The anti-slavery movement
Issue: how to change the law when you have no influence or power within Parliament
Pressure group politics
Definition: ‘pressure from without’
Pressure applied on Parliament from those outside
Pass new legislation OR
Abolish or amend existing laws
Pressure groups
Seek to influence Parliament and public opinion in order to
Promote a cause OR
Right a wrong
Pressure group politics based on
Issues of principle
Are above party politics or interests of specific groups
Existence of pressure groups in nineteenth century was contested – initially seen as trying to undermine authority of Parliament but
By mid-century more acceptable because increasing recognition of the limits of Parliament’s ability to represent and reflect public opinion
2 major campaigns
chronological order
Anti-slavery campaign
Chronology
British women and the anti-slavery campaigns
Anti Corn Law League
Aim: repeal of the Corn Laws
Corn Laws – regulations controlling Britain’s import and export of grain by use of tariffs – originated in the Middle Ages
By 1830s Corn Laws not working – price of grain, thus bread, had rocketed – pressure on employers to increase wages to compensate - much economic distress and unemployment
Chronology
1839 set up in Manchester by manufacturers and businessmen
1841 women invited to join the League – not an organisation with female auxiliaries
initially the campaign was not seen as a women’s cause by its male leaders because it was both political and economic BUT
the League adapted the concept of women’s mission to benefit their campaigns
male Leaguers argued that women’s support gave the campaign moral stature and respectability
cf. Moral/physical force arms of the League – much violence in early years, use of language of class hatred
women’s membership would remove ‘taint of party’ from League’s campaign
1842 Manchester Bazaar
1845 Great Bazaar, Covent Garden Theatre, London
1846 League disbanded because it had achieved its aim
Women’s intervention in the public sphere
Paradox of women and pressure group politics
Public role for women contrary to contemporary views of womanhood
On the other hand, belief that
Women were uniquely qualified to act as upholders of moral and spiritual values which
Justified their intervention as part of the public sphere
Paradox may be explained and justified by consideration of concept of
‘women’s mission’
1832 women specifically excluded from the adult franchise BUT
this exclusion was the basis of their moral influence
women’s awareness of a specifically feminine identity which accompanied the growing importance of domesticity and separate spheres for men and women
women’s campaigns arguable were an extension of their philanthropic, domestic and spiritual roles
religious conviction a powerful motor in encouraging women to attend public meetings, join campaigning associations, and, increasingly, to speak at meetings
women had a ‘duty’ to intervene
How far did their intervention help to foster feminism?
Very complex matter – much of rhetoric based on women’s role in the family BUT
Politicisation of domestic consumption
Questioning of male authority (particularly in anti-slavery)
Comparison between sufferings of slaves (especially female ones) and their own position under English law
Acquisition of transferable skills of organisation - fundraising, committee work, petitioning, networking