The People's Charter launches the Chartist movement

Date

May 1838

Category

Politics & governance

Region

Britain

Era

Modern

Significance

Published in May 1838 and publicly launched at mass meetings in Glasgow, Birmingham and the north of England, the People's Charter became the founding document of Chartism, the first mass working-class political movement in Britain.

Drafted largely by the London radical William Lovett, the Charter set out six demands: universal manhood suffrage, the secret ballot, equal electoral districts, annual parliaments, payment of Members of Parliament, and the abolition of property qualifications for sitting in the Commons. Disillusioned by the limited 1832 Reform Act, which had enfranchised the middle class but excluded most workers, Chartists organised petitions, newspapers, mass rallies and, among some, the threat of physical force. Three giant national petitions, in 1839, 1842 and 1848, were rejected by Parliament, and the movement faded after 1848 without achieving its immediate aims. Yet Chartism mobilised millions, trained a generation of working-class leaders, and put democratic reform at the centre of British politics. Five of its six demands were eventually enacted, making it a landmark in the long struggle to extend the vote and a model for popular political organisation across the industrialising world.

Empires active in May 1838

• Russian Empire
  1721 CE – 1917 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• French Colonial Empire (Second)
  1830 CE – 1962 CE
• Qing Dynasty
  1636 CE – 1912 CE
• Spanish Empire
  1492 CE – 1976 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE

Related politics & governance events

• The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire
  28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)
• The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)
  1848–1849
• Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan
  1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)
• Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the birth of the British Raj
  1857–1858 (rebellion); Government of India Act 2 August 1858
• Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and the Kingdom of Italy
  May–September 1860; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 17 March 1861
• Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe
  September 1814 – June 1815

Further reading

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

The wider story

Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

Roger Crowley

Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.

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