"Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery.".
For many it was not the environment they found difficult to cope with but the limitations on their independence and the division of their family.
What heightened the effects of the Poor Law were the implications of the Corn Laws. The Corn Law was introduced after the Napoleonic War, the benefices of the law were the upper classes making it. The law kept bread prices artificially high. To help the poor, these bread prices should have been lowered, then the poor would have had more chance of affording bread. The Game Laws, also meant the poor could not feed themselves by poaching, had this have been rectified the poor elements situation would have been much easier. .
There is also no denying that the Chartist movement drew heavily for its support from those disaffected by the amendment. Such anger was caused from the tough, and completely unfair law. The Government had promised to ease the poor situation, but the poor obviously felt that they were worsening their lives. Many working people saw the imposition as a "starvation law". They believed the only way to improve their living conditions was through a parliament that fully represented working people. Political groups renewed their campaigns, and they became embodied in the Chartist movement, with male suffrage among its demands. There was a great deal of anti-Poor Law agitation, especially in the North of England. J Holden described the considerable opposition to the law,.
"From all sides hundreds of angry men and women hurried to the village. A terrible scene ensued.".
However from the ratepayers perspective the Act was a success because the numbers of those in receipt of poor relief dropped dramatically after the Law was amended. The Act was more of a remedy to a system in need of reform. The Workhouse system did seem to deter the unemployed and the administrative apparatus it created paved the way for many fundamental social changes at a later date.