The Growth of Democracy in Britain after 1860

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For the to have been a growth in democracy in Britain after 1860 due to social and economic change several factors would have had to of been involved, such as changing attitudes towards the working class, industrial revolution, the effects of WW1 and the effects if the media, press and writers. Political changes could also have played a part in the growth of democracy due to different political advantages and the changing political ideas.

By 1869, changes in social classes were becoming more obvious. There was now a greater respectibility towards the up and coming urban artisans. They earned the country money, yet did not have a say when it came to how the gorvernment ran the country. This meant the majority of the country did not have a vote. This change in giving the urban artisans the votes made the voting fairer and making it less likely for the public to turn against the gorvernment.

The Revolution in France and the American Civil War were supported by the British government until it came to their own country and there was drastic change. The government now feared revolution as it brought threat to the people in power's lives and homes. The only solution was to give the people what they wanted and the working classs recieved the right to vote.

This also gave the government more power too as the public had what they wanted now. This made them less likely to turn against their government and made it less stressful to run the country. However due to the Education Act, people were now entitled to primary education making them more literate. People were becoming more involved with politics by reading newspapers. If things were not going the way the public wanted it would not be long before there was a change.

The public wo...

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Prime ministers also helped the changes in Britain as Lord Derby passed the Reform Act. He described the Second Reform Act as a "leap in the dark" showing that people did not have a clue what political changes would have on the growth of democracy. David Lloyd George also supported change but not until later in democratic Britain. This shows that political factors had some effect in the growth of democracy.

To conclude, social and economice factors like changing attitudes towards the working class, industrial revolution, the effects of WW1 and the influence of the media and press had the majority of the change om the growth of British democracy after 1860. Even though political factors like the changing political ideas and different political advantages also played a part the factors mentioned above had a much bigger influence in provoking change in Britain.

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