Book contents
- Conspiracy on Cato Street
- Conspiracy on Cato Street
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Illustrations and Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Timeline
- A Note on the Text
- Part One The Simple Tale
- Part Two Taking Its Measure
- Chapter 3 Interpreting the Conspiracy
- Chapter 4 What They Were Up Against
- Chapter 5 What They Believed
- Chapter 6 Fantasy, Myth, and Song
- Chapter 7 Rebellion’s Habitats
- Part Three Thistlewood: His Story
- Part Four Ordinary Britons
- Part Five The Executions
- The People Listed
- Historiographical Note
- Trial Reports
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - What They Believed
from Part Two - Taking Its Measure
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2022
- Conspiracy on Cato Street
- Conspiracy on Cato Street
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Illustrations and Maps
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Timeline
- A Note on the Text
- Part One The Simple Tale
- Part Two Taking Its Measure
- Chapter 3 Interpreting the Conspiracy
- Chapter 4 What They Were Up Against
- Chapter 5 What They Believed
- Chapter 6 Fantasy, Myth, and Song
- Chapter 7 Rebellion’s Habitats
- Part Three Thistlewood: His Story
- Part Four Ordinary Britons
- Part Five The Executions
- The People Listed
- Historiographical Note
- Trial Reports
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
All the conspirators could read, and most could write, more or less. Radical newspapers and tavern trade clubs and societies provided their political education. ’Low’ radicals in regency London were as deeply influenced by the agrarian socialist Thomas Spence as by Tom Paine, but, either way, their values drew on Enlightenment. They believed in the people’s right to resist oppression, and some hoped for the redistribution of landed property throughout the kingdom.Spence propagated his ideas through slogans, songs, graffiti, and tokens as well as pamphlets and books; and after his death in 1814 they were propagated through the Society of Spencean Philanthropists and Wedderburn’s ‘chapel’ in Soho, to both of which key conspirators belonged.
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- Information
- Conspiracy on Cato StreetA Tale of Liberty and Revolution in Regency London, pp. 94 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022