Title

Cartwright and the principles

Description

The Chartist movement is seen as starting with the publication of 'The People's Charter' in 1838 , but many of its components were of longstanding, both in the form of political and trade union organisations, and in the principles that it became fundamentally associated with:  Universal male suffrage Annual Parliaments  Secret ballot Equal electoral districts Payment for MPs The abolition of property qualifications for Parliamentary candidates Each of these can be found together in a pamphlet, published by Major John Cartwright in his The Legislative Rights of the Commonalty Vindicated, or Take your Choice! (London, 1777). The setting out of these principles in the London Working Men's pamphlet 'The People's Charter' (1838) gave the growing movement both a manifesto and an identity.Cartwright (1740-1824) was a leading figure in movements for Parliamentary reform from the 1770s until his death, and he stuck to his principles throughout his life becoming, if anything, more radical later in life as the government proved increasingly intransigent.  He founded the Society for Constitutional Information in 1780, which became a major organisation in the 1790s reform movement; and was the instigator of the Hampden reform clubs in 1812, which fed into many of the post war popular movements.  He fought campaigns to be elected to Parliament on many occasions, and was unsuccessful every time. At the age of 80,  in 1820, he was found guilty of sedition and fined £100 He was a country gentleman and ex-naval officer.

Contributor

Mark Philp

Spatial Coverage

UK

Temporal Coverage

1777-1840

Subject

ideologies

people