Origin
Chartism followed earlier Radical movements, such as the Friends of the People Society, the Birmingham Political Union or the Tolpuddle Martyrs, all of which demanded a widening of the franchise. After the passing of the Reform Act 1832, which gave the vote to a section of the male middle classes, but not to the working class which was then, because of social and industrial conditions, emerging from artisan and labouring classes many Radicals made speeches asserting the betrayal of the working class and the sacrificing of their interests by the misconduct of the government, in conjunction with this model.
Chartism included a wide range of organisations. Hence it can be seen as not so much a movement as an era in popular politics in Britain. Dorothy Thompson defined the movement as the time when "thousands of working people considered that their problems could be solved by the political organisation of the country."
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