Champions of Reform

I suppose reform was inevitable. The overcrowded slums, which were a result of industrialization, pressured the government into action. While the government may not be able to fully upgrade these living conditions, it can at least appease the working class that lives in these slums by making their work life and living conditions less dehumanizing. By alleviating their situation, they put to rest the fears of the middle class. Who knows what these people, lashing out in their anger, will do. We all have evidence enough from the Luddite revolt. Mark my words, the violence exhibited is merely a shadow of what they are truly capable of doing. I commend the people who have found it in their hearts to have compassion on such beings. Such people (most prominent of whom I believe is Edwin Chadwick) made it so that the government could no longer ignore or avoid the glaring signs of degradation and misery in this society. The government thus began to pass a series of factory acts. By the Ten Hour Act, the workday for children and women was limited to ten hours. These acts also required children to become educated in reading and arithmetic during the working days. Also, factory inspections were imposed to remove the worst abuses in factories (particularly in the textile factories) and to create a certain standard that all the industries must at least meet to be deemed acceptable.  In a way, though these acts benefitted the lower classes, it also benefited the government, for the government grew more powerful as it asserted its right to control industrial organizations. Eventually, this will also lead to an increase in power for the upper-middle class because the Reform Act of 1832 has enabled us, the members of the upper-middle class, to expand our control over the British parliament. Hence, an increase in governmental authority and power is equivalent to an increase in influence and advantages for the upper middle class, who constitute the parliament.