Chartism Homework

1) OPVL
Chartism: The Peoples Petition
Origin

The document is created by a group of people in 19th century England who sought
democratic changes in its government. It is written by those same group of people
and published in 1838 in England. The document is both created and published in
1838, most likely in London, England. Since this is a petition from the people of
England to the parliament for reform, the people who written the petition are the
people who published it.

Purpose

The document exists because the majority of the population in England lacked
political rights, which causes them to protest for a more democratic system where
they shall have the right to vote, with the election taken into effect by annual
parliaments. The intent of the authors is to persuade the parliament or any other
political leaders to grant universal suffrage, ballot, and conduct annual
parliaments; in other words, the author created this document to sought political
change. The author choses the form of a petition with background information,
demands, and persuasions for them in order to convey to their targeted audience:
the parliament, that such changes are necessary because of the terrible condition
people are living in. The document first tells of the injustice in England as
background, about how taxes are heavy, people starving, and many other terrible
conditions. Then came the demand for universal suffrage, right to the ballot, and
annual parliament. I can tell that beneath the surface, people seek political reform
to allow further reforms to be made for their benefit, such as labor laws, tax laws,
which would benefit the lower and middle class and bring justice to society. As a
result, such demand results in the system of democracy.

Value

We can tell that the authors are part of the group of people who live in abject
poverty, or unpleasant conditions, which is why he/she have such great demand
for reforms. We can tell that during the time period, society lacks justice, the
majority lack political rights and that many people live in poor conditions. The
document is created under the circumstance where people lack political rights and
live in poor conditions; as a result, this peace perfectly represents such
circumstance by demanding for such political rights because of such reasons. We
can tell that the demand mentioned in this piece may face strong objections
because it takes away the power of the rich and privileged. And of course, the
author represents the less privileged people of this controversy, or in a more
explicit terms, the middle and working class of the 19th century. We can tell that
the author calls for a democratic system strongly, in which all male will get to
choose their representatives, who shall hold annual parliaments. The piece
accurately reflect how the poor and less privileged do no have their say in their
government, who do not represent them, but rather, the rich and powerful. Hence,
the piece accurately reflects such conditions as it describe it in the background,
which should be accurate as the authors are the victims of such conditions.

Chartism: The Peoples Petition

Limitations

Although the document expresses the middle and working classes demand and
outcry for democratic change, it does not describe what changes have already
been done and the benefit of the current lack of democracy, such as less
propaganda used by parties to gather vote, and the lack of struggle between
parties, which is rampant in democracy, often causing the countrys policy to be
misguided. We could verify the content of the piece by reasoning: the demands in
the piece accurately suit our knowledge of the conditions during the time period,
where we know that workers and middle class lack political rights. This piece does
not inaccurately reflect anything about the time period, it is just quite lopsided in
terms of its arguments for democratic reform. The authors leaves out the benefit of
the system of autocracy because they are blinded by their want of reforms.
Furthermore, if such benefits are discussed, it would further reduce its chance of
getting passed by the parliament. Hence, the benefit of autocracy is not purposely
addressed due to the authors stance.

A Chartist protest taking place; the Chartist

demands for secret ballot, universal suffrage,
annual parliament, and many other democratic
reforms.

2) Importance
The Peoples Petition is extremely critical for Great Britains transformation from a
constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary democracy, as it set the ultimate result of a
democratic transformation, expresses the general will for change, successfully produce results
later on, and became pioneer for the push of such democratic reforms, an example to be
followed by many other activists. First, the demand of the Chartists were all fundamentals of the

system of democracy, such as universal suffrage, the right to the ballot, secret ballot, annual
parliament, and many more. Hence, the document is crucial for Great Britain to achieve
democracy because its demands have to be met. The second reason that the document is
important for Great Britains political transformation is that it expresses the general will of the
people of the nation. Thus, with the general will in mind, the parliament learns of their demands
and later on considers and reforms the country. The document is first of its kind to express the
peoples urge for a more democratic system, hence, its invaluable for the change. Third, the
document had gradually yielded results, as universal suffrage, secret ballot, and annual
parliament are all achieved ultimately. Last, the document is important, as a pioneer for call for
democratic change, because it sets an example for future activists to take action for democracy
and other causes, even today, such as the petition today for UK government to recognize
Taiwan. As shown, without the Chartists movement, the ideals for democracy may not be met as
the general will will not have been expressed and pressure the parliament to pass pertinent
reforms in the future, or may tarry the process of democratization. Yet many other reforms are
crucial for Great Britains democratic transformation, too, including the Reform Act of 1832, the
Reform Bill of 1867, many other acts/reforms that granted universal suffrage (and many other
Chartists demand) and later on female suffrage, and the reform that restricted the Lords
powers.

This is a political cartoon of a Charter; it

describes how the people are trying to push for
the Chartist reforms in the Parliament.

This is a Chartist protest that turned

into a riot; as shown, people are
engaging in violent activities.