ABSTRACT
Britain could, point to its own reformist tradition, dating back at least to the 1640s and 1650s. Many reformers welcomed the French Revolution as evidence that Catholic absolutism had been given a much-needed jolt into the modern world that Enlightenment ideas were bearing fruit and that France was at last trying to catch up with Britains advanced representative system of government. The Corporation Act required all members of corporations to take Holy Communion according to the rites of the Church of England and to acknowledge the monarch as the Supreme Head of that Church. The most influential publication for these artisans was Tom Paines Rights of Man. The French Revolution also had a significant effect on political allegiances at Westminster. Scholarly interpretations from the 1960s and 1970s concentrated on the rise of artisan radicalism in the 1790s and on the government's repressive response to revolutionary threats. Wilberforce's Evangelical colleague Hannah More produced more insidious anti-reform propaganda.
