Victorian Political Parties

During most of the nineteenth century, politics in the Victorian Era reached new heights and defied the old ideals of Britain government. After The Reform Act of 1832 and the transition of power to Victoria in 1837, two distinct political parties began to form. Society in Great Britain aligned themselves with these parties and fought alongside them to have their beliefs heard. The Liberal party led by William Gladstone and the Conservative party primarily led by Benjamin Disraeli were two political parties whose contradicting views and constant battle for power shaped the political structure throughout the Victorian Era.
The Liberal Party and the Conservative party both had very strong views and opinions about the way society and the government
should run.
The major differences of those views caused a great split among the people of Great Britain and set the tone for the political battle that would continue through the Reign of Queen Victoria. Prior to the Victorian Era, political groups known as the Whigs and the Tories existed. These two contradicting parties were the basis of the great rivalry to come. The main belief system of the Whigs was passed on to and continued by the Liberal Party. They believed in the power of the people, what people could do if given the opportunity and liberal freedom. This is referred to as individualism and was a main platform for the Liberals. Also, ideas such as increasing education, letting go of traditional Church values, and restricting the power of the monarchy with a more equal parliament were all defining motives for the party to keep fighting against their constant Conservative enemy. This enemy to the Liberal party had their own strict beliefs that they would fight hard and long for.
These traditional values stemmed from the belief system of the Tory party in the early 1800’s. They supported the morals set forth by the Anglican church and refused to let them be weakened by the liberal want for a more individualized nation. They also strongly believed in the practice of tariffs, putting taxes on goods, and advocated for the rise in industries within Britain. These were all very contradictory matters between the two parties and would cause much tension. However, there was one major, controversial topic that divided society and defined the Liberal and Conservatives parties during the Victorian Era, the right to vote. Prior to the Victorian Era, in 1832, in order to vote you had to be a landowning male with a house worth at least 10 pounds (Late,2017). This outraged many in society who wanted and felt as though they deserved a fair opportunity to voice their opinion in government. This concept soon became a predominant reason for the Liberal party to arise. This injustice fueled the work done by Liberals to reform this corrupt way of governing. The Liberals based their views and policies on what they thought could benefit the greatest amount of hard-working British citizens. The belief that all men should be equally able to vote and elect members of the House of Commons was present and overpowering. This resulted in the party striking much praise within the middle and lower classes, especially in rural areas. On the opposing hand, the Conservatives were very much in favor of these voting laws, and would only change them minimally in the future. The Conservative party valued the sanctity of the monarchy and they were very reluctant to British Parliament. They too, believed that only wealthy, land owning men should have the right to vote. These voting policies also played a major part in which economic systems the Liberals and Conservatives valued. The Liberal desire to help the less fortunate man resulted in the rise of Capitalism among the party and its supporters. Wanting to protect and encourage free trade in Great Britain, Capitalism introduced the idea of keeping trading private to oneself rather than it being monitored by a government official. This concept is known as Laissez-faire and it was a primary part of Capitalism and Liberal belief. However, as always the Conservatives had a competing and contradicting opinion. Conservative authority believed very much in the value of class systems and the rise of industry. Together, these beliefs sparked an economic system known as Imperialism. Wanting to keep Britain’s monarchy intact and wanting to ensure that the wealthy, industrial areas flourished were also main reasons for the love of Imperialism among Conservatives . Once again, conflicting views wreaked havoc on society drawing a bigger line between two very different types of people. As time increased, the competition between the Conservatives and the Liberals heated up and continued to redefine the political structure in Great Britain. A leader is a person who takes charge and guides their followers on a journey. The leaders of the political parties in Victorian England were constantly changing and challenging each other.