edHelper.com
European History: 1600s-1800s

The Corn Laws

The Corn Laws
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.62

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    tariff, illegal, engraving, military, demonstration, cavalry, armed, necessity, politics, especially, better, multiplied, opposition, public, rebellion, horseback
     content words:    Peterloo Massacre, George Cruikshank, Napoleonic Wars, Importation Act, Corn Laws, In Ireland

Print The Corn Laws
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print The Corn Laws  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on The Corn Laws
     Leave your feedback on The Corn Laws  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

The Corn Laws
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Caption: Colored engraving of "Peterloo Massacre" (military suppression of a demonstration in Manchester, England, by cavalry charge on August 16, 1819, with loss of life) by George Cruikshank.
 
2     During the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, England had blockaded the European coast. A side effect of this was that England couldn't import grain from Europe so it began to grow more of its own. Still, bread became very expensive in England. The landowners who owned the farms grew accustomed to getting high prices for their crops of grain.
 
3     When the wars ended, landowners feared that imports of grain would begin again and lower the prices that they received for their own crops. They passed a law, the Importation Act of 1815, which made it illegal to import grain unless the price of grain was above a certain high level. This law kept the landowners' profits high but made other people unhappy.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper