Manchester Liberalism

Manchester Liberalism, Manchester School, Manchester Capitalism, and Manchesterism are terms for the political, economic, and social movements of the 19th century that originated in Manchester, England. Led by Richard Cobden and John Bright, it won a wide hearing for its argument that free trade would lead to a more equitable society, making essential products available to all. Its most famous activity was the Anti-Corn Law League that called for repeal of the Corn Laws that kept food prices high. It expounded the social and economic implications of free trade and laissez-faire. The Manchester School took the theories of economic liberalism advocated by classical economists such as Adam Smith and made them the basis for government policy. The School also promoted pacifism, anti-slavery, freedom of the press, and separation of church and state.

Manchester was the hub of the world’s textile manufacturing industry and had a high population of factory workers who were disadvantaged by the Corn Laws, the protectionist policy that imposed tariffs on imported wheat and increased the price of food. The Corn Laws were supported by the land-owning aristocracy because, by reducing foreign competition, they allowed landowners to keep grain prices high and therefore, as the population expanded, increase agricultural profits.

However, the operation of the Corn Laws also meant that the factory workers in the textile mills in the textile cities of northern England were faced with higher food bills; consequently, the mill owners in turn suffered higher wage bills and therefore higher finished-goods prices which restricted their foreign trade competitiveness.

Manchester became the headquarters of the Anti-Corn Law League from 1839. The League campaigned against the Corn Laws to reduce food prices and increase the competitiveness of manufactured goods abroad, and Manchester Liberalism grew out of this movement. This has led to the situation seen in modern Britain, where the country has become dependent upon imported food as part of a globalised interdependence.

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