opposition
  • caught between patronage and party machinery
• 1820


  Queen's Affair
• 1820


  Prince Regent becomes George IV
• public opinion of George IV

  • popularity of monarchy was low due to lax moral standards and extravagant behaviour
  • morally bankrupt
  • a profligate
  • dragged down government after trying to divorce his wife and then tried to exclude her from the throne
• George IV impact on Liverpool

  increased the government's unpopularity and threatened constitutional stability
• 1821 and 1823 


  'New Look' Tories emerge (cabinet Reshuffle)
• Liverpool's New Cabinet

  Wellington, Huskisson, Peel, Canning (after 1822)
• 1822


  suicide of Castlereagh
• Shift in policy after reshuffle

  from reactionary to more liberal
• 1827


  Liverpool is paralysed by a stroke and must step down as PM
• 1828


  Liverpool dies
• 1815


  The Corn Laws
• The Corn Laws

  No foreign grain could be imported until the home price reached 80 shillings a quarter
• Reasons why the Corn Laws were passed

  • Landowning classes dominated the HOC and the HOL and corn was their main source of income
  • demand for corn was high but a bumper harvest (1813), caused a dramatic fall in prices
  • undercut the prices of home corn
  • had to ensure there was enough food for a rapidly growing population
• Consequences of the Corn Laws

  • Price of bread soared - main food source of working classes
  • Public Outcry - Petitions, riots etc
  • Givernment responded to civil unrest with harsh measures
  • Factory Owners enraged as had to up wages to meet bread prices
  • bad harvests followed
• Price of Wheat (1815)

  71 shillings 6 pence
• Price of Wheat (1816)

  52 shillings 10 pence
• 1816


  Income Tax abolished
• Consequences of abolishing income tax

  • Government had to raise taxes on other commodities such as candles, beer, sugar and salt
  • affected ‘lower orders’
• 1816


  Game Laws tightened, making punishments for breaking them harsher, working class could not poach for food anymore
• 1817


  Habeas Corpus suspended
• Why was Habeas Corpus suspended?

  A mob attacked the Prince Regent‘s carriage
• 1819


  Six Acts
• What did the Six Acts do?

  1. Outlawed unofficial military training
  2. banned seditious meetings
  3. banned seditious libel
  4. introduced stamp duties on newspapers to stop working people reading them
  5. gave magistrates powers to search homes for weapons
  6. sped up the judicial process in courts
• Why were the Six Acts introduced?

  As a result of Peterloo and to safeguard the position and authority of the ruling classes
• Poor Unemployment Act 


  Made money available for local corporations to develop public works
• Truck Act

  stopped payment in kind
• 1819 


  Factory Act
• 1819 Factory Act

  • Intervened in conditions of employment
  • banned employment of children under 9
  • restricted working hours to 12 hours a day for young people
• 1824


  Combinations Act repealed
• Repeal of the Combinations Act

  • allowed trade unions
  • movememnt led by Francis Place
  • Argued that if trade unions were allowed members would not turn to violence and would be more productive
• 1825

  Amending Act
• Amending Act

  Made it illegal to strike, ‘molest’ or ‘obstruct’ other workers
• 1822


  Peel made Home Secretary
• Gaol Acts

  • regularise and standardise the provision of gaols across Britain
  • prisoners were to be separated and classified
  • female prisoners to be cared for by female wardens
  • greater efficiency
  • secure more convictions for lesser crimes