Question

What were the corn laws? How did their repeal affect the British people?

Answer 1

The Corn Laws which the farming industry imposed on the country in 1815 were not designed to save a tottering sector of the economy, but rather to preserve the abnormally high profits of the Napoleonic war-years, and to safeguard farmers from the consequences of their wartime euphoria, when farms had changed hands at the fanciest prices, loans and mortgages had been accepted on impossible terms.

lthough England regulated prices of corn since the seventeenth century, the Corn Laws to which people in the nineteenth century refer originated in 1815. At the end of the French Wars that year Parliament passed legislation that stated that no foreign corn could be imported into Britain until domestic corn cost 80/- per quarter. The high price caused the cost of food to increase and consequently depressed the domestic market for manufactured goods because people spent the bulk of their earnings on food rather than commodities. The Corn Laws also caused great distress among the working classes in the towns. These people were unable to grow their own food and had to pay the high prices in order to stay alive. Since the vast majority of voters and Members of Parliament were landowners, the government was unwilling to reconsider the new legislation in order to help the economy, the poor or the manufacturers who laid off workers in times of restricted trade.

In 1828 the Corn Laws were revised by the Duke of Wellington's government. A sliding scale was introduced which allowed foreign corn to be imported duty-free when the domestic price rose to 73/- per quarter. The more the price of domestic grain fell below that figure, the higher the duty became. The sliding scale still did not really help the poor or the manufacturers

Answer 2

The laws that made the British government to stop the import of corn is considered as corn law.
because of abolition of corn law
British government couldn't compete with the import of america and that of Australia.
Now the corn (food) is cheaply available than it was produced within the country.
British people mostly traders,got loss.
agricultural fields were left barren and uncultivated.
many people were thrown out of work.
people have migrated overseas in search of jobs.