The first Reform Bill aimed to address inequalities in voting and governmental representation between rural and urban areas of England. Industrial cities like Manchester and Birmingham, whose populations were rapidly increasing, found themselves underrepresented in parliament, stifled by the larger number of representatives allowed from less populated rural regions, called “rotten boroughs.” By redistributing seats and altering electoral qualifications to include smaller property owners, the Act effectively strengthened alignment between the upper and upper-middle classes while maintaining a social hierarchy predicated upon the possession of land. Despite increasing the total English electorate by 217,000 people, it not only excluded men from the working and lower-middle classes, but also prohibited all women from voting.

For more information, please see Carolyn Vellenga Berman's BRANCH article, "On the Reform Act of 1832."