ABSTRACT
The Manifesto was largely drafted by the London cabinet-maker William Lovett, and its message is defiantly optimistic. General Charles Napier was Commander in Chief of troops in the North of England from 1839 to 1841. Chartism's specific aims were simply stated in the six points of the People's Charter, published in 1838: 'Universal Suffrage, No Property Qualifications, Annual Parliaments, Equal Representation, Payment of Members, and Vote by Ballot'. The National Charter Association was formed in July 1840 from the wreckage of the previous year to co-ordinate future activities. The Chartists menaced the authorities less in 1839, 1842 and 1848 than had the radical reformers in 1831–32. The political road from anti-Poor Law agitation into Chartism was probably trodden by as many women as men in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Scotland became the home of 'Christian Chartism'; about twenty exclusively Chartist congregations had been established north of the border by the end of 1840.
