Chartism

Chartism was a British working-class movement that campaigned in the 1830s and 1840s for political reforms, especially the demands set out in the People's Charter.

Reform Act 1832: A British law that widened parliamentary representation but left most working men without the vote. Its limited franchise helped convince working people that the 1832 reform had not delivered political inclusion.
Universal male suffrage: A voting system that grants the vote to all adult men, subject to any stated age or residency rules. Chartists demanded votes for adult men, though not for women.
Chartist petition of 1839: The first major Chartist petition to Parliament, presented in 1839 with more than a million signatures. Its rejection by the Commons helped prompt a more confrontational phase of the movement.
Feargus O'Connor: An Irish-born British radical politician and leading Chartist who edited the Northern Star newspaper. O'Connor became the movement’s most prominent popular leader and champion of mass petitioning.
Parliamentary reform in the United Kingdom: The series of legal changes that altered voting rights, representation, and parliamentary practice in the United Kingdom. Several Chartist demands entered British politics through later, gradual reforms.
Peterloo Massacre: The 1819 killing and injury of demonstrators at a parliamentary reform meeting in Manchester by cavalry. Its repression remained a powerful precedent for mass reform agitation before Chartism.
Secret ballot: A voting method that conceals each voter's choice from others. The Charter sought to protect voters from coercion by making parliamentary ballots private.
Chartist petition of 1842: A Chartist petition presented to Parliament in 1842 with more than three million signatures. Its scale demonstrated mass support, but Parliament rejected it again.
Bronterre O'Brien: A British radical journalist and Chartist leader known for linking political reform with social and economic change. His writing gave Chartism a more explicitly social and democratic political vocabulary.
Representation of the People Act 1867: A British law that extended the vote to many urban working-class men. It advanced male suffrage, one of Chartism’s central demands, nearly two decades after the movement’s high point.

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