Democracy and the Vote in British Politics, 1848-1867: The Making of the Second Reform ActThe Second Reform Act, passed in 1867, created a million new voters, doubling the electorate and propelling the British state into the age of mass politics. It marked the end of a twenty year struggle for the working class vote, in which seven different governments had promised change. Yet the standard works on 1867 are more than forty years old and no study has ever been published of reform in prior decades. This study provides the first analysis of the subject from 1848 to 1867, ranging from the demise of Chartism to the passage of the Second Reform Act. Recapturing the vibrancy of the issue and its place at the heart of Victorian political culture, it focuses not only on the reform debate itself, but on a whole series of related controversies, including the growth of trade unionism, the impact of the 1848 revolutions and the discussion of French and American democracy. |
Contents
| 4 | |
Reform and Revolution 18481852 | |
Peelites Protectionists and Popular Toryism | |
The Coalition and the Crimea 18521855 | |
The Reform Bills of 1859 and 1860 | |
France and America | |
The Liberal Dilemma | |
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19 March 28 February Aberdeen Correspondence Adullamites agitation amendment American April Argyll backbenches Bagehot Benjamin Disraeli Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine borough franchise borough qualification Bright Britain Cabinet Carnarvon Diary Chartists claimed classes Cobden compounders Conacher Corn Laws county franchise Cranborne dangerous December democracy democratic Derby to Disraeli disfranchisement Disraeli's Earl Edinburgh Review Elcho elections electoral enfranchisement favoured free trade freehold Gathorne Hardy Gladstone's Graham Greg Greville Grey Hansard 182 Horsman hostile House household suffrage January Journals of Lord July June Lansdowne legislation London Lord Stanley Malmesbury March measure Memoirs ministers November October opposed opposition Pall Mall Gazette Palmerston Papers Parliament Parliamentary Reform Peel Peelites popular principle proposed Protectionist public opinion question radical rating franchise redistribution reform debate representation Revolution Richard Cobden Russell's seats Second Reform Act small boroughs social speech thought told Tory Victorian vote voters Walpole warned Whig