Manchester School

Manchester School was a group of active British advocates of laissez faire, free trade, limited government principles who maintained that a wider practice of such principles would reduce international frictions and lead to world peace. The name derives from Manchester, England, where the leading merchants and manufacturers reconstituted the Chamber of Commerce in 1820 in order to protest existing protectionist policies. In this milieu, the Anti-Corn Law League (see "Corn Laws") held its first meeting in Manchester in 1838. The Manchester School was influential in shaping many British political policies during the next fifty years. Before the turn of the century, popular support gradually switched to the interventions advocated by the Conservative Party and later those promoted by the Fabian Socialists (see "Fabianism"). The best known and most influential leaders of the Manchester School were Richard Cobden and John Bright.

Links

 * at Wikipedia