To what extent was the Electoral system democratic in 1850?
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It is understandable that in 1850 the electoral system was by no means democratic. This is supported by the fact that everyone was not entitled to a free vote. Restrictions were in place that decided if an individual met the set criteria in order to vote. The vote was given to all men owning or renting a property worth £10 a year of course providing that they had occupied the property for more than a year. In counties forty shilling free holders were given the vote along with people who rented land worth £50 or had a long lease worth £10. These terms and conditions were shaped by the 1932 Reform Bill, if an individual met the criteria the vote was theirs providing they were male and over 21, although the 1832 Act increased the number of eligible voters it was only by a small majority and the overall effects of the Act were somewhat minimalist. The electoral system was unevenly and unfairly spread. Sparsely populated areas such as the South and South West of England were vastly and unnecessarily represented, this led to growing industrial cities in the North with expanding populations lacking adequate representation this caused problems in the electoral system pushing it further away from democracy. The unfair spread of seats resulted in 1860 of half Britain’s M.Ps being elected by 20% of the voters in England and Wales. The injustice of the distribution is portrayed through Scotland’s situation out of 658 seats in parliament Scotland occupied only 53 of the with M.P representation. The greatest problem with the 1832 Bill was that it did not take into account the increasing population in the Northern industrial cities and to the southern countries, which were dominated by the landed aristocracy, dominated parliament.

Before 1860 bribery and corruption were widespread and infiltrated the voting system, although in 1850 these methods were noticed as acceptable behaviour. Elections at this time tended to take place as an open event where people would in public declare their vote. It was because of such methods of declaration corruption tended to take place, unlike today there was no “Secret Ballot” thus the elections were not tamper proof and as a result of this voting was largely intimidated. The nature of actions in 1850 to obtain votes were in some cases of a fierce and even violent method. In some cases voters were kidnapped until voting was over and frequently elections were accompanied by fighting between armed gangs hired by the candidates. As well as the methods of intimidation that were used bribery was also used, voters were able to sell their votes in some cases they would go to such lengths as advertising them.

The elections consisted in 1850 as two main parties, in British politics these were the Tories and the Whigs these parties tended to be made up of individuals who stood for the same principles or shared the same views/ideas and frequently changed sides.

It is for the reasons stated above that I believe that the electoral system in 1850 was not democratic, it is clearly evident that the system was plagued by bribery and was discredited by this, also the uneven distribution of seats. It is also known that the electoral system benefited the rich upper class of society doing nothing to aid the working class or lower class. Although in 1850 the vote was granted under restriction the electoral system was far from democratic as it was a small majority who actually were able to vote.

Other Notes in this Category

1. 1885 Redistribution Act
2. Compare the attitude of the Liberal and Tory Parties to parliamentary reform before 1867
3. Explain how the Reform Union differed from the Reform League
4. How Democratic was Britain by 1914?
5. Overview of Growth of Democracy
6. Reform between 1832 and 1886
7. The Ballot Act 1872, The corrupt and Illegal Practices Act 1883, Representation of the People Act 1884
8. To what extent was the Electoral system democratic in 1850?
9. Why did the demand for parliamentary reform grow between 1850 and 1867?

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