The Breakthrough of Liberalism in the West: Revolutions of 1830-1832

Section 11.56

What does this mean in the context of 1830.

When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold.

Introduction• 1830 liberalism is breaking out and

doesn’t stop• 1825 Spanish America was

independent• British and the French pulled away

from the congress system• Greek independence movement

against the Turks is advancing in 1820s

• Nicholas is more willing to support (Greeks) than Alexander was

• Anglo-French-Russian intervention takes a piece out of the Ottoman Empire

• Greece is reorganized• Egypt is autonomous• Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia are

recognizedAry Scheffer (1795-1858) Greek boy defending his wounded father, 1827

France, 1824-1830: The July Revolution, 1830• Charles X (a reactionary) became king in 1824• Old regime passes an indemnity of 30 million

francs a year to the émigrés (who had their land confiscated during the Revolution)

• Catholic clergy is taking over classrooms• New law gave death penalty for sacrilege

committed in church• Opposition is developing in the newspapers

and liberal circles• March 1830, Chamber of Deputies passed a no

confidence vote in gov• King dissolves Chamber, calls for new

elections• Charles X uses absolutists interventions to

stop liberal critics• July Ordinances (7/26/1830): restrict on vote

and civil liberties– dissolved Chamber again– censorship on press– curtailed suffrage of bankers, merchants– new elections

• this sparks July Revolution (the very next day)

Liberty Leading the People, embodying the Romantic view of the French Revolution of 1830; its painter Eugène Delacroix also served as an elected deputy

Charles X Abdicates• Barricades go up and the revolt is

led by the workers and intelligencia (from 7/27-29)

• Charles abdicated and fled to England

• Working people wanted social reforms

• Bourgeois wanted protection of the constitution of 1814 (just under new leadership)

• Lafayette produces Louis Philippe (on the balcony of the Paris Hotel de Ville)– Duke of Orleans– relative of the Bourbons

• Offered the throne on the condition to upholds the constitution

The July Monarchy• Louis Philippe• Regime known as Orleanist, bourgeois, or July

Monarchy• Reigns until 1848• Viewed by other monarchies/clergy as

revolutionary – a king who got power through insurrection, a deal

with republicans/parliamentarians• Called himself ‘king of the French’ not of France• Flies the Tricolor instead of the Bourbon lily• Had popular manner, sober dark clothing (business

suit of its time) and carried an umbrella• Constitution basically same as in 1814 but tone

different• No more absolutism• Chamber of Peers ceased to be hereditary and

Cham of Deputies was elected by larger body of voters

• increases suffrage from 100 to 200 thousand (based on land ownership)

• July Monarchy served the bourgeois class• Radical democrats are less satisfied• Modern History Sourcebook: François Guizot:

Condition of the July Monarchy, 1830-1848 Modern History Sourcebook: The French Constitution of 1830

Revolutions of 1830: Belgium• Effect of 3 day revolution in

France set off new explosions all over Europe

• Belgium and the Netherlands were unified as a buffer against France (at Congress of Vienna)

• Economically it was a good union (but not politically)

• Dutch absolutist ideas conflicted with Belgium local liberties (French Language)

• Belgians were Catholic (Dutch protestant), Bel spoke French (Dutch wanted Dutch official language)

• Belgium declares independence in August, 1830

Revolution in Poland• Tsar Nicholas is prepared to respond (to the French

and Belgium revolutions) but has to go through Poland

• Polish nationalists object to presence of Russian troops on the border

• Polish diet dethrones the Polish king (Nicholas)• Revolt is crushed by Nicholas• exiles, émigrés flee and settle in western Europe• thousands are sent to Siberia• University of Warsaw and Vilna closed• suppression of civil liberties• Tsar is occupied with Poland and the Belgium

question is dropped• Belgium accepts monarch with ties to the British

throne and declare neutrality• Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, a German prince married

to British royal family became king (the uncle of Queen Victoria)

• Treaty in 1831b/t British and Talleyrand set Belgium up a perpetually neutral

– not allowed to form alliances, guaranteed against invasion

Leopold I of Belgium

Reform in Great Britain• Liberal Tories (George Canning and

Robert Peel) made some reforms• repealed the Test Act of 1673

– a move to a more secular state• liberalized the Navigation Acts (which

now allowed colonies to trade with countries)

• Reduced tariffs• Capital punishment eliminated for about

100 offenses• Professional police force created with

the help of Robert “Bobby” Peel (where police get their nickname)

• But Liberal Tories could NOT:– question the Corn Laws– reform the House of Commons

(representation)

George Canning

Robert Peel

Problems of Representation• House of Commons in unrepresentative of the

population and economy• New factory towns were un-represented

(Manchester)• Some boroughs were empty and had representation

– one was under water in the North Sea• Whigs propose reform bill on elections• Tories under Wellington (victor of Waterloo was

most extreme conservative) refuse to act• Whigs take over the ministry• Introduce a reform bill that is rejected• Whigs resign and Tories fail to take up leadership• Whigs return an reintroduce the bill and it passes

the HOC but is rejected by the House of Lords• Uproar throughout the country and revolution seems

eminent• Whigs get the king to threaten to increase the

peerage in the HOL• House of Lords yields and Reform Bill of 1832

becomes law

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Reform Bill of 1832• Little impact on who voted

(increased from about 500 to 800 thousand

• Redistributed the seats in the HOC to include the industrial cities (Manchester)– Got rid of “rotten” boroughs

• The rising middle class is gaining political representation

• England sidesteps a revolution through the existence of Parliament

Britain after 1832• Reform Bill of 1832 did have some lasting

effects• New business interests stand alongside the

old aristocracyLiberal Party develops• Aristocratic Whigs, radical industrialists,

and liberal ToriesConservative party• Tories, few old Whigs, and a few former

radicals• Classic era to two party politics in England• 1833 Slavery is abolished• 1834 New Poor Law is passed

– Provided relief for sick and aged (not able bodied)

Municipal corporations act• Helped cities manage urban life problems• Reforms in the Church of England• Redistribution of Church income in more

equitable terms

Tory counteroffensive• Tories become champions of the

industrial workers• Publicized the social evils of rapid and

ruthless industrialization• Humanitarian industrialists were

sympathetic• Factory Act 1833 forbade child labor

(under 9)– Paid inspectors to insure compliance

• 1842 underground mine work was forbidden for women, girls, and boys under 10

• 1847 the Ten Hours Act– limited the labor of women and children to

10 hours• eventually men only worked ten hours

also• Liberal cotton magnate John Bright

called Ten Hours Act a “delusion practiced on the working class”

• it was against laissez-faire

Anti-Corn Law League (1838)• Anti-Corn Law Whigs argued

against high prices for food• Causes high wages and make

manufactures more expensive, high food prices

• Pro-Corn Law Tories argued that Britain should avoid becoming too exclusively dependent on imported food

• Modern political practices were employed by the Anti-Corn Law League to pressure the government

• Headquartered in Manchester• it sent out lecturers, agitated

newspapers, held political teas, open-air meetings

Anti-Corn Law League (1838)• 1846 the Tory ministry under Robert Peel

yields and the Corn Law is repealed• Symbolizes the change in England’s

government• Industrial interests are now firmly seated

in government• Free trade is to become the rule• England becomes dependant on external

sources of food• Industry became the mainstay of the

British economy• workers transitioned to industrial jobs• manufactures, coal, shipping, and

financial services become the basis of the new economy

• Importing vital necessities from the rest of the world was the fuel for the system

• Britain depended on the maintenance of free trade and naval power

Coalbrookdale at night, 1801 :Artist: Philipp Jakob Loutherbourg the Younger

Over London by Rail Gustave Doré c 1870. Shows the densely populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities