The Age of Unease

A detailed analytical narrative covering the period between the constitutional crisis of 1782-84 and the passing of the Great Reform Act. Offering a critical appraisal of the work of other historians and an interpretation of primary sources, the book focuses on reform and political participation, both central aspects of the political and social history of the late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain. The author explores the controversies relating to suffrage, ideas about representation, the working of government and the constitution, and relations between parliament and the provinces. An examination is also made of the most significant social and economic reforms of the period (those concerning commerce and manufacturing, religious toleration, the slave trade, social order and poverty relief) in order to provide a deeper understanding of wider attitudes to reform. By investigating these categories of reform activity, the author addresses certain core questions: why was there such pressure for reform?; who wanted it?; who opposed it and why?; when and where was reform agitation most pronounced?; and were the reformers motivated by principle or by self-interest?