ABSTRACT
The Glasgow working classes manifested little interest in political questions, such incidents as the Calton weavers’ strike in 1787 probably best being interpreted as strictly an industrial matter before the French Revolution. The working classes of Glasgow were rather slower than elsewhere to pitch themselves into the tide of political activity unleashed in 1789. Moreover when they did become active, it was generally in very close liaison with a broad swathe of middle-class reformers, and the political ideas they expressed rarely deviated from solidly constitutional doctrines. Jackson’s art at political machinations was well illustrated by the manner whereby the League was able to earmark one of the Glasgow parliamentary seats for its chosen nominee in the 1868 general election. As the new progressive Liberals increasingly regarded social reform politics as affording the best way forward for the party, sympathy for and commitment to the Irish cause seemed to be peripheral to the future of Liberalism.
