The first half of the 19th century

THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19^TH CENTURY

The reforms the Government introduced under William IV's reign are:

THE REFORM ACT s increased the number of electors and granted almost all members of the middle class the right to vote.

THE FACTORY ACT s improved working condition and prevented children from being employed for more than 48 hours a week.

THE POOR LAW AMENDMENT ACT s which sets up a more efficient, through more inhuman sistem of work houses for the orphans, the poor, the old and the sick.

TEN HOURS' ACT s limited the working hours to ten a day for all workers.

(1) Great Britain experienced a period of material progress, imperial expansion, political and constitutional development. The country became a consolidate democracy with an efficient system of government.

She reigned constitutionally, thus avoiding the storm of revolution which spread all over Europe in 1848.

The first part of the Victorian Age was dominated by the liberal campaign for free trade (that means that goods could be imported subject to low duties and the birth of Chartism.

Because the country acquired a leading position on the international scene and also because Parliament made a series of important social reforms.

This radical working-class movement was concerned with the conditions of the worker and the right to vote.

(1) Lord Palmerston belonged to the Liberal Party.

(2) He supported liberalism because the thought that tyrannies blocked free trade, because Britain had nothing to lose and every thing to gain by knoking down all trade barriers.