Industry, Reform and Empire traces the evolution of politics from a
repressive, reactionary and electorally restricted regime before 1832 to
an era of wider franchise and sweeping institutional reform. Focusing on
the impact of rapid industrialisation, the author shows how it
transformed the economic and social identity of urban and rural
Scotland. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, the book reveals the
effects of these economic and political changes on the fabric of
Scottish society, including the convulsions they caused in
Presbyterianism that culminated in the Disruption of 1843.