Defining the Victorian Nation: Class, Race, Gender and the British Reform Act of 1867

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, May 25, 2000 - History - 303 pages
Defining the Victorian Nation offers a fresh perspective on one of the most significant pieces of legislation in nineteenth-century Britain. Hall, McClelland and Rendall demonstrate that the Second Reform Act was marked by controversy about the extension of the vote, new concepts of masculinity and the masculine voter, the beginnings of the women's suffrage movement, and a parallel debate about the meanings and forms of national belonging. Fascinating illustrations illuminate the argument, and a detailed chronology, biographical notes and a selected bibliography offer further support to the student reader.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
New approaches to political history
20
Citizenship and the nation
57
Englands greatness the working man
71
From Chartism to the Reform League
77
Arguments for reform
89
Social change and politics
102
The citizenship of women and the Reform Act of 1867
119
Defining womens citizenship
160
Conclusion
176
The nation within and without
179
Jamaica
192
Ireland
204
The parliamentary debates
221
Appendices
234
Bibliography
262

The background to the womens suffrage movement 17901865
121
Women and the Reform Act of 1867
130

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