Routledge Politics and Trade in Britain 1776-1840 - Routledge

This scholarly volume examines a transformative period in British economic and political history, spanning from Adam Smith's 1776 The Wealth of Nations through the early Anti-Corn Law League campaign preceding the 1841 General Election. The book traces the evolution of free trade ideology against protectionist measures, exploring Parliament's resistance to monopolistic Chartered Companies and efforts to establish more liberal bilateral commercial treaties. Readers will discover how competing visions of commercial policy crystallised between Conservative and Liberal parties, culminating in the imposition of the protectionist Corn Laws in 1815. This first volume of a comprehensive two-part series provides essential context for understanding the ideological foundations of nineteenth-century British trade policy and the political divisions that shaped the nation's economic direction during a critical period of industrialisation and imperial expansion.