ABSTRACT
Chartism was much the most important political movement of working men organized during the nineteenth century Its specific aims were simply stated in the People's Charter, drawn up by the London cabinet-maker William Lovett and the radical master tailor Francis Place in 1838: 'Universal Suffrage, No Property Qualifications, Annual Parliaments, Equal Representation [i.e. constituencies of equal size], Payment of Members, and Vote by Ballot'. These objectives, none of them new to the radical movement, were necessary 'to provide for the just representation of the people of Great Britain in the Commons House of Parliament'. Two national petitions, incorporating these famous six points, were presented to Parliament in May 1839 and May 1842 with 1.3m and 3.3m signatures respectively If some were bogus (and a third petition in 1848, alleged to contain 5.7m in reality comprised fewer than 2m, including the forged signatures of such dubious democrats as Queen Victoria, Robert Peel and the duke of Wellington), the petitions nevertheless represented a peak of working-class organization.
