Tamworth Manifesto

Sir Robert Peel's election address 1834 to his constituents in Tamworth. It was adopted as a blueprint for Tory party philosophy, and is often considered to mark the point at which the Tory party became the Conservative Party of the later 19th and 20th centuries. Peel accepted the Reform Act of 1832 and the need for moderate reform to deal with genuine grievances, but radical proposals were to be rejected and any reform had to be balanced against the needs of the established interests of land, trade, and industry.