Democracy and the vote in British politics, 1848-1867 : the making of the second Reform Act / Robert Saunders.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [279]-291) and index.

Introduction : Democracy and the vote in British politics -- Reform and revolution, 1848-1852 -- Peelites, protectionists and popular Toryism -- The coalition and the Crimea, 1852-1855 -- Grasping the nettle : the reform bills of 1859 and 1860 -- Democracy in practice : France and America -- "The liberal dilemma" -- The liberal collapse -- The accidental revolution : the making of the second Reform Act -- Epilogue : "Toryism on a national foundation."

The 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.