Question

Who forced the government of Britain to abolish corn laws? What was the effect of abolition?

Answer 1

Hint: Between 1815 and 1846, the Corn Laws imposed tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported grain and corn in the United Kingdom. In British English, the word corn refers to all cereal grains, including wheat, oats, and barley. They represented British mercantilism and were aimed to keep maize prices high in order to benefit domestic producers.

Complete answer:
The Corn Laws were a set of laws enacted between 1815 and 1846 that aimed to keep corn prices high. The Corn Laws stifled the import of low-cost corn, first by prohibiting it below a certain price, then by charging high import charges, making it prohibitively expensive to import it from abroad, even when food supplies were few.

Corn laws were repealed despite militant lobbying by the Anti Corn Law League, which was founded in Manchester in 1839 and opposed the restrictions because they raised industrial expenses. To resist the government, the League printed leaflets and organised public meetings.

The effects of abolition of corn laws:
- Corn regulations were repealed in England, allowing food to be imported more inexpensively.
- Agriculture in the United Kingdom was unable to compete with low-cost imports, and enormous swaths of land were left uncultivated, resulting in the unemployment of thousands of men and women. They flocked to cities or relocated to other countries.
- Higher affluence in England as a result of industrialization led to increased food imports and production in Eastern Europe, Russia, America, and Australia.

Note: The laws sparked outrage from urban groups with far less political clout than rural communities. Because of the pressing need for new food supplies during the first two years of the Great Famine in Ireland, a resolve was forced. With the assistance of the Whigs in Parliament, Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, a Conservative, was able to repeal the Act, over the objections of the majority of his own party.