CONTENTS

[INTRODUCTION]

The British Influence—"Government of the People, by the People, for the People"—The Foundations of Democracy—British Democracy Experimental not Doctrinaire—Education to Democracy

the early struggles against the absolutism of the crown

The Great Churchmen—Archbishop Anselm and Norman Autocracy—Thomas à Becket and Henry II.—Stephen Langton and John—The Great Charter

the beginning of parliamentary representation

Democracy and Representative Government—Representative Theory First found in Ecclesiastical Assemblies—The Misrule of Henry III.—Simon of Montfort, Leader of the National Party—Edward I.'s Model Parliament, 1295—The Nobility Predominant in Parliament—The Medieval National Assemblies—The Electors of the Middle Ages—Payment of Parliamentary Representatives—The Political Position of Women in the Middle Ages—No Theory of Democracy in the Middle Ages

[CHAPTER III]

popular insurrection in england

General Results of Popular Risings—William FitzOsbert, 1196—The Peasant Revolt and its Leaders, 1381—Jack Cade, Captain of Kent, 1450—The Norfolk Rising under Ket, 1549

[CHAPTER IV]

the struggle renewed against the crown

Parliament under the Tudors—Victory of Parliament over the Stuarts—The Democratic Protest: Lilburne—Winstanley and "The Diggers"—The Restoration

[CHAPTER V]

constitutional government—aristocracy triumphant

Government by Aristocrats—Civil and Religious Liberty—Growth of Cabinet Rule—Walpole's rule—The Change in the House of Lords—"Wilkes and Liberty"

[CHAPTER VI]

the rise of the democratic idea

The Witness of the Middle Ages—The "Social Contract" Theory—Thomas Hobbes—John Locke—Rousseau and French Revolution—American Independence—Thomas Paine—Major Cartwright and the "Radical Reformers"—Thomas Spence—Practical Politics and Democratic Ideals

[CHAPTER VII]

parliamentary reform and the enfranchisement of the people

The Industrial Revolution—The Need for Parliamentary Reform—Manufacturing Centres Unrepresented in Parliament—The Passage of the Great Reform Bill—The Working Class still Unrepresented—Chartism—The Hyde Park Railings, 1866—Household Suffrage—Working-class Representation in Parliament—Removal of Religious Disabilities: Catholics, Jews and Freethinkers—The Enfranchisement of Women

[CHAPTER VIII]

democracy at work

Local Government—The Workman in the House of Commons—Working-class Leaders in Parliament—The Present Position of the House of Lords—The Popularity of the Crown—The Democratic Ideals: Socialism and Social Reform—Land Reform and the Single Tax

[CHAPTER IX]

the world-wide movement: its strength and weakness

East and West—Tyranny under Democratic Forms—The Obvious Dangers—Party Government—Bureaucracy—Working-Class Ascendancy—On Behalf of Democracy