The national petitioning campaign for parliamentary reform in 1816–17 was the biggest such movement before Chartism. It generated more than 700 local petitions with approaching a million signatures, representing perhaps 25 percent of adult males and extending the political nation well into the working classes. It was particularly strong in the Lancashire manufacturing districts, where economic grievances such as hunger and exploitation were converted through petitioning into arguments for political reform. The moving figure was Major John Cartwright, a veteran reformer who emerges as a more radical figure than usually supposed. The rejection of so many petitions by Parliament provided a legitimation for remonstrance and resistance, feeding through into extraparliamentary protests such as the march of the Manchester “Blanketeers” in 1817 and the mass platform movement of 1819 and “Peterloo.” The research combines a study of the petitions and the radical press with a close examination of the Home Office material, yielding insights into both grassroots organization and the strategies of the authorities, local and national. While the strategy of mass action was defeated by repression, the right of the unenfranchised masses to engage in political petitioning was conceded in principle long before the advent of formal democracy.

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上访者和反叛者：英格兰摄政时期议会改革的请愿书

1816-17 年全国议会改革请愿运动是宪章运动之前最大的此类运动。它产生了 700 多个地方请愿书，签名接近 100 万，代表大约 25% 的成年男性，并将政治国家扩展到工人阶级。它在兰开夏郡的制造业区尤为强烈，那里的饥饿和剥削等经济不满通过请愿转化为政治改革的论据。移动的人物是约翰卡特赖特少校，他是一位资深的改革者，他的形象比通常想象的更激进。议会拒绝了如此多的请愿书为抗议和抵抗提供了合法性，通过议会外的抗议活动，例如 1817 年曼彻斯特“毯子”的游行以及 1819 年的群众平台运动和“彼得卢”。该研究结合了对请愿书和激进媒体的研究以及对内政部材料的仔细检查，从而对基层组织以及地方和国家当局的战略产生了深刻的见解。虽然群众行动的策略被镇压打败了，但早在正式民主出现之前，未获得选举权的群众参与政治上访的权利就原则上得到了承认。地方和国家。虽然群众行动的策略被镇压打败了，但早在正式民主出现之前，未获得选举权的群众参与政治上访的权利就原则上得到了承认。地方和国家。虽然群众行动的策略被镇压打败了，但早在正式民主出现之前，未获得选举权的群众参与政治上访的权利就原则上得到了承认。