Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform
Popular Liberalism in the Age of Gladstone, 1860–1880

This is an innovative synthesis of the history of popular support for the Liberal party.

Eugenio F. Biagini (Author)

9780521548861, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 May 2004

500 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.9 cm, 0.733 kg

In common with republicanism or socialism in continental Europe, Liberalism in nineteenth-century Britain was a mass movement. By focussing on the period between the 1860s and the 1880s, this book sets out to explain why and how that happened, and to examine the people who supported it, their beliefs, and the way in which the latter related to one another and to reality. Popular suport for the Liberal party was not irrational in either its objectives or its motivations: on the contrary, its dissemination was due to the fact that the programme of reforms proposed by the party leaders offered convincing solutions to some of the problems perceived as being the most urgent at the time. This is a revealing, innovative synthesis of the history of popular support for the Liberal party, which emphasises the extent to which Liberalism stood in the common heritage of European and American democracy.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Note on the text
Introduction
Part I. Liberty and Retrenchment: 1. The language of popular liberalism
2. The social contract
3. The social question
4. Anti-clericalism
Part II. Reform: 5. The franchise question
6. Parliament and community
7. The charismatic leader
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]