| Word |
Meaning |
| Annual Parliaments |
Chartists wanted to have elections every year, so that if people didn't like their MP, they could vote for another after just a year. This was the only one of the Chartists' demands that did not eventually happen. |
| ballot |
A way of voting, usually in secret by writing on paper. |
| electoral district |
Each MP who gets elected to parliament represents a certain area. It is the people who live in this area who vote for this person to become an MP in the election. So this area is called an electoral district. Today, each electoral district is of equal size, which means that the same number of people in each area elect an MP. In the 1800's, some electoral districts may have had 70 people in, whilst another may have only had 5. But each area, despite its size, elected an MP. |
| Captain Swing Riots |
The Captain Swing Riots took place across Britain in November 1830. The riots took place because of a number of factors: low wages, unemployment, bad winters and poor harvests. 600 rioters were imprisoned and 500 were sentenced to transportation. |
| Chartism |
The Chartists were made up of working class people seeking change in the electoral (voting) system. |
| Home Secretary |
The MP who is in charge of issues in Britain such as law and order. |
| The Luddites |
Luddites were people who campaigned about low wages and because they thought new machinery was going to be threatening their jobs. Groups of Luddites demonstrated by moving around factories breaking up machinery. |
| Rebbeca Riots |
The Rebecca Riots took place in South Wales between 1839 and 1843. The rioters dressed in women's clothing and attacked tollgates, workhouses and rich landowners. The reason for the riots was poverty and discontent in the area. |
| Universal Suffrage |
At first, Universal Suffrage meant that every man was allowed to vote. It later came to mean that every man and woman could vote. The Chartists were only aiming to give every man the vote. |
