Tackling document questions at AS

Attitudes to Parliamentary Reform, 1831
by Howard Martin, Poynton County High School, Cheshire

In the September 2000 issue of new perspective Viv Sanders outlined the skills that examiners are testing in the document question in the new AS papers. She emphasised that document questions should not be treated as somehow ‘easier’ than more traditional types of question, like the essay. In many ways they are far more demanding. An examination of the kinds of questions that can be asked about a set of sources will reveal the challenges set and the pitfalls for the unwary or the unprepared.

Here are a series of sources that illustrate differing opinions and responses to parliamentary reform during 1831.

Source A. The recommendation of the committee of ministers appointed by Lord Grey to draft the Reform Bill, February 1831.

The plan of Reform … ought to be of such scope and description as to satisfy all reasonable demands, and remove at once and for ever, all rational grounds for complaint from the minds of the intelligent and independent portion of the community.

Source B. An extract from Lord John Russell's speech introducing the First Reform Bill in the House of Commons, 1 March 1831.

Ministers have thought … that it would not be sufficient to bring forward a measure which should merely … cure some notorious defects; but still leave the battle to be fought again. … They have thought that no half measures would be sufficient - that no trifling, no paltering, with so great a question could give stability to the Throne - authority to Parliament - or satisfaction to the country. … The chief grievances of which the people complain are these: First, the nomination of Members by individuals; second, the Election by close Corporations; third, the Expense of Elections.

Source C. Thomas Babington Macauley, a Whig, supports the Reform Bill in the House of Commons, 2 March 1831.

Their [Ministers] principle is plain, rational and consistent. It is this, to admit the middle classes to a large and direct share in the representation, without any violent shock to the constitution of the country. … I oppose universal suffrage because I think it would produce a destructive revolution. … We say … that it is not by mere numbers, but by property and intelligence that the nation ought to be governed.

Source D. An extract from a speech by Sir Robert Peel during the House of Commons debate on the Second Reform Bill, 6 July 1831.

My belief is, that neither the monarchy nor the peerage can resist … the decrees of a House of Commons that is immediately obedient to every popular impulse, and that professes to speak the popular will; and that all the

tendencies of such an assembly are towards the increase of its own power and the intolerance of an extrinsic control. … I was unwilling to open a door which I saw no prospect of being able to close.

A document question cannot be completed successfully without a good grasp of the underpinning knowledge and of the background to the evidence you have been given. The examiner will assume that you have this and will expect you to use it.

Using your own knowledge explain the meaning of ‘universal suffrage’ in Source C in the context of the reform agitations, 1815-1839.

A simple definition of universal suffrage as votes for all men over the age of 21 would only get a low-level mark. To access the higher levels the candidate would have to mention the controversial nature of universal suffrage, its place in the reform movements before 1830 and refer to its revival in the People's Charter after the ‘betrayal’ of the Reform Act.

As an alternative approach the examiner might pick up an issue within the sources.

Using your own knowledge explain why the ‘intelligent and independent portion of the community’ (Source A) were so important to the Whigs, 1831-2.

The low-scoring candidate would identify them as the middle classes. It is best to go for a broader answer that picks up on ‘were so important to the Whigs’ and comments on the role of the new wealth creating middle class of industrialists and businessmen who were dissatisfied with the existing electoral system and whose support Lord Grey wanted to win to preserve the aristocratic system of government.

The examination boards all have different strategies for assessing the candidate's ability to analyse the sources. Several questions could be set based on the sources used here.

With reference to your own knowledge explain how [and/or why] Source D challenges the view of the Reform Bill expressed in Source C.

Remember the need for knowledge! It is comparatively straightforward to compare Peel's views in D with those of Macauley in C. Whilst Macauley sees the Reform Bill as a means of upholding the constitution by extending the vote to the middle classes, Peel argues that the creation of a genuinely popular House of Commons will undermine the authority of the other parts of the constitution. To explain why Peel takes that stance needs some reference to his place in the Tory leadership and to that party's attitude to parliamentary reform since 1815.

The question could be amended to read

With reference to your own knowledge explain how justified Peel's challenge (Source D) to the Whig view of the Reform Bill (Source C) was.

This would require the same comparative task, but this time with a review of the consequences of the Reform Act to assess the accuracy of the predictions. This wider knowledge is necessary to answer the question effectively and to move into the higher levels of the mark schemes. It is essential that the captions accompanying the sources are read carefully, because they will give some clue as to provenance and purpose.

Other questions could focus on the reliability or utility of a source.

What is the value of Source B in explaining the reasons for the reform agitation to which the Whigs were responding in 1831?

Russell lists three ‘chief grievances of which the people complain’. An answer would have to interpret them, refer to rotten and pocket boroughs, but would need to be aware of Russell's purpose in introducing the Bill which was going to remove ‘notorious defects’. To access the higher marks there would have to be some reference to the broader context, the Birmingham Political Union, the economic situation which had caused discontent. The phrasing of the question assumes that the candidate understands the need to employ wider knowledge in answering the question.

The third part of the source-based question will involve a piece of extended writing requiring reference to all the sources and wider knowledge. You may have to address issues of causation, consequence, change and continuity, or explain and evaluate an interpretation.

‘The Whigs were unwilling reformers whose aim was to prevent democracy and maintain aristocratic rule.’ With reference to all the sources and to your own knowledge explain whether you agree or disagree with this view.

An evaluation of the sources would be a starting point. Despite Peel's view in Source D that the passage of the Reform Bill would undermine the authority of the monarchy and the aristocracy, Source C makes it very clear that the Whigs did not want a radical change because of Macauley's stated opposition to universal suffrage and his reference to the limited objective of extending the vote to the propertied middle class. Source A suggests that the Whigs planned a practical measure that would satisfy ‘the intelligent and independent portion of the community’ although Russell (Source B) spoke of the need for a measure that would be a final solution to the problem. The response could then be developed with an examination of Grey's motives for taking up parliamentary reform in 1830, the outside context and the apparent menace of the Birmingham Political Union, and the threatening direction the popular agitation for reform took as the crisis developed into 1832. An analysis of the terms of the Reform Act to highlight the conservative elements of the restricted £10 Householder franchise in the boroughs and the increased representation for the landed interest through the increased country representation could reinforce a qualified agreement with the statement in the question as could Russell's 1837 comment (which is reflected in Sources A and B) that the Reform Act was a final measure. It would also be relevant to indicate that Russell, the leading parliamentary advocate for parliamentary reform in the 1820s was hardly an ‘unwilling’ reformer.

The document question cannot be tackled in isolation. The knowledge acquired during your AS course is required to develop and extend your answers to the higher mark levels. Examiners are instructed to restrict the marks they award to candidates who either ignore the sources completely or who fail to use additional knowledge to extend their answers.

Finally, there are a few guidelines you must follow:

• Take time to read the sources carefully. Remember, cartoons and other visual pieces of evidence will be used. The same rule applies - take time to understand what they are about and the opinion they represent.

• Always take note of the additional information you are given. The name and status of a speaker, the date of a document will give you important clues as to provenance and/or purpose.

• Refer to any words that are glossed and defined for you. Archaic language use can be confusing, although examiners will not define technical words or political terms they expect you to have learnt during the course.

• Take note of the marks allocated for each part of the question. If section 1 is only worth 3 marks then you should be writing a short and brief answer. If section 3 is worth 15 marks then the examiner is expecting an essay and you should be spending the largest part of your examination time on the document question on this part of it.

Howard Martin, Head of Curriculum, Poynton County High School, is the author of Britain in the 19th Century, Nelson - Challenging History series.