'To Demand the Brightest Birthright of Englishmen...'
We tend to take for granted our right to a vote for our representatives. We argue, we debate, we publish mountains of leaflets and posters on this right, but how many people know when this right came about and how it was achieved? And how Kersal Moor was involved in achieving this?
In 1838, the Chartist movement drew up a plan: a six point chart designed to give the working man the vote and to design a just electoral system. This six point chart was announced to the public on the Moor.
The Manchester Guardian recorded it as the biggest political rally of the 19th Century, with over 30,000 people from all the northern towns walking to the Moor to hear the Chartist leader, Fergus O'Connor's revolutionary plan. Just twenty years earlier a similar rally at Peterloo [St Peters Square] left 16 people massacred.
These demands were really important and formed the basis of our current political system. They were discussed with enthusiasm by the crowds who wished to improve their lives...
The People's Charter...
Universal Male Suffrage [the right to vote]. [Female suffrage came later].
Annual Parliaments. [Today it is every four years, which many people regret and wish it was more often]
Vote by Ballot.[ a secret signed paper}
Abolition of property qualification for MPs. This meant to stop the fact that only wealthy men with property, could stand for Parliament .[Not so today.]
Payment of MPS. At this time an MP had to support himself so needed to be wealthy. [Nowadays MPs receive an income allowing any person to stand].
Just think, as you walk the Moor that just 182 years ago the way we run this country today was fervently debated on Kersal Moor. You can sit on a bench now and have a good old discussion about the world today. The political ghosts will be listening with interest...
* On May 3rd 2010 a plaque was installed on Kersal Moor commemorating the rallies of 1838 and 1839. It is now situated at the side of Moor Lane, near the entrance to the Moor.
See previous episodes of the Kersal Moor history...
Why Is The Moor Not A Moor? - click here
Suicide and Ghosts - click here
200 Years of Horse Racing on Kersal Moor - click here
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
