To What Extent Was Pitts Repressive Policies the Main Reason for His Success in Resisting the Radical Challenge of 1801?

1639 Words7 Pages
To what extent was Pitts repressive policies the main reason for his success in resisting the radical challenge of 1801? It is certain in my opinion Pitt’s repressive policies had a major influence on quelling the radical’s threat to his power. During his administration, William Pitt certainly proved his worth as a successful and capable Prime Minister. The manner in which he went about his duties as Prime Minister was far reaching and effective and his repressive legislation was paramount to the failure of the radicals in their challenge against his ruling of 1801. Pitt the reformer became Pitt the reactionary. A major issue for Pitt was certainly that it was going to be difficult for him to take much physical action on the radicals before they actually did anything against the law. In hindsight, we can see how that one of Pitt’s first repressive policies; the suspension of Habeas Corpus, in 1794, gave him more freedom to take control of quelling the threat without going against his own laws. What this policy also installed into the radicals was that now there would be a serious threat of them being sent to prison if they continued their actions; prompting a lowering of support by those who were not truly passionate for the cause. Secondly, another two key repressive policies of William Pitt were the ‘Two Acts’, the Seditious Meetings Act and Treasonable Act, both of 1795. The Treasonable Act appeared to be a vicious attack on personal liberties. Similarly to the suspension of Habeas Corpus, it was put it in by Pitt to install fear into radicals by extending the definition of the word ‘treason’ to both speaking and writing. However, this was arguably more effective than the abolition of Habeas Corpus as it lowered the amount of people writing about the cause to gain support, as people such as Paine and Hardy were effectively spreading the radical message

More about To What Extent Was Pitts Repressive Policies the Main Reason for His Success in Resisting the Radical Challenge of 1801?

Open Document