GCSE History: Power and the People c1700–Present

This material covers the second half of the GCSE History thematic study of power and the people – for example the later parts of AQA's 'Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day' (reform and reformers; equality and rights). The medieval and early modern challenges to authority are covered in a companion material in this category.

You begin with the American Revolution – the slogan 'no taxation without representation', the Stamp Act of 1765, the Boston Tea Party and the Coercive Acts, and the Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776 – and consider how its ideas about rights and representation influenced reformers in Britain. You then study the campaign against the slave trade and slavery, including Olaudah Equiano, Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the Act of 1807 that abolished the slave trade and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

The campaign for parliamentary reform is covered through the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, the Great Reform Act of 1832 and its limits, and the Chartists, whose six-point People's Charter of 1838 was rejected three times but most of whose demands later became law. Workers' rights are traced from the Tolpuddle Martyrs of 1834 through the London Dock Strike of 1889 to the General Strike of 1926 and the Trade Disputes Act of 1927. The campaign for women's suffrage compares the suffragists of the NUWSS under Millicent Fawcett with the suffragettes of the WSPU under Emmeline Pankhurst, the Cat and Mouse Act of 1913, and the Representation of the People Act of 1918 and the Equal Franchise Act of 1928. Finally, you look at the struggle for minority rights, including the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 and the Race Relations Acts of 1965 and 1968.

The quiz tests key events, laws and people, including a chronology question. The flashcards drill landmark events. The written work asks for explanations and for judgements about the most effective methods of campaigning, the kind of question thematic studies often set, and one item uses a short public-domain extract from the Declaration of Independence. In the oral exam an examiner asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end.

The material is revision practice written by Zestly and is not produced or reviewed by any exam board; check the details of your own specification with your teacher.

• Explain the causes of the American Revolution and its influence on ideas about rights
• Explain how the slave trade and slavery were abolished in the British Empire
• Explain the significance of Peterloo and the limits of the Great Reform Act of 1832
• Explain the aims of the Chartists and why they failed in the short term
• Compare the methods of the suffragists and suffragettes and explain how women won the vote
• Assess the development of workers' rights and minority rights in the twentieth century

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE history subject content (thematic study) and the later parts of options such as AQA 'Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day' (GCSE History 8145). Extract quoted: United States Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776 (public domain).