Reforming Ideas in Britain

Between 1789 and 1815, Britain faced a surge of challenges brought about by the French Revolution. Growing tensions with France, then the outbreak of war, exacerbated domestic political controversy, giving rise to new forms of political protest, to which the government responded with ever-increasing severity. Reforming Ideas in Britain brings together a series of essays to provide a vibrant historiography of Britain's political thought and movements during the 1790s and beyond. Challenging traditional perceptions of the period, Philp prompts us to reconsider the weight of various ideas, interpretations and explanations of British politics and language; showing us instead that this dynamic world of popular politics was at once more chaotic, innovative and open-minded than historians have typically perceived it to be. This is an essential interdisciplinary text for scholars of history, political theory and romanticism that offers a fresh perspective on radicalism, loyalism and republicanism in Britain during the French Revolution.Introduction; 1. The fragmented ideology of reform; 2. Vulgar conservatism; 3. Disconcerting ideas: explaining popular radicalism and popular loyalism in the 1790s; 4. English republicanism in the 1790s; 5. Failing the republic: political virtues and vices in the late eighteenth century; 6. Paine's experiments; 7. Revolutionaries in Paris: Paine, Jefferson and democracy; 8. Godwin, Thelwall and the means of progress; 9. Politics and memory: Nelson and Trafalgar in popular song; 10. The elusive principle: collective self-determination in the late eighteenth century; 11. Time to talk.