The Palace of Westminster

Located in London, the Palace of Westminster holds the two parts of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They are often referred to as the Houses of Parliament. The palace is close to the River Thames. The architecture is in the neo-Gothic style. The oak roof was a major achievement in medieval woodworking. The Palace of Westminster is often considered a symbol of the magnificence of constitutional monarchy and the British Parliament set the standard for dual parliamentary systems. It was built in 1016, and rebuilt after the fire of 1834. This would be where laws like the Corn Laws of 1815 would be enacted. Early Parliament represented only the wealthy landowners and not the common people.

Sources:

Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey Including Saint Margaret's Church.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/426.

Palace of Westminster Fact Sheet. Restoration and Renewal. Houses of Parliament. Retrieved 10 September 2019.

Parent Map

Romanticism: A Class Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.498960985553
Longitude: -0.122008323669

Timeline of Events Associated with The Palace of Westminster

Date Event Manage

The Corn Laws of 1815 Image of Riot
Winter 1815

The Corn Laws of 1815

The Corn Laws were tariffs and restrictions put in place from 1815-1846 in the United Kingdom. The Corn Laws caused the price of ‘corn’, which also includes barley, corn, wheat, and all other grains, to increase. The Laws were designed to protect English farmers from inexpensive foreign imports of grain. This was a direct response to the Napoleonic wars. The British blockade of continental Europe led to increased profits for their homelands farms, and the farmers wished to retain this higher rate of profit.

These heavy restrictions and later taxes on any corn or grain which could enter the county made it so the British people could only buy grain from within its own borders. This raised the price of bread and the overall cost of living. The Corn Laws limited the disposable income of the British people as a whole and limited total economic growth. The working class was unable to afford anything other than their food, forcing them to stop buying manufactured goods and reducing leading manufacturing profits. However, the Corn Laws made landowners wealthier. At the time, wealthy landowners had the exclusive right to vote, despite making up just 3% of the population. So, even though the Corn Laws hurt the working class, the wealthy elite benefited. The wealthy in parliament did not care for the plight of the working class for a long time which is why these restrictions went on for so long before Britain adopted a more free trade policy like what we see today. The suffering of the time led to riots, but it took time for real organization to legally address the issues. In 1832, the right to vote was extended to a sizable portion of the merchant class, leading to the eventual conclusion of the Laws.

 

 

Sources:

Edited by David Ross, British Express. https://www.britainexpress.com/History/victorian/corn-laws.htm

Williamson, Jeffrey G (1 April 1990). "The impact of the Corn Laws just prior to repeal". Explorations in Economic History. 27 (2): 123–156. doi:10.1016/0014-4983(90)90007-L.

“Great Reform Act.” The National Archives, 1 Jan. 1970, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democra....