ABSTRACT

Tractarianism (Oxford Movement) derives its name from the series of publications, Tracts for the Times, which various members of the movement composed during the early years of its existence. It was an association of High Church Anglicans, most of whom were members of Oxford University. Following the outbreak of the American and French Revolutions, and the significant numbers of college and university students involved in revolutionary action, a new value was placed on education as a means of instilling particular moral and political attitudes in both Europe and America. This view was also gaining ground in late eighteenth-century Oxford, which was no stranger to undergraduate violence. In the new examination statute of 1800, the university set out a uniform curriculum for all undergraduates and a system of competitive examination, which many at the time interpreted correctly as a deliberate attempt to control more closely not only what undergraduates read but how they spent their time.