| This dissertation is an analysis of the ideological development and political activity of an active and influential segment of Liverpool's middle-class in a critical period in modern British history. It shows the increasing importance of public opinion in British politics and the growing role of the local press in shaping that opinion. It also demonstrates how Liverpool's unique political culture confronted the numerous crises presented by industrialization, revolutionary ideology, and war. Moreover, this study shows how in the process of publishing a newspaper, Liverpool Reform activists created a specifically middle-class Reform ideology that they applied to the crises facing Liverpool during these years.;Since British newspapers had become more independent and political by 1811, the Mercury served many functions. It was a commercial newspaper, an electoral tool, and a Reform vehicle. As such it was much more than Liverpool's voice of Reform. Because it provided most of Reform's organizational muscle, it was its body as well. In its larger role, it not only shaped local politics but expressed them in a national context.;This analysis of the Liverpool Mercury adds to our understanding of the dynamics of local politics and how they were connected ideologically and organizationally to the national Reform movement. Most importantly, this study begins to fill a surprising gap in British historiography. For many reasons, the second largest and the fastest growing city in Britain, remains under represented in the historiography of this period. Moreover, this analysis focuses on the middle-class in a commercial city; two entities also under analyzed.;What this analysis of the Liverpool Mercury indicates is that not only did public opinion become increasingly important, and mobilized in new ways, by 1819, but when confronted with state repression and the mobilized workers of the mass meetings, the Reform ideology of the Liverpool Mercury provided no viable way of challenging the state, making an alliance with politicized workers or realizing its goals of parliamentary reform, rational government, and full middle-class political enfranchisement. |
