Development of the Political Parties, 1846—65

I. Introduction

II. Fallout from the Repeal of the Corn Laws

A. The 1847 Election

B. The ‘Peelites’

III. Beginnings of the Party System

A. Setbacks for the Tories

B. Diversity of the Whigs/Liberals

1. Lack of Party Discipline

2. Lack of Patronage

C. Changes in the 1860s

IV. Lord John Russell’s Weak Position

A. Fractured Alliances

B. Indecisive Election of 1852

V. Aberdeen Coalition and the Crimean War

A. Absorbing the Peelites

B. Effects of the Vote of Censure (January 1855)

C. Emergence of Palmerston

VI. Palmerston and the Liberal Party

A. Palmerston’s Electoral Successes

B. A Good Fit with Liberalism? Foreign & Domestic Policy

C. Palmerston’s Formula:

1. Free Trade

2. Low Taxation

3. Empire & Patriotism

D. First Liberal Ministry: 1959-1965

VII. Conclusion

Key Terms

‘Peelites’

Lord Derby

Benjamin Disraeli

Lord John Russell

Lord Aberdeen

Crimean War

Lord Palmerstone

William Ewart Gladstone

---

back to the syllabus.