In the age of Trump—free trade, tariffs, and tariff wars have recently become headlines again after having long disappeared from popular consciousness. But for much of the nineteenth century these issues were central to British (and American) politics. Free trade or protection involved fundamental questions as to the best prescription for economic growth but also for social welfare. The choice had huge implications for Britain’s position in the world system as a European, imperial and global power. This talk will trace the oscillations in British policy-making in the early stages of industrialisation and warfare (1780-1815), the politics of gradual liberalisation, culminating in decisive debates over the Corn Laws, the greatest symbol of protection, and their repeal in 1846. This set the stage for the definition of Victorian Britain as ‘the free trade nation’ before this was challenged in a series of political movements for ‘fair trade’, ‘tariff reform’ and ‘imperial preference’, all of which failed before 1914.
Anthony Howe is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of East Anglia, having previously taught at the London School of Economics and Oriel College, Oxford. His books include Free Trade and Liberal England, 1846-1946 (1997) and he has edited The Letters of Richard Cobden (1804-1865), Britain’s leading free trader (4 vols., Oxford University Press, 2007-2015). He has also co-produced the freely-accessible website, https://www.cobdenletters.org/ incorporating educational resources for schools, especially relating to citizenship.
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