The Anti-Corn Law League

Causes

Corn Laws

Britain had been at war with the French and had stopped trading with them (1803-15).This meant that during the war the British farmers had the monopoly on wheat sales and the prices had soared.

When the war ended, some people wanted to start trading with the French again, which had cheaper wheat.However, the politicians in government were wealthy landowners who had made money from the high wheat prices and didn’t want to see a change in their profits.They passed the Corn Laws in 1815.

The Corn Laws stated that if the price of wheat fell too low, imports of wheat would be stopped.

Middle classes

The middle classes formed the Anti-Corn Law League because they felt that the restrictions were unfair to the poor.They were led by Richard Cobden and John Bright.

Potato failure

In the early 1840s in Ireland, there was a potato failure in Ireland caused by crop disease which had spread across Europe. Ireland relied heavily on potatoes and bread for their diet so by 1846 they were experiencing a terrible famine.

Development

Richard Cobden and John Bright who created pamphlets, published newspaper articles and gave speeches. They used railways to travel faster and used the penny post to spread their pamphlets to all eligible voters.
1841 and 1843, Cobden and Bright were both elected as MP’s where they found the support of the Prime Minister, Robert Peel.
Early 1840s – potato failure in Ireland. This led to millions of people starving and the Corn Laws meant that there was no spare wheat to send to help them.
There were also crop failures in England and Scotland.
1846, Robert Peel repealed the Corn Laws.

Consequences

The repealing of the Corn Laws did not have the negative effect on wheat prices as anticipated. The British farmers hadn’t realised that the low price of wheat after the war with France ended was not because of foreign imports but because of British over-production during the war years.

Significance

Short term

Prices of wheat did not suffer due to an increase in population.

The poor were able to afford wheat and the price of barley, oats and meat actually increased which helped the farmers who may have been affected.

Robert Peel lost his position after the backlash from his party (Conservative).

Long term

The influence of the landowning class was challenged by the real of the Corn Laws and led to more protection for the working class in future years.