The 1846 repeal, under Prime Minister Robert Peel, of the tariffs that had protected British grain since 1815. It ended decades of Anti-Corn Law League agitation and split the Conservative Party; how much credit belongs to that agitation, to Peel's own economic convictions, and to the shock of the Irish potato failure remains argued. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Historians divide over whether Peel's own conversion to free-trade economics or the emergency of the Irish potato failure was the decisive force behind repeal; both accounts are argued by serious scholarship.
Facts
Milestone Year WhenThe Corn Laws were in force from 1815; repeal passed 15 May 1846 and received royal assent on 26 June 1846. 1 Classification
Type/ClassificationAgricultural Policy or Legislative Milestone 1 Connections
Associated With
Source British Parliament Repeals the Corn Laws (EBSCO Research Starters)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Corn Laws (Wikipedia)
WikipediaPrelude to repeal section
Economic ideas, and not the pressure of interests, were central to Peel's conversion to favor repeal of the Corn Laws.
Repeal section
The legislation became the Importation Act 1846, receiving royal assent on 26 June 1846.
Lead section
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846.
lead description (milestone-kind)
The 1846 repeal, under Prime Minister Robert Peel, of the tariffs that had protected British grain since 1815.
View the Source British Parliament Repeals the Corn Laws (EBSCO Research Starters)
EBSCO Information ServicesbodyQuote, body
the potato harvest in Ireland failed almost entirely. In the face of this situation and Cobden's exploitation of it in debates in Parliament, Peel became convinced of the need for immediate repeal of the Corn Laws.
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Description
Irwin's account holds that Peel's own conversion to free-trade economic doctrine, not pressure from the Anti-Corn Law League or the Irish famine alone, was the decisive force behind repeal: economic ideas, and not the pressure of interests, were central to Peel's conversion to favor repeal of the Corn Laws.
A dissenting reading, from Douglas Irwin (economic historian)Corn Laws (Wikipedia), Wikipedia
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