Chartism Revisited

Eric Evans not only updates us on the latest research on Chartism but recommends how to avoid examination pitfalls.

Chartism has fascinated historians endlessly. Its name derives from the famous six points of the ‘People’s Charter’ issued in the Spring of 1838 which called for: the vote for all adult males; payment for Members of Parliament; equal electoral districts; the secret ballot; no property qualifications for MPs, and annual general elections. Chartism was, by some distance, the largest and most impressive protest movement of working people in the nineteenth century and it richly deserves detailed study. Regrettably, although it is a popular topic with many A-level students, essays on Chartism are, on the whole disappointing.

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